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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Compounds washed down the drain
Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2014 2:15:34 PM
Author: "Brooks, Walter" <skoorb62**At_Symbol_Here**COMCAST.NET> 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Compounds washed down the drain
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 20:51:46 -0400
Author: Bruce Van Scoy

(Note: This post is 11 years old and may contain outdated information.)

From: Monona Rossol <actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Compounds washed down the drain
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 17:42:14 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 8D1588C2334E40F-E78-D2D7**At_Symbol_Here**webmail-va009.sysops.aol.com
In-Reply-To <6E3EAA50-A750-4230-BFBB-D0A74850BE4A**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org>


There is no carbon filter that will get significant amounts of the many kinds of chemicals and drugs from  this kind of lab.   And a neutralization tank is a box of marble chips that only raises the pH of strongly acidic wastes.  This tank can have no effect whatever on the chemicals you are washing down the drain. It is well-known that many drugs can make it through the several filtering procedures in a municipal waste treatment plant.
 
Even more interesting, it is your employer's job to deal with this issue, not yours.  As Walter suggested in his reply to you, you could have the "holding tank" pumped out---IF THERE IS A HOLDING TANK.  Ask your employer where the holding tank is and how often it is pumped out.  My guess is there isn't one.
 
 And if there isn't, I think a whistleblower call to another agency, i.e., the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, might bring justice to the DOJ. 
 
 
Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist
President:  Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.
Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE
181 Thompson St., #23
New York, NY 10012     212-777-0062
actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com   www.artscraftstheatersafety.org

 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Sent: Tue, Jun 17, 2014 12:15 pm
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Compounds washed down the drain

From: Sylvia Tarin Brousseau <sock5108**At_Symbol_Here**aol.com>

I am a drug chemist for DOJ. We routinely use mortars, pestles, etc. in the 
course of our analysis. Is there a sink filter (carbon?) to catch residual 
compounds being washed down the drain? We do have a neutralization tank that 
does some filtering. We have chemists that are worried about drugs (pharm and 
otherwise) appearing in the food chain due to the waste water. Any insight 
appreciated.

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