Date:05/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/05/stories/2008010560510400.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

4 chemicals above safety level

Staff Reporter

Chennai: Four out of 11 chemicals detected in a sample of gas that leaked in Manali on December 4 and 5 were found to be above limits prescribed by environmental standards, according to Community Environmental Monitoring (CEM), a Chennai-based voluntary initiative for pollution control.

CEM had the sample tested at Columbia Analytical Services, a laboratory in California that analysed the gas for 89 chemicals.

The lab found that benzene, a carcinogen, was 36 times higher than safety levels prescribed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency; hydrogen sulphide 33 times; bromomethane 1.44 times and carbon disulphide 7.6 times higher than the safety levels.

Seven other chemicals were also detected in the sample.