Beyond plastic pollution: Unveiling chemical release from plastic debris in river water and seawater using non-target screening.

Oceans and rivers are predominant sinks, reservoirs, and carriers of plastic debris that are proposed to be long term sources of a variety of contaminants in the environments. This research unveiled kinetics of chemical releases from plastic debris in freshwater and marine environment via artificial river water (ARW) and seawater (ASW) in combination of nontarget screening. Chemical leaching from PVC cord particles in the ARW and ASW basically followed the first order kinetics, reaching pseudo-equilibrium in 30d and 14d, respectively, associated with both particle surface - water partitioning and inner-particle diffusion of chemicals. Dissolved organic carbon, finer size, and weathering of plastic particles might enhance whereas metal ions potentially hinder chemical releases from plastic debris in waters, respectively. Salinity and pH showed moderate effects on chemical leaching. In addition, chemicals' physiochemical properties might also affect their leaching behavior. Hundreds to thousands of chemicals would be released from plastic debris in days once entering waters, among which > 80% were unknown with rare or no information about eco-toxicity and environmental fate, posing unpredicted risks to the environment. Furthermore, new chemicals may keep being released with increasing weathering and extending retention time of plastics in waters, leading to increases in both numbers and complexities of released chemicals. Chemical leaching from plastics showed product-dependence and certain differences in freshwater and seawater. Large numbers of unknown chemicals potentially released from plastic debris in rivers, lakes, and oceans and subsequent environmental risks warrant in-depth research.

Identifying long-term health risks associated with environmental chemical incidents.

In recent years, there has been a notable surge in environmental incidents, including wildfires and chemical releases. Responses to such events have primarily focused on addressing acute and immediate impacts. However, potential long-term health risks have been overlooked. Our proposed framework first advocates for the holistic identification of contaminants, prioritizing persistent organic contaminants determined through both knowledge-based and non-targeted and targeted analysis. We suggest integrating environmental monitoring and modeling approaches to assess the extent and composition of contamination caused by these chemicals. To facilitate swift assessments, we advocate the development of streamlined chemical analysis techniques and dedicated technologies for in situ monitoring of persistent organic chemicals. In addition, we provide an overview of both traditional and state-of-the-art approaches to risk assessment and introduce a three-tier risk assessment framework for evaluating the long-term health risks associated with environmental incidents. We emphasize the importance of in situ soil remediation and coordinated recovery efforts, including effective communication, evacuation, and cleaning plans for affected spaces, which are pivotal for facilitating recovery from environmental incidents. This comprehensive approach fortifies preparedness and recovery strategies, providing a robust framework for managing future environmental crises.

Chemical release risk assessment in earthquake: Natech event scenario.

Introduction: In recent decades, an increase in natural disasters has led to the Natech events occurrence, which are technological accidents triggered by natural hazards. This study aims to assess the risk of chemical release of the H2S toxic gas following an earthquake from the refinery. Method: The Natech risk assessment was carried out in potential earthquake risk scenarios via a semi-quantitative method using Rapid-N software. The reference scenario was obtained using the Australian SMUG Model, which has presented precise prioritization. Findings: The Natech risk assessment has shown 40 possible earthquake risk scenarios from 5 enclosing Faults in Tehran (North Tehran, Mosha, North Ray, South Ray, and Kahrizak) with an extension of more than 15 km. The earthquake moment magnitudes of 7.5, 7.1, 6.5, and 5.9 were obtained on the Richter scale and at two Focal depths of 5 and 10 km. The South-Ray Fault (HSR-1) was selected as the reference scenario with a moment magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale at a Focal depth of 5 km and a distance of 5.5 km from the earthquake epicenter. The highest probability of Natech risk has shown the release of H2S toxic gas in an area with a radius of 6.59 km from the studied vessel in atmospheric stability conditions. Conclusion: Legislation in line with risk reduction, planning for the transfer of potentially dangerous industries to outside urban areas, monitoring land use laws, and promoting coordination between the government, industries, and people in the management of risks caused by industries containing hazardous substances and processes, assessing the risk of Natech events and their consequences, strengthening risk communication and the installation of early warning systems, and public education to adopt personal and socially safe behaviors when facing natural disasters are recommended.

Revealing chemical release from plastic debris in animals' digestive systems using nontarget and suspect screening and simulating digestive fluids.

