MIT Lab Sealed After Student's Mercury Claim
MIT Lab Sealed After Student's Mercury Claim
The News
An MIT graduate student is under medical supervision after telling an emergency room he had synthesized dimethyl mercury — one of the most toxic compounds known — triggering a hazmat response and the closure of a campus chemistry building.
MIT said the student was not authorized to work with the compound and that it was not part of his research.
The school now says "emerging information calls into question whether this compound was in fact synthesized." An initial blood test showed no sign of mercury exposure.
Timeline
The student says the synthesis took place. Emergency responders and MIT later identified this as the date of the affected lab work.
The student self-reports to an emergency room. Officials at Massachusetts General Brigham said late that night a person possibly exposed to mercury was being treated, according to The Boston Globe.
MIT closes Building 18, the Camille Edouard Dreyfus Chemistry Building, and calls in Cambridge emergency responders to begin decontamination. Common areas of the student's residence hall are professionally cleaned and his room is sealed off.
MIT issues a statement saying the student remains under medical supervision, that the initial blood test shows no sign of mercury exposure, and that new information raises doubt about whether dimethyl mercury was actually made.
Building 18 remains closed as specialized decontamination and testing continue.
Reactions
"Emerging information calls into question whether this compound was in fact synthesized," an MIT spokesman said Saturday.
"We are also able to disclose, with the student's permission, that while the student remains under medical supervision, their initial blood test result, which was received today, shows no sign of exposure to mercury," the spokesman said.
MIT said people who were near the student and the affected workspace on Aug. 26 were offered baseline testing. The school said there is "very low risk of secondary or tertiary exposures" and does not recommend testing for anyone who was not in the lab space that day.
What's Next
Building 18 was expected to stay closed at least through Aug. 30 while decontamination continues "out of an abundance of caution," MIT said. Cleaning of the student's individual dorm unit was still underway; no restrictions were placed on the residence hall itself.
Testing and the school's investigation into how an unauthorized synthesis was attempted are continuing. The student has not been publicly identified.
More
Dimethyl mercury is lethal in tiny quantities. Less than 0.1 milliliters is a "severely toxic dose," according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The best-known case is Dartmouth College chemistry professor Karen Wetterhahn, who died in 1997 after spilling a few drops on her gloved hand. Her health problems appeared months later and were traced to acute mercury poisoning.
The Environmental Protection Agency's Health and Environmental Research Online database describes the compound as posing "a serious environmental and health hazard."
Poll question for readers: Should universities face outside inspections when a student attempts an unauthorized synthesis?
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