Toxic substance leaks at UHWI

SEVERAL BOTTLES of disinfectant containing a highly toxic substance - phenol, stored at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), have been leaking fumes into the environment for at least two days, hospital administrators confirmed yesterday.

CEO of the UHWI, Karl Davis said the leak was reported on Tuesday to the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM). However, up to late yesterday afternoon, it could not be ascertained if the site had been visited.

When contacted, officer in charge of Pollution Control and Waste Management at the NRCA, Christopher Madden would only say: "We're in the process of investigating the issue", and would not comment on whether the agency had visited the area.

A number of doctors and medical students living within 50 to 100 feet of the disinfectant's storage area said they were not even aware that there was a leak.

Toxicologist, Dr. Robert Lancashire in the nearby Physiology Department of the University of the West Indies, said they had not been informed about the problem. "They haven't called us," he told The Gleaner.

He noted that concentrated phenol solution usually has to be treated with care as it will burn the skin immediately upon contact.

Phenol is considered to be toxic to humans when ingested orally, with possible liver and kidney damage. It is also highly irritating to the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes after acute (short-term) inhalation or dermal exposure.

Risk

Mr. Davis, was unable to assess the extent of the leakage as no one has yet ventured into the storage room. He said that this exercise would require special protective clothing, which the Fire Brigade was equipped to deal with. "Nobody wants to go in there," he told The Gleaner yesterday. "But there is no immediate risk to staff or patients," he insisted.

He attributed the leakage to "inferior packaging", explaining that the hospital has been storing a shipment of 160 five-litre plastic containers of the solvent (40 per cent phenol) in the storage room since February 1998.

"It (phenol) was used by the hospital as a disinfectant, diluted, but the hospital stopped using it. The quality of packaging was very bad this time, and they (plastic bottles) just started to disintegrate," Mr Davis said. "But we really should have sent it back," he added. He could not say how many of the bottles had developed leakages.

Mr. Davis also voiced his concern that the liquid seeping into the concrete may get into the underground water system if not attended to quickly. Some medical students suggest that the leakage could have started before Tuesday. One said she and her colleagues had detected the odours since last week, but believed it came from clogged drains.

A pungent odour was evident when a Gleaner reporter ventured into the area yesterday. The doors to the storage room were barred but some windows on the building were open. A group of workmen putting finishing touches to the Day care/Nursery centre, the keys for which were handed over just yesterday, said they were not aware of the leakage either.

According to information provided by The United States based Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "ingestion of one gram (is) reported to be lethal, with symptoms including muscle weakness, and tremors, loss of co-ordination, paralysis, convulsions, coma, and respiratory arrest".

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