Plastic debris in the environment are not only pollutants but may also be important sources of a variety of contaminants. This work simulated kinetics and potential of chemical leaching from plastic debris in animals' digestive systems by incubating polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cord particles in artificial digestive fluids combined with nontarget and suspect screening based on UHPLC-Orbitrap HRMS. Impacts of particle size, aging, and digestive fluid were investigated to elucidate mechanisms of chemical leaching. Thousands of chemical features were screened in the leachates of PVC cord particles in the artificial digestive fluids, among which >60% were unknown. Bisphenol A (BPA) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) were the dominant identified CL1 compounds. Finer size and aging of the PVC particles and prolonged incubation time enhanced chemical release, resulting in greater numbers, higher levels, and more complexity in components of the released chemicals. The gastrointestinal fluid was more favorable for chemical leaching than the gastric fluid, with greater numbers and higher levels. Hundreds to thousands of chemical features were screened and filtered in the leachates of consumer plastic products, including food contact products (FCPs) in the artificial bird gastrointestinal fluid. In addition to BPA and DEHP, several novel bisphenol analogues were identified in the leachate of at least one FCP. The results revealed that once plastic debris are ingested by animals, hundreds to thousands of chemicals may be released into animals' digestive tracts in hours, posing potential synergistic risks of plastic debris and chemicals to plastic-ingesting animals. Future research should pay more attentions to identification, ecotoxicities, and environmental fate of vast amounts of unknown chemicals potentially released from plastics in order to gain full pictures of plastic pollution in the environment.

Risk assessment of chemical release accident triggered by landslide using Bayesian network.

This study evaluated the risk of 461,260,800 scenarios of chemical release accidents triggered by landslides. Several industrial accidents triggered by landslides have recently occurred in Japan; however, only a few studies have analyzed the impact of landslide-triggered chemical release accidents on the surrounding areas. Bayesian networks (BNs) have recently been used in the risk assessment of natural hazardtriggered technological accidents (Natech) to quantify uncertainties and develop methods applicable to multiple scenarios. However, the scope of BN-based quantitative risk assessment is limited to the risk assessment of explosions triggered by earthquakes and lightning. We aimed to extend the BN-based risk analysis methodology and evaluate the risk and the effectiveness of the countermeasures for specific facility. A methodology was developed to assess human health risk in the surrounding areas when n-hexane was released and dispersed into the atmosphere due to a landslide. Risk assessment results showed that the societal risk (representing the relationship between frequency and number of people suffering from a particular harm) of the storage tank closest to the slope exceeded the Netherlands' criteria, which are the safest among the criteria in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Limiting the storage rate reduced the probability of one or more fatalities by up to about 40% compared with the no countermeasure case and was a more effective countermeasure than using oil fences and absorbents. Diagnostic analyses quantitatively showed that the distance between the tank and slope was the main contributing factor. The catch basin parameter contributed to the reduction in the variance of the results compared to the storage rate. This finding indicated that physical measures, such as strengthening or deepening the catch basin, are essential for risk reduction. Our methods can be applied to other natural disasters for multiple scenarios by combining it with other models.

Quantitative Nanoscale Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (NanoSIMS) Imaging of Individual Vesicles to Investigate the Relation between Fraction of Chemical Release and Vesicle Size.

We used correlative transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) imaging to quantify the contents of subvesicular compartments, and to measure the partial release fraction of 13 C-dopamine in cellular nanovesicles as a function of size. Three modes of exocytosis comprise full release, kiss-and-run, and partial release. The latter has been subject to scientific debate, despite a growing amount of supporting literature. We tailored culturing procedures to alter vesicle size and definitively show no size correlation with the fraction of partial release. In NanoSIMS images, vesicle content was indicated by the presence of isotopic dopamine, while vesicles which underwent partial release were identified by the presence of an 127 I-labelled drug, to which they were exposed during exocytosis allowing entry into the open vesicle prior to its closing again. Demonstration of similar partial release fractions indicates that this mode of exocytosis is predominant across a wide range of vesicle sizes.

Formation of Nano- and Microplastics and Dissolved Chemicals During Photodegradation of Polyester Base Fabrics with Polyurethane Coating.

Polyurethane (PU) synthetic leathers possess an intricate plastic composition, including polyester (PET) base fabrics and upper PU resin, but the release of fragments from the complexes is unclear. Therefore, we investigated the photodegradation trends of PET base fabrics with PU coating (PET-U) as a representative of composite plastics. Attention was paid to the comparison of the photoaging process of PET-U with that of pure PET base fabric (PET-P). To reveal the potential for chain scission, physical and chemical changes (e.g., surface morphology, molecular weight, and crystallinity) of the two fabrics were explored. The generation of microplastic fibers (MPFs) and microplastic particles (MPPs) was distinguished. Compared with PET-P, PET-U showed a similar but delayed trend in various characteristics and debris release rate as the photoaging time prolonged. Even so, after 360 h of illumination, the generated number of MPs (including MPFs and MPPs) rose considerably to 9.32 × 107 MPs/g, and the amount of released nanoplastics (NPs) increased to 2.70 × 1011 NPs/g from PET-U. The suppression of MP formation from PET-U was potentially directed by the physical shielding of the upper PU layer and the dropped MPs, which resisted the photochemical radical effect. The components of dissolved organic matter derived from plastics (P-DOM) were separated by molecular weight using a size-exclusion chromatography-diode array detector-organic carbon detector/organic nitrogen detector (SEC-DAD-OCD/OND), and the results showed that a larger amount of carbon- and nitrogen-containing chemical substances were generated in PET-U, accompanied by more aromatic and fluorescent compounds. The results provided theoretical bases and insights for future research on the risks of plastic debris from PU synthetic leathers on aquatic organisms and indicated feasible directions for exploring combined pollution studies of plastics.

Single-Vesicle Electrochemistry Following Repetitive Stimulation Reveals a Mechanism for Plasticity Changes with Iron Deficiency.

Deficiency of iron, the most abundant transition metal in the brain and important for neuronal activity, is known to affect synaptic plasticity, causing learning and memory deficits. How iron deficiency impacts plasticity by altering neurotransmission at the cellular level is not fully understood. We used electrochemical methods to study the effect of iron deficiency on plasticity with repetitive stimulation. We show that during iron deficiency, repetitive stimulation causes significant decrease in exocytotic release without changing vesicular content. This results in a lower fraction of release, opposite to the control group, upon repetitive stimulation. These changes were partially reversible by iron repletion. This finding suggests that iron deficiency has a negative effect on plasticity by decreasing the fraction of vesicular release in response to repetitive stimulation. This provides a putative mechanism for how iron deficiency modulates plasticity.

Foresight of the Consequences of the Hazmat Release From an Oil Refinery on the Surrounding Urban Community Following an Earthquake: A Natech Scenario Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the consequences of the Natech scenario of H2S toxic gas release from an oil refinery near Tehran and its effects on surrounding residential areas following an earthquake. METHODS: This research was an applied study. The Natech risk map and the end-point distance of gas release were determined using the Rapid-n software and the Worst-Case Scenario of RMP, respectively. RESULTS: Regarding the high seismic vulnerability of the structures affected by the Natech risk, all residents of this area were simultaneously affected by earthquake and the toxic gas inhalation. In comparison to earthquake, response capacities were poor for Natech events, due to insufficient resources, limited accessibility, lack of planning, and unsafe evacuation places in exposed regions. Unlike earthquake, few studies have been conducted on Natech risk assessment and related consequences in Iran. Our study not only covered this gap but also revealed some dimensions of consequences of human, structural, and response capacities. CONCLUSIONS: It is recommended to have plans for implementing short-term such as identifying vulnerable industries and areas, public awareness and long-term such as land use planning measures to reduce Natech risk and resilience improvement.

Artificial Organic Skin Wets Its Surface by Field-Induced Liquid Secretion.

Living organisms enhance their survival rate by excreting fluids at their surface, but man-made materials can also benefit from liquid secretion from a solid surface. Known approaches to secrete a liquid from solids are limited to passive release driven by diffusion, surface tension, or pressure. Remotely triggered release would give active control over surface properties but is still exceptional. Here, we report on an artificial skin that secretes functional fluids by means of radiofrequency electrical signals driven by dielectric liquid transport in a (sub-)microporous smectic liquid crystal network. The smectic order of the polymer network and its director determine the flow direction and enhance fluid transport toward the surface at pre-set positions. The released fluid can be reabsorbed by the skin using capillary filling. The fluid-active skins open avenues for robotic handling of chemicals and medicines, controlling tribology and fluid-supported surface cleaning.

Aldehyde-conjugated chitosan-graphene oxide glucodynamers: Ternary cooperative assembly and controlled chemical release.

