Two accidents at
Germany's largest
chemical group,
Hoechst AG, in the last
week of January this
year, has led to
nearly one tonne of
toxic powder
escaping into the
environment and
another 1.5 tonne of
an unnamed substance spilling into
the Main River, near
Frankfurt.
The powder used to
make the herbicide Arelon, is
mildly toxic and has
the propensity to
cause cancer according to Juergen
Asshauer, a Hoechst
official. The Hesse state
environment ministry has ordered that
the plant be shut
down until the cause
of the mishaps are
determined and
adequate precautions
are taken to ensure
that future accidents do not take
place. Meanwhile,
city health
authorities issued a
general
river warning and
directed that residents stay indoors
until the clean-up
operations are
concluded.
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