Once the TOXNET info got to their field people, CDC had to respond. CDC has issued this UPDATED recommendation (acquired through regional television WSAZ):
The new CDC recommendations ask pregnant women to use bottled water until there are no detectable levels of MCHM, the chemical that spilled into the Elk River in Charleston last week.
Toxicity of 4-methylcyclohexanol with animal tests from TOXNET at National Library of Medicine shows lethality as a gas. That conveys somewhat less chemical than the Navy test. If anything, the Navy is slightly optimistic about surviving MCHM.
The Examiner has this up:
The U.S. Navy laboratory at Norfolk Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Va. says that the only acceptable level of the chemical in any oral form is less than 0.057 ppm, less than 1/16th the amount that Governor (Earl Ray) Tomblin had said was an acceptable level.Gov. Tomblin was relying on WV National Guard Gen. Hoyer for information, but he was relying on the producers, Georgia-Pacific. No one tested MCHM to NBC/WMD standards prior to the Navy getting hold of it. Chemicals are always tested when they go into a ship that can face chemical warfare.
NIH/TOXNET are the specialists at poisons. CDC come second and apply standards with force of law. The Navy have chemical engineers on hand with excellent lab facilities. They're all on the same page.
State of West Virginia, maybe a step behind. CDC has reached out so it probably doesn't matter.
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Dysinformation in the comments
Various claims appear that this MCHM is "highly soluble" in water. Thus, that it will be easy to clean out from home systems. The "Lake Superior" account, particularly, adopts a "superior" tone as though speaking as a chemist. that information is false. to wit:
"4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM, systematic name 4-methylcyclohexylmethanol) is an organic compound with the formula CH3C6H10CH2OH. Classified as an alcohol, it exists as two diastereomers with similar properties. It is a colourless oil with a faint mint-like alcohol odor. Like other 8-carbon alcohols, such as 1-octanol, this compound is only slightly soluble in water but highly soluble in many organic solvents."Look it up anywhere. That's the wiki entry. It is going to be a (*&^%%^& to get out of contaminated water pipes. Two set process is stated below.
And we still have no idea what impurities get shipped with commercial 4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol. And why does that matter ??? Ask these folks:
Chisso Corporation in Japan didn't control their chemicals, same as Freedom Industries. That's why the girl Tomoko Uemura, is blind, deaf, twisted -- bathed in her mother's love as you can see. Mercury is one nasty poison, obviously. CDC also states a zero-tolerance standard for MCHM for pregnant women and it is "only slightly soluble in water" so it's going to hang around doing its damage. So let's get serious:
1. Flushing pipes doesn't get you below 0.057 PPM. You have to shut off water and drain your pipes first. Pretend you are going away for January and February with the heat off. Then refill with no-MCHM clean water.
2. Test by taking a 50 cc sample and mailing it in. This is going to be a big problem for West Virginia government. They had nothing going as of this afternoon. They are relying on the local water authorities, not on testing individual houses. Try the State Police with a note asking them to register evidence and forward to the appropriate authority for testing ASAP.
Georgia Pacific Chemical is owned by the Koch brothers. We know what to expect there. If this batch was from Eastman Chemical, that doesn't change a thing. West Virginia government is all but owned by the coal industry which uses this MCHM as a "frothing agent" to clean coal dust. We know what to expect there. Occupy West Virginia doesn't have resources to deal with this mess.
Surviving chemical poisoning depends on getting to good science and good engineering. Getting there fast. The people at Minamata were dying before they got help, seeing their kids trashed in the womb. The people of West Virginia have been told that MCHM will wash away in water, which has no basis in fact. They were being lied to yesterday.
West Virginia needs better. Everybody near the river needs to know what TOXNET and the Navy know about MCHM.
Everybody needs a full NBC/WMD analysis of the MCHM and contaminants in their house water. See photos in links in the comments for what this crap does to skin and to pipes. Details in the TOXNET studies start at liver damage, going on from there.
What CDC says is good for pregnant women, take it to heart for your family and yourself.
You see the problem flying blind, the long term risks, right? And don't think that because mercury is more toxic than MCHM, anybody is off free. It don't work like that with 7,500 gallons estimated in one leak and months of systemic MCHM leaks likely going back into 2013.