Simultaneous condensation of aromatic aldehydes (ArxCHO; x = 1-4) on chitosan biopolymer (CS) affords, after water-evaporation, structurally-conjugated aryl-functionalized CS-Arx-f films. Similarly, cooperative assembly of two-dimensional nanometric graphene oxide (GO), aromatic aldehyde and chitosan provides transparent, flexible and crack-free aldehyde-functionalized, ternary-reinforced CS-Arx-GO-f nanocomposite films. Homogenous films were obtained using ortho-hydroxybenzaldehyde Ar1 while the para-hydroxybenzaldehyde Ar4 was prone to packing inside. Textural and mechanical properties were investigated and expectedly, significant improvement was found for CS-Ar1-GO-f because of the great dispersion of the aromatic and the presence of the filler. The sensitivity of unsaturated CN imine bond to hydrolysis was explored for triggering controlled release of aromatics from the as-prepared films. All of them were found to induce a time-dependent aromatic release. It has been moreover observed that the release was significantly delayed in CS-Arx-GO-f compared to CS-Arx-f, a fact attributed to the interplay of the ring with the basal and edges of graphene oxide, through π-π stacking and additional hydrogen bonding interactions. This finding shows that beyond the conventional wisdom using fillers for improving thermal and mechanical properties, the tiny carbon sheets can act as a regulator for aldehyde release, thereby providing a way for more controlled chemical delivery from confined nanocomposites.

Hospital, health, and community burden after oil refinery fires, Richmond, California 2007 and 2012.

INTRODUCTION: Emergency Departments experience a significant census burst after disasters. The aim of this study is to describe patient presentations at Emergency Departments in Contra Costa County, California following chemical release incidents at an oil refinery in 2007 and 2012. Specific areas of focus include hospital and community burden with an emphasis on disease classes. METHODS: Searching 4 weeks before through 4 weeks after each event, Emergency Department abstracts identified patients living in Contra Costa County and seeking care there or in neighboring Alameda County. City and ZIP-code of residence established proximity to the refinery. This provided the following contrast groups: Event (2007, 2012), time (before, after), location (bayside, rest of county), and within bayside, warned or not warned to shelter in place. Using the Multi-Level Clinical Classification Software, we classified primary health groups recorded 4 weeks before and after the events, then summarized the data, calculated rates, and made tables, graphs, and maps to highlight findings. RESULTS: Number of visits meeting selection criteria totalled 105020 records. Visits increased modestly but statistically significantly after the 2007 incident. After the 2012 incident, two Emergency Departments took the brunt of the surge. Censuses increased from less than 600 a week each to respectively 5719 and 3072 the first week, with the greatest number 2 days post-event. It took 4 weeks for censuses to return to normal. The most common diagnosis groups that spiked were nervous/sensory, respiratory, circulatory, and injury. Bayside communities had statistically significant increases in residents seeking care. Specifically, visits of residents in warned communities nearest the refinery increased by a factor of 3.7 while visits of residents in other nearby un-warned communities increased by a factor of 1.5. CONCLUSIONS: The 2012 Emergency Department census peaked in the first week and did not return to normal for 4 weeks. Diagnoses changed to reflect conditions associated with reactions to chemical exposures. Surrounding communities and nearby hospitals experienced significant emergent burdens. In addition to changes from such events in patient diagnoses and community burden, the discussion highlights the long-term implications of failures to require adequate monitoring and warning systems and failures of health planning.

Purpose-Driven Reconciliation of Approaches to Estimate Chemical Releases.

A framework is presented to address the toolbox of chemical release estimation methods available for manufacturing processes. Although scientists and engineers often strive for increased accuracy, the development of fit-for-purpose release estimates can speed results that could otherwise delay decisions important to protecting human health and the environment. A number of release estimation approaches are presented, with the newest using decision trees for regression and prediction. Each method is evaluated in a case study for cumene production to study the reconciliation of data quality concerns and requirements for time, resources, training, and knowledge. The evaluation of these decision support criteria and the lessons learned are used to develop a purpose-driven framework for estimating chemical releases.

Study of endocrine disrupting compound release from different medical devices through an on-line SPE UHPLC-MS/MS method.

