1855 United States Tycoon

Listening to Fritz's account, Dena couldn't help but think of some of the chemistry she had learned, especially the chemical aspects of pesticides.

"It has a pungent smell, can cause severe coughing, is very irritating to the eyes, can make people cry, just like chili water, it can cause blindness after poisoning..."

Dena thought this way, and then asked: "Have you asked the doctor to see it?"

Fritz might have coughed violently at this time because he had said too much. His originally pale face turned red, and large drops of sweat rolled off his head.

"When the accident happened, Mr. Nieman, the doctor in the factory, gave him blood. Mr. Elber and some people from the union asked Dr. Oshalet to see him once." Hannah, who was staying, wiped Fritz. The sweat on his head said as he spoke.

"What did the doctor say?" Dena asked.

"The doctor said that Fritz was lucky. If the valve was closed for a minute or two, Fritz would be dead. Even so, Fritz's eyes would be completely blind." Hannah replied.

"Mr. Fritz, do anyone else have symptoms of pulmonary edema?" Dena asked suddenly.

"Yes." Elber said, "Putra died of pulmonary edema, a little more than half an hour after the incident. Miss Dena, did you think about this?"

"I thought of something, but it may not be reliable. Ah, is your pesticide factory producing carvin?" Dena asked.

Carivine is a pesticide used by a pesticide factory under the McDonald Consortium to deal with cotton bollworm and soybean borer. Dena wonders if there are similar things in Germany.

"It doesn't seem to be." Elber said, he is one of the leaders of the union, and naturally knows more.

"The carbaryl you mentioned is the kind of thing produced in United States that is specially used to kill bollworms, right?" Siegfelter interrupted suddenly, "Germany does not produce a large amount of cotton, so if you want to use this They are all imported directly from United States. Because of the small amount used, it is not profitable to develop similar products alone. Therefore, as far as I know, there should be no pesticide factories in Germany to produce this thing."

"Oh." Dena nodded and asked again, "So what kind of pesticide does your factory produce?"

"It's mainly six or six," Elber replied.

The scientific name of "hexachlorocyclohexane" is hexachlorocyclohexane, which is a saturated compound formed by replacing one hydrogen atom on each carbon atom of cyclohexane with a chlorine atom. Because the molecular structure contains six carbon, hydrogen, and chlorine atoms each, it has the name "66". This thing was developed by Faraday in 1825, but it was not used on a large scale at that time. Until recently, when United States began to use a lot of pesticides and obtained an amazing harvest, European talents began to make a lot of pesticides. . Since many pesticide patents are in the hands of the Macdonald Consortium, there are no patent barriers, and at the same time the “Six Six Six” that can kill most of the pests has become the majority in Europe. Favorite of the pesticide factory. However, in the production process of "Six Six Six", there is no such intermediate product that needs to be packed in a pressure vessel, can be quickly vaporized, and can cause blindness and pulmonary edema Death in a short time inhalation. If it's the Carvine mentioned by Dena, there are some things that meet this condition in the production process.

"What is the volume of the pressure vessel in your factory, do you know?" Dena asked.

"It's about eight cubic meters, but it never seems to be full. Every once in a while there will be vehicles carrying some of the contents. As for where it went, we don't know. Because every At this time, the workers will be driven out by the factory guards. So we only know that the things were transported away, who transported them, where they were transported to, and what they were used for, we don’t know at all.” Elber replied .

"Do the various valves on this tank always break faster than other similar places?" Dena asked again.

"Don't you say I really didn't notice it, it's true." said Fritz, who gradually calmed down his cough.

"Dana Miss, what kind of guess do you have?" Elber asked.

"Nothing." Dena said, "I just remembered a similar accident in United States. Oh, did you emphasize that you must never let water seep into the pressure tank?"

"Yes, yes, there are such rules." Fritz hurriedly replied, because he said too quickly, he coughed all of a sudden.

