By Richard T. Cartwright, PE, CHMM, (IHMM, AHMP and APICS) Fellow. Richard died April 21, 2025; honoring the work he did with hazmat history is one small way to keep his memory alive.
The saying, “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it” is more than a cliché. It is a reminder that we must constantly be learning from the past. Here’s a look back at major historical events that happened today in the world of hazardous materials.
September 19, 2008
China recalled milk and baby formula milk products after inspectors found melamine contamination. Senior executives were executed by Chinese authorities for their involvement in the scandal and for trying to decrease costs by diluting the milk products. Eventually more than 300,000 babies became ill after consuming milk products tainted with melamine.
September 19, 1995
The Unabomber Manifesto, penned by an anti-technology terrorist, was published by the New York Times and the Washington Post in hope that someone would recognize the person who, for 17 years, had been mailing homemade bombs that killed three and maimed another 23 innocent people. After reading the manifesto, David Kaczynski linked the writing style to that of his older brother, Ted, who was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.
September 19, 1991
Ötzi, the Iceman, was found in a glacier on the Italian-Austrian border. At 5000 years old, it is the oldest mummified human body ever found intact. His few remaining scalp hairs provided the earliest archaeological evidence of haircutting. Ötzi was found to have a number of points tattooed on his body, 80% of which are considered valid modern acupuncture points, which dates acupuncture back to at least 3300 B.C.
September 19, 1985
The Michoacán earthquake (8.0 magnitude) struck Mexico City, where more than 9,500 people died. The earthquake was particularly devastating because of the type of ground upon which the city sits. Mexico City is on a plateau surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. The plateau region was covered by lakes in ancient times. As the aquifer under the city has slowly drained, it was discovered that the city sits atop a combination of dirt and sand. This is much less stable than bedrock and can be quite volatile during an earthquake. After damage assessments were made, 3,000 buildings were demolished.
September 19, 1957
The world’s first underground nuclear weapon detonation was conducted at a Nevada Test Site near Las Vegas. The explosion was the first fully contained underground detonation and produced no radioactive fallout. A total of 928 tests took place at Nevada Test Site between 1951 and 1992. The U.S. signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996, which prohibits nuclear detonations in all environments.
September 19, 1947
Torunn “Teri” Garin, a Norwegian chemical engineer, was born. She helped develop the sweetener aspartame as a sugar substitute. Garin researched ways to minimize water pollution caused by food production and how to replace cancer-causing chemicals with natural dyes. She also invented a process to extract caffeine from coffee.
September 19, 1915
Elizabeth (Shankman) Stern, an American pathologist, was born in Canada. She was one of the first pathologists to work on the progression of a cell from normal to cancerous. Her breakthrough studies of cervical cancers have changed the disease from fatal to one of the most easily diagnosed and treated. Stern’s studies showed that a normal cell advanced through 250 distinct stages before becoming cancerous and thus is the most easily diagnosed of all cancers. She was the first to link the virus in herpes simplex to cervical cancer. Stern was also first to report links between oral contraceptives and cervical cancer.
September 19, 1851
William Lever, British soap manufacturer and philanthropist, was born. Lever Brothers soap manufacturing company was one of first companies to manufacture soap from vegetable oils instead of tallow.
September 19, 1839
George Cadbury, English chocolate manufacturer and social reformer, was born. He is best known for initiating improvements in working conditions and for his successful experiments with a new cocoa bean processing technique. New pure unadulterated Cadbury’s cocoa essence was heralded as a breakthrough. It resulted in the passing of the U.K.’s Adulteration of Foods Acts.
Historical hazardous materials management events are posted 365 days a year at this LinkedIn discussion group.