The paper deals with the development of an online UHPLC-MS/MS method for the identification and determination of 25 Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) belonging to different chemical classes (perfluorochemicals, bisphenols, alkylphenols, phthalates, and parabens). The study regards the possible EDC migration from different medical devices of diverse materials used in the routine hospitals for blood sampling or for the parenteral nutrition therapies. In order to evaluate the release of EDCs, the equipment used for blood sampling (syringes, butterfly, cannula-needle, microcapillary tube) was put in contact with a physiological solution at a prefixed time. As regards the migration tests carried out on the medical devices used in the parenteral nutrition therapy (infusion tubes, venous catheters), the catheters were undergone to internal contact with parenteral solution and external contact with physiological one, whereas the infusion tubes were subjected only to internal migration test with parenteral solution. The results demonstrated the released of some ECDs (such as parabens at the concentration of few pg mL-1, diethylphthalate and dibutylphthlate at ng mL-1, level), when using physiological solution as the leaching agent. In addition, the presence of a PFOS structural isomer was found at 29.0 ng mL-1: this compound was released in part from the infusion tubes and mostly from the venous catheters, particularly from silicone ones. Using a more lipophilic solution, such as parenteral preparations, a greater amount of EDCs was released, among which also the diethylhexylphthalate that was quantified in all the investigated devices (without highlighting particular trends or migration from PVC devices), but its concentration remained always lower than imposed maximum threshold limit on medical device of 0.1% w/w. The releases from the infusion tubes of the same materials (polyethylene) from different manufacturers are very comparable, whereas the catheter of silicone releases greater amount of EDCs than that of polyurethane.

Reductive chemical release of N-glycans as 1-amino-alditols and subsequent 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl labeling for MS and LC/MS analysis.

Glycoproteins play pivotal roles in a series of biological processes and their glycosylation patterns need to be structurally and functionally characterized. However, the lack of versatile methods to release N-glycans as functionalized forms has been undermining glycomics studies. Here a novel method is developed for dissociation of N-linked glycans from glycoproteins for analysis by MS and online LC/MS. This new method employs aqueous ammonia solution containing NaBH3CN as the reaction medium to release glycans from glycoproteins as 1-amino-alditol forms. The released glycans are conveniently labeled with 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (Fmoc) and analyzed by ESI-MS and online LC/MS. Using the method, the neutral and acidic N-glycans were successfully released without peeling degradation of the core α-1,3-fucosylated structure or detectable de-N-acetylation, revealing its general applicability to various types of N-glycans. The Fmoc-derivatized N-glycans derived from chicken ovalbumin, Fagopyrum esculentum Moench Pollen and FBS were successfully analyzed by online LC/MS to distinguish isomers. The 1-amino-alditols were also permethylated to form quaternary ammonium cations at the reducing end, which enhance the MS sensitivity and are compatible with sequential multi-stage mass spectrometry (MSn) fragmentation for glycan sequencing. The Fmoc-labeled N-glycans were further permethylated to produce methylated carbamates for determination of branches and linkages by sequential MSn fragmentation. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: N-Glycosylation represents one of the most common post-translational modification forms and plays pivotal roles in the structural and functional regulation of proteins in various biological activities, relating closely to human health and diseases. As a type of informational molecule, the N-glycans of glycoproteins participate directly in the molecular interactions between glycan epitopes and their corresponding protein receptors. Detailed structural and functional characterization of different types of N-glycans is essential for understanding the functional mechanisms of many biological activities and the pathologies of many diseases. Here we describe a simple, versatile method to indistinguishably release all types of N-glycans as functionalized forms without remarkable side reactions, enabling convenient, rapid analysis and preparation of released N-glycans from various complex biological samples. It is very valuable for studies on the complicated structure-function relationship of N-glycans, as well as for the search of N-glycan biomarkers of some major diseases and N-glycan related targets of some drugs.

Aldehyde-functionalized chitosan-montmorillonite films as dynamically-assembled, switchable-chemical release bioplastics.

Temporal release of synergistic and/or complementary chemicals (e.g.: drugs) is recognized as extremely challenging because of their frequently intertwined kinetic delivery and presently, straightforward concepts enabling to circumvent this bottleneck are missing in the open literature. In this framework, we report herein on aldehyde-functionalized, transparent and flexible chitosan-montmorillonite hybrid films that act as a new generation of eco-friendly, controlled-chemical release bioplastics. These dynamically-assembled nanomaterials are designed by a ternary assembly from biowaste derived chitin biopolymer, aromatic aldehydes and layered clay nanoparticles. On the basis of their geometrical and conformational properties, the oxygenated groups on the grafted aromatics interact preferentially with either the base Schiff belonging to the carbohydrate (via intramolecular CNHO-Ar known as "imine clip") or with the hydroxyl groups belonging to the clay surface (via intermolecular Si-OHO-Ar). The exfoliated clay nanoparticles within the carbohydrate polymer enables either accelerating or slowing down of the imine (CN) hydrolysis depending on the interaction of the conjugated aromatics. This provides the driving force for fine tuning host-guest interactions at the molecular level and constitutes an entry toward subtle discrimination of different chemicals (e.g. complementary fertilizers, synergistic drugs) during their sequential release.

OrganoRelease - A framework for modeling the release of organic chemicals from the use and post-use of consumer products.

Chemicals in consumer products have become the focus of recent regulatory developments including California's Safer Consumer Products Act. However, quantifying the amount of chemicals released during the use and post-use phases of consumer products is challenging, limiting the ability to understand their impacts. Here we present a comprehensive framework, OrganoRelease, for estimating the release of organic chemicals from the use and post-use of consumer products given limited information. First, a novel Chemical Functional Use Classifier estimates functional uses based on chemical structure. Second, the quantity of chemicals entering different product streams is estimated based on market share data of the chemical functional uses. Third, chemical releases are estimated based on either chemical product categories or functional uses by using the Specific Environmental Release Categories and EU Technological Guidance Documents. OrganoRelease connects 19 unique functional uses and 14 product categories across 4 data sources and provides multiple pathways for chemical release estimation. Available user information can be incorporated in the framework at various stages. The Chemical Functional Use Classifier achieved an average accuracy above 84% for nine functional uses, which enables the OrganoRelease to provide release estimates for the chemical, mostly using only the molecular structure. The results can be can be used as input for methods estimating environmental fate and exposure.

Photocaged Competitor Guests: A General Approach Toward Light-Activated Cargo Release From Cucurbiturils.

A general approach toward the light-induced guest release from cucurbit[7]uril by means of a photoactivatable competitor was devised. An o-nitrobenzyl-caged competitor is photolyzed to generate a competitive guest that can displace cargo from the host macrocycle solely based on considerations of chemical equilibrium. With this method the release of terpene guests from inclusion complexes with cucurbit[7]uril was demonstrated. The binding of the herein investigated terpenes, all being lead fragrant components in essential oils, has been characterized for the first time. They feature binding constants of up to 108  L mol-1 and a high differential binding selectivity (spanning four orders of magnitude for the binding constants for the particular set of terpenes). By fine-tuning the photoactivatable competitor guest, selective and also sequential release of the terpenes was achieved.

Challenges During a Chlorine Gas Emergency Response.

OBJECTIVE: A chlorine gas release occurred at a poultry processing plant as a result of an accidental mixing of sodium hypochlorite and an acidic antimicrobial treatment. We evaluated the public health and emergency medical services response and developed and disseminated public health recommendations to limit the impact of future incidents. METHODS: We conducted key informant interviews with the state health department; local fire, emergency medical services, and police departments; county emergency management; and representatives from area hospitals to understand the response mechanisms employed for this incident. RESULTS: After being exposed to an estimated 40-pound chlorine gas release, 170 workers were triaged on the scene and sent to 5 area hospitals. Each hospital redistributed staff or called in extra staff (eg, physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists) in response to the event. Interviews with hospital staff emphasized the need for improved communication with responders at the scene of a chemical incident. CONCLUSIONS: While responding, hospitals handled the patient surge without outside assistance because of effective planning, training, and drilling. The investigation highlighted that greater interagency communication can play an important role in ensuring that chemical incident patients are managed and treated in a timely manner. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:553-556).

Key aspects of a Flemish system to safeguard public health interests in case of chemical release incidents.

Although well-established protocols are available for emergency services and first-responders in case of chemical release incidents, a well-developed system to monitor and safeguard public health was, until recently, lacking in Flanders. We therefore developed a decision support system (DSS) to aid public health officials in identifying the appropriate actions in case of incidents. Although the DSS includes human biomonitoring as one of its key instruments, it also goes well beyond this instrument alone. Also other, complementary, approaches that focus more on effect assessment using in vitro toxicity testing, indirect exposures through the food chain, and parallel means of data collection (e.g. through ecosurveillance or public consultation), are integrated in the Flemish approach. Even though the DSS is set up to provide a flexible and structured decision tree, the value of expert opinion is deemed essential to account for the many uncertainties associated with the early phases of technological incidents. When the DSS and the associated instruments will be fully operational, it will provide a valuable addition to the already available protocols, and will specifically safeguard public health interests.