3/19/2024 0 Comments Professor kw mercury poisoningAfter Wetterhahn's mercury poisoning was discovered, her colleagues tested various safety gloves against dimethylmercury and found that the small, apolar molecule diffuses through most of them in seconds, much more quickly than expected. These included the use of latex gloves, a fume hood, and adherence to standard safety procedures. Wetterhahn's death shocked not only the entire chemistry department at Dartmouth, but also regulatory agencies, as the accidental exposure occurred despite her having taken all measures required at that time. Her death prompted consideration of using an alternative reference material for mercury NMR spectroscopy experiments. In response, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommended that the use of dimethylmercury be avoided unless absolutely necessary and mandated the use of plastic-laminate gloves (SilverShield) when handling this compound. The case proved that the standard precautions at the time, all of which Wetterhahn had carefully followed, were inadequate for "super-toxic" chemicals like dimethylmercury. The doctors said it didn't appear that her brain could even register pain." Wetterhahn was removed from life support and died on June 8, 1997, less than a year after her initial exposure. One of her former students said that "Her husband saw tears rolling down her face. Three weeks after the first neurological symptoms appeared, Wetterhahn lapsed into what appeared to be a vegetative state punctuated by periods of extreme agitation. ĭespite aggressive chelation therapy, her condition rapidly deteriorated. Her blood and urinary mercury content were measured at 4,000 µg L −1 and 234 µg L −1, respectively – both many times their respective toxic thresholds of 200 µg L −1 and 50 µg L −1 (blood and urine reference ranges are 1 to 8 µg L −1 and 1 to 5 µg L −1). At this point, tests proved that she had severe mercury poisoning. The more distinctive neurological symptoms of mercury poisoning, including loss of balance and slurred speech, appeared in January 1997, five months after the accident. Īpproximately three months after the initial accident Wetterhahn began experiencing brief episodes of abdominal discomfort and noticed significant weight loss. Her exposure was later confirmed by hair analysis, which showed a dramatic jump in mercury levels 17 days after the initial accident, peaking at 39 days, followed by a gradual decline. However, tests later revealed that dimethylmercury can, in fact, rapidly permeate several kinds of latex gloves and enter the skin within about 15 seconds. Not believing herself in any immediate danger, as she was taking all recommended precautions, she proceeded to clean up the area prior to removing her protective clothing. Wetterhahn would recall that she had spilled several drops of dimethylmercury from the tip of a pipette onto her latex-gloved hand. She was using dimethylmercury, at the time the standard internal reference for 199Hg nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. On August 14, 1996, Wetterhahn, a specialist in toxic metal exposure, was studying the way mercury ions interact with DNA repair proteins and investigating the toxic properties of another highly toxic heavy metal, cadmium. In 1990, Wetterhahn helped establish Dartmouth College's Women in Science Project (WISP), which helped to raise the share of women science majors from 13 to 25 percent at Dartmouth College and has become a national model. She joined Dartmouth's faculty in 1976 and published more than 85 research papers. Her doctoral work was supervised by Stephen J. Lawrence University in 1970 and her doctorate from Columbia University in 1975. She earned her bachelor's degree from St. Wetterhahn was born in Plattsburgh, New York. Protective gloves in use at the time of the incident provided insufficient protection, and exposure to only a few drops of the chemical absorbed through the gloves proved to be fatal after less than a year. She died of mercury poisoning at the age of 48 due to accidental exposure to the extremely toxic organic mercury compound dimethylmercury ( Hg(CH 3) 2). Karen Elizabeth Wetterhahn (October 16, 1948 – June 8, 1997), also known as Karen Wetterhahn Jennette, was an American professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, who specialized in toxic metal exposure. Metallointercalation reagents: synthesis, physical properties, and their interaction with nucleic acids (1975)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |