Chemical Spill in West Virginia

A few minutes ago, I came across a reference to “second-degree murder,” which led me to the Wikipedia article on the subject for a quick refresher on the difference between that and involuntary manslaughter.  While I thought this would have been completely straightforward, it really wasn’t at all.  As I read along, I was reminded how strange it is that the 50 U.S. states have 50 different ways of defining and punishing crimes.  Isn’t a barroom fight that ends in a death pretty much as repugnant in Rhode Island as it is in Oregon? 

Of course, we all understand the reason for all these variations in state laws; they’re hold-overs from the colonial period, which carried forward to the formation of the republic – all based on the quite reasonable fear that the settlers had of a strong central government, the oppression from which they had gone to great lengths to escape. Making matters worse was the division on the issue of slavery.  But here we are today, 150 years after Abolition, with states’ rights remaining as an issue of great passion for many people.  The reason for this is hard to pin down; cynics say it’s the proliferation of lawyers.  Don’t get me started.

Be this as it may, again, here we are.  And, as disparate as the beliefs in the 50 states, one can imagine how far-flung they are in the 200 sovereign countries around the world.  In no U.S. state are we allowed to douse our wives who may have displeased us with gasoline and burn them alive, nor does the government cut off the hands of shoplifters or stone adulteresses to death.

I bring all this up to make a point about the recent chemical spill disaster in West Virginia.  Why are we not better connected with the world scientific community’s viewpoints regarding extremely toxic chemicals?  Why have we gone so far out of our way to cut ourselves off from information that could have been of such great benefit?  The Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) on 4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol states that it has been banned from everything but R&D purposes across Canada, Japan, South Korea and the European Union. Yet, here in the U.S., we have only limited testing done (LD50  on rats and minnows and skin tests on rabbits) and no cancer studies… and we allow it to be used for common industrial processes (like cleaning coal).  We also let it be stored – without regulation – right on the edge of rivers that supply potable water to major communities. West Virginia law requires inspections on chemical production facilities, though it does not require them for facilities used for chemical storage.

I submit that a chemical that has been tested and subsequently banned from use in other countries should be somewhere on the regulatory radar screens of us here in the U.S.  It’s time to lower the barriers that wall us off from others — especially when those barricades can only do us harm.