Dena turned her face and said to several other people: "It seems that my guess is really possible. I guess that the jar is filled with methyl isocyanate. This is the raw material for making carbaryl. One. It's just a toxic and volatile liquid, with a boiling point of only 37 degrees under a standard atmospheric pressure. It will volatilize very quickly in this weather. So it must be packed in a pressure container. This thing is very toxic. The symptoms of poisoning are very similar to what you described. And this thing is corrosive to metals, so valves and other things are especially easy to damage. In addition, once this thing encounters water, it will have a strong chemical reaction, so pay special attention to it. Waterproof. Because of this, I suspect they are poisoned by methyl isocyanate this time."

"Dana Miss, did you just say that a similar accident happened in United States?" Siegfelter asked.

"Yes." Dena said, "but it's not a factory accident, but a laboratory accident." At this point, Dena stretched out her hand to straighten her hair, and then said:

"I heard about this from my chemistry teacher. At that time I was still at the University of Cleveland, and our school had a large laboratory. The accident happened there. Of course, we saw it with our own eyes, not even What happened the year I was studying.

At that time, when the large laboratory was conducting related research, an experimenter improperly operated and let some water into the container that contained it, which caused an accident. result……"

"How did it turn out?" Siegfelter asked.

"As a result, five experimenters in the laboratory were poisoned and two of them were blind. If it weren't for the fact that our laboratory was close to the Jiu'en Hospital, the affiliated hospital of our school, and the rescue was in time, I was afraid that several people would die. The two experimenters who were blind developed symptoms of pulmonary edema and almost died." Dena replied.

"What makes me strange is that this kind of thing seems to have no other purpose besides making carbaryl." Dena said, "and even if it is sold to other companies to make carbaryl, there is no need to do it like this. It’s mysterious. There must be a problem in it. How about it, Mr. Siegfelter, what do you think?"

"Listening to you, I also think this matter must be strange." Siegfelter also said the same.

...

After visiting the remaining two victims, it was late, and Dana and Alice caught the last tram and returned to the hotel in the center of Nuremberg.

"Alice, I still think it's weird that this factory produces methyl isocyanate inexplicably." Lying on the bed, Dena said to Alice.

"It's strange, but this is not the point." Alice, who had been exhausted after a day of running, yawned and said, "Our report should focus on the safety of workers and the personal protection of workers injured at work."

"Yes." Dena said, "but I'm just a little pure and curious." While saying, Dena rolled over and closed her eyes, as if she was going to sleep, but suddenly she opened her eyes again. , Said to Alice: "I suddenly thought of an idea to investigate this matter."

"What?" Alice replied vaguely, "Dana, I'm so sleepy, let's talk about it tomorrow."

But Dena was someone who couldn't fall asleep when she thought of interesting things, so she turned over again, and said to Alice, "Are you sleepy? Let me refresh your mind." Then she stretched out her hand. Go tick Alice. After spending so long with Alice, Dena knew that Alice was most afraid of tickles.

"Stop making trouble, Dena... I'll be really angry any more. Okay, I won't sleep anymore, tell me..." Alice said while resisting Dena's attack.

"Good Big sis, I think we can use the family's strength in Europe." Dena stopped her hands and said with a smile, "You tell them that I found that the German pesticide factory is producing methyl isocyanate. Ester, I suspect that they are doing things that infringe our patent rights. In addition, my life is boring, my big Miss has a temper and has to investigate this matter myself. You are worried that I will be in danger, so contact them, hope Can I have an answer as soon as possible, so as not to really cause some trouble... Tell them this way, do you think they will help us investigate something?"

"Even if it is just to find out if a manufacturer wants to produce carbaryl, they will check it out. But on the other hand, for this matter, their surveillance of you will definitely be strengthened. Don't you worry about this? "Alice asked.

"This strengthening is only temporary at best. There is something to worry about. Okay, go to bed, go to bed." While muttering, Dena closed her eyes.

...

A few days later, in the "Advance Newspaper" and "The Bavarian Advancing Newspaper" were published reports exposing that pesticide manufacturers ignored the safety of workers and caused serious accidents. And these reports use definite evidence to reveal that in order to reduce costs in the production process, these companies deliberately ignore the wide-ranging safety hazards and the lack of relevant protection by the workers.

Affected by these reports, the Nuremberg Federation of Trade Unions launched a general strike, demanding that such companies raise safety standards and provide workers with work injury protection.

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