THE SEVESO DISASTER
INTRO The Seveso Disaster was an environmental travesty that occurred on July 10th 1976 due to a chemical manufacturing plant, which released massive amounts of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) into the atmosphere (Lallanilla, 2017). This massive release caused not only environmental implications but health and safety implications as well. Through my research I will deduct what happened at that chemical plant outside of Seveso that caused such a disaster. Further I will stress the environmental implications that were caused by the incident. Moreover, research will help tell us what could have been done to prevent the disaster and what we can learn from Seveso to prevent such incidents in the future.
THE DISASTER …show more content…
Within a few hours after the ICMESA facility gas release, over 37,000 people throughout the Seveso area were exposed to unprecedented levels of dioxin. Among the first to suffer, however, were the area's animals. This can be promptly seen in the chicken and rabbit population; chickens and rabbits were slaughtered on an emergency basis to prevent people from eating them, by 1978, an estimated 80,000 animals were slaughtered. However humans in Seveso were not as quickly affected compared to the area’s animals. Despite their exposure to high levels of dioxin, it was a few days before people began to feel the effects: nausea, blurred vision, skin lesions and the development of severe chloracne, particularly among children. As a result of the slow development of symptoms, the area around Seveso was not immediately evacuated (Lallanilla, …show more content…
It is clear when an accident such as Seveso occurs many rapid decisions are made and often mistakes are made. Attention is therefore inevitably focused upon the evident health effects relevant to the incident. There are, however, other decisions that need to be made rapidly, and they concern the preliminary planning of long-term studies. Delayed effects will, by their very nature, occur after a long time span, the available results do not provide either fully comprehensive documentation of the effects of the accident on the exposed population, or conclusive evidence on the effects of TCDD to humans. The reasons range from an immediate aftermath period that it is too brief for some of the possible effects to arise, to problems of study design and conduct in a post-disaster setting. Identification of accident causes is important for determining what areas are affected and health and environmental implications that play roles in the disaster. Studies on accidents involving dangerous substances very often conclude that the knowledge necessary for preventing such an occurrence had already been painfully gained in the past (Smith, 1990). However this knowledge had not been applied because of one, lack of the proper safety culture to enable effective utilization of this knowledge; and two, lack of a structured communication system to diffuse this knowledge. The first of these
INTRO The Seveso Disaster was an environmental travesty that occurred on July 10th 1976 due to a chemical manufacturing plant, which released massive amounts of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) into the atmosphere (Lallanilla, 2017). This massive release caused not only environmental implications but health and safety implications as well. Through my research I will deduct what happened at that chemical plant outside of Seveso that caused such a disaster. Further I will stress the environmental implications that were caused by the incident. Moreover, research will help tell us what could have been done to prevent the disaster and what we can learn from Seveso to prevent such incidents in the future.
THE DISASTER …show more content…
Within a few hours after the ICMESA facility gas release, over 37,000 people throughout the Seveso area were exposed to unprecedented levels of dioxin. Among the first to suffer, however, were the area's animals. This can be promptly seen in the chicken and rabbit population; chickens and rabbits were slaughtered on an emergency basis to prevent people from eating them, by 1978, an estimated 80,000 animals were slaughtered. However humans in Seveso were not as quickly affected compared to the area’s animals. Despite their exposure to high levels of dioxin, it was a few days before people began to feel the effects: nausea, blurred vision, skin lesions and the development of severe chloracne, particularly among children. As a result of the slow development of symptoms, the area around Seveso was not immediately evacuated (Lallanilla, …show more content…
It is clear when an accident such as Seveso occurs many rapid decisions are made and often mistakes are made. Attention is therefore inevitably focused upon the evident health effects relevant to the incident. There are, however, other decisions that need to be made rapidly, and they concern the preliminary planning of long-term studies. Delayed effects will, by their very nature, occur after a long time span, the available results do not provide either fully comprehensive documentation of the effects of the accident on the exposed population, or conclusive evidence on the effects of TCDD to humans. The reasons range from an immediate aftermath period that it is too brief for some of the possible effects to arise, to problems of study design and conduct in a post-disaster setting. Identification of accident causes is important for determining what areas are affected and health and environmental implications that play roles in the disaster. Studies on accidents involving dangerous substances very often conclude that the knowledge necessary for preventing such an occurrence had already been painfully gained in the past (Smith, 1990). However this knowledge had not been applied because of one, lack of the proper safety culture to enable effective utilization of this knowledge; and two, lack of a structured communication system to diffuse this knowledge. The first of these