By Stephen George

An accident in the chemistry building last week elicited an emergency response from local authorities, including fire, police, EMS, and hazardous materials teams.

Chemistry majors Nadia Mousa and Larry Chadwell and their professor, Dr. Charles Trapp, were exposed to napthalene, a mildly toxic chemical most commonly found in mothballs, last Wednesday during what was described as a “routine experiment.”

“There was a minor chemical exposure during a routine chemistry experiment,” university spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith said. “The standard response is they rinse off (and) call the appropriate people.”

According to Trapp, the accident was not as threatening as it seemed.

“The students told me they were more frightened than injured,” Trapp said. “And although that seemed to be the case to me as well, I requested the students to stay and be checked out by persons more qualified than I to make that diagnosis.”

Trapp notified the Department of Public Safety and they, in turn, notified the city authorities.

The students were taken to University Hospital for treatment and were released later that night with no injuries.

The lab where the spill occurred was occupied only by the two students, Trapp, and his assistant, all of whom remained in the room to contain the chemical.

According to Goldsmith, the presence of four Louisville Fire Department trucks, two EMS units, numerous police officers, MSD representatives, and an Environmental Health and Safety representative was all part of the routine follow-up to any mishandling of even a mildly toxic chemical such as napthalene.

“It’s a precaution,” she said.

The function of the experiment the students were conducting is to determine the energy content of specified organic compounds. In this particular experiment, the students were testing benzoic acid, maleic acid, and napthalene. The experiment is a required component of Chemistry 470.

“We want to emphasize that the students were not injured and that we handled the incident ‘by the book,'” Trapp said, “following the established protocol for situations in which there is the possibility of injury to students.”

The chemistry department is currently investigating cause of the accident.