Chem Lab Spill Closes Oxford St.

A chemical spill at the Mallinckrodt chemistry laboratories caused Oxford Street to be blocked off for nearly an hour Wednesday morning, officials said yesterday.

The Cambridge fire department ordered the street closed after an experiment by a post-doctoral student on the third floor of the lab took a wrong turn at about 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, said Peter M. Bochnak, associate director for environmental health and safety at Harvard.

"A student was working with a gram of copper cyanide in a fume hood," a safety device where a sheet of glass is used to contain possibly dangerous fumes emitting from experiments, Bochnak said yesterday. "It apparently overheated and the student was flashed with the copper cyanide."

The student whose skin came into contact with the hot copper cyanide was not severely injured. He was taken to Cambridge hospital and released the same day in good condition, Bochnak said. The student's name was not released.

The Harvard Facilities Maintenance department called the Cambridge Fire Department, as chemistry department regulations require. The fire department ordered Mallinckrodt evacuated and Oxford Street blocked off from the Science Center to the Hoffmann laboratories, said Henry S. Littleboy, health and safety officer in the faculty of arts and sciences environmental health and safety office.

"It was identified as being a cyanide spill and they went into maximum response," Littleboy said. "They thought it might be cyanide gas."

Cyanide gas, he said, is highly toxic and is eventually lethal to humans if breathed for a protracted period of time. The experiment in question, though, involved only solid cyanide, which is poisonous is ingested but gives off no dangerous fumes.

Littleboy, who was called at home and came directly over to the labs, said the fire department opened the street up again at about 9 a.m. after determining that there was no danger from the spill. "In retrospect, it was overkill, but they're super people," he said.

He said the department is investigating the incident, as it is required to do by its regulations. "In the event of an accident...first the professor grabs him and discusses it...later, a group comes up with a report," Littleboy said

"It was identified as being a cyanide spill and they went into maximum response," Littleboy said. "They thought it might be cyanide gas."

Cyanide gas, he said, is highly toxic and is eventually lethal to humans if breathed for a protracted period of time. The experiment in question, though, involved only solid cyanide, which is poisonous is ingested but gives off no dangerous fumes.

Littleboy, who was called at home and came directly over to the labs, said the fire department opened the street up again at about 9 a.m. after determining that there was no danger from the spill. "In retrospect, it was overkill, but they're super people," he said.

He said the department is investigating the incident, as it is required to do by its regulations. "In the event of an accident...first the professor grabs him and discusses it...later, a group comes up with a report," Littleboy said