Anna Stec

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Anna Agnieszka Stec FHEA is Professor in Fire Chemistry and Toxicology at the University of Central Lancashire. Her interests include the assessment of toxic and irritant hazards in fires, and the factors affecting fire gas toxicity.

Contents

Education

Stec gained a MSC (Eng) from Warsaw University of Technology, and a PhD (Fire Chemistry and Toxicity) from University of Bolton. [1] Her thesis title was "Fire toxicity and its measurement". [2]

Professional bodies

Research

In 2012 she led research, presented to an American Chemical Society symposium on "Fire and polymers", which showed that halogen-based flame retardants used in many domestic and other consumer products can increase the production of carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide gases which are the main cause of deaths from fire. "We found that flame retardants have the undesirable effect of increasing the amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide released during combustion," she said. [3] [4]

In 2013 she experimented with the effects of fire on a 1950 style British house discovering that toxic gases were as prevalent in closed rooms and ones with their doors open: this affected emergency egress times. Her work in 2018 showed that fire fighters were 3 times more likely to contract cancer, as the carcinogens entered through the skin. [5] The methods used to wash their protective gear washed the carcinogens into the fibres making them carcinogenic. [6]

Grenfell Tower Inquiry

Seventy-one people died in the Grenfell Tower fire. Stec had warned of the toxic nature of plastic cladding in an academic paper. [7]

On 8 February 2018, Stec briefed Public Health England, saying further analysis was needed of soil and dust within the tower and other evacuated buildings before residents returned. The so-called “Grenfell cough” reported by survivors is indicative of elevated levels of atmospheric contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) which are potentially carcinogenic.

Early results indicate high levels of PAH in the surrounding soil and the biggest threat to survivors would be from absorption of toxic material via the skin, not from smoke inhalation. Black soot from the fire was highly likely to be contaminated with asbestos from the tower. There would be potential large-scale contamination up to a mile around the tower, with potential long-term health implications. [8]

In September 2018 Stec was appointed as an expert witness to the Grenfell Tower Enquiry. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydrocarbon</span> Organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon

In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic; their odor is usually faint, and may be similar to that of gasoline or lighter fluid. They occur in a diverse range of molecular structures and phases: they can be gases, liquids, low melting solids or polymers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoke</span> Mass of airborne particulates and gases

Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product of fires, but may also be used for pest control (fumigation), communication, defensive and offensive capabilities in the military, cooking, or smoking. It is used in rituals where incense, sage, or resin is burned to produce a smell for spiritual or magical purposes. It can also be a flavoring agent and preservative.

Acetonitrile, often abbreviated MeCN, is the chemical compound with the formula CH3CN and structure H3C−C≡N. This colourless liquid is the simplest organic nitrile. It is produced mainly as a byproduct of acrylonitrile manufacture. It is used as a polar aprotic solvent in organic synthesis and in the purification of butadiene. The N≡C−C skeleton is linear with a short C≡N distance of 1.16 Å.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firefighter</span> Rescuer trained to extinguish fires

A firefighter is a first responder trained in firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires that threaten life and property, as well as to rescue persons from confinement or dangerous situations. Male firefighters are sometimes referred to as firemen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1,2-Dibromoethane</span> Chemical compound

1,2-Dibromoethane, also known as ethylene dibromide (EDB), is an organobromine compound with the chemical formula C
2H
4Br
2. Although trace amounts occur naturally in the ocean, where it is formed probably by algae and kelp, it is mainly synthetic. It is a dense colorless liquid with a faint, sweet odor, detectable at 10 ppm, and is a widely used and sometimes-controversial fumigant. The combustion of 1,2-dibromoethane produces hydrogen bromide gas that is significantly corrosive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyrolysis</span> Thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures in an inert atmosphere

The pyrolysis process is the thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures, often in an inert atmosphere. Temperature can be understood as thermal vibration. At high temperatures, excessive vibration causes long chain molecules to break into smaller molecules. The word is coined from the Greek-derived elements pyro "fire", "heat", "fever" and lysis "separating".

Acrylonitrile is an organic compound with the formula CH2CHCN and the structure H2C=CH−C≡N. It is a colorless, volatile liquid although commercial samples can be yellow due to impurities. It has a pungent odor of garlic or onions. Its molecular structure consists of a vinyl group linked to a nitrile. It is an important monomer for the manufacture of useful plastics such as polyacrylonitrile. It is reactive and toxic at low doses. Acrylonitrile was first synthesized by the French chemist Charles Moureu (1863–1929) in 1893.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon</span> Hydrocarbon composed of multiple aromatic rings

A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a class of organic compounds that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The simplest representative is naphthalene, having two aromatic rings and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene. PAHs are uncharged, non-polar and planar. Many are colorless. Many of them are found in coal and in oil deposits, and are also produced by the incomplete combustion of organic matter—for example, in engines and incinerators or when biomass burns in forest fires.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flame retardant</span> Substance applied to items to slow burning or delay ignition

The term flame retardants subsumes a diverse group of chemicals that are added to manufactured materials, such as plastics and textiles, and surface finishes and coatings. Flame retardants are activated by the presence of an ignition source and are intended to prevent or slow the further development of ignition by a variety of different physical and chemical methods. They may be added as a copolymer during the polymerisation process, or later added to the polymer at a moulding or extrusion process or applied as a topical finish. Mineral flame retardants are typically additive while organohalogen and organophosphorus compounds can be either reactive or additive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organophosphate</span> Organic compounds with the structure O=P(OR)3

In organic chemistry, organophosphates are a class of organophosphorus compounds with the general structure O=P(OR)3, a central phosphate molecule with alkyl or aromatic substituents. They can be considered as esters of phosphoric acid.

A blood agent is a toxic chemical agent that affects the body by being absorbed into the blood. Blood agents are fast-acting, potentially lethal poisons that typically manifest at room temperature as volatile colorless gases with a faint odor. They are either cyanide- or arsenic-based.

Tar is the name for the resinous, combusted particulate matter made by the burning of tobacco and other plant material in the act of smoking. Tar is toxic and damages the smoker's lungs over time through various biochemical and mechanical processes. Tar also damages the mouth by rotting and blackening teeth, damaging gums, and desensitizing taste buds. Tar includes the majority of mutagenic and carcinogenic agents in tobacco smoke. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), for example, are genotoxic and epoxidative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fire retardant</span> Substance reducing flammability

A fire retardant is a substance that is used to slow down or stop the spread of fire or reduce its intensity. This is commonly accomplished by chemical reactions that reduce the flammability of fuels or delay their combustion. Fire retardants may also cool the fuel through physical action or endothermic chemical reactions. Fire retardants are available as powder, to be mixed with water, as fire-fighting foams and fire-retardant gels. Fire retardants are also available as coatings or sprays to be applied to an object.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polyisocyanurate</span> Type of plastic typically used for thermal insulation

Polyisocyanurate, also referred to as PIR, polyiso, or ISO, is a thermoset plastic typically produced as a foam and used as rigid thermal insulation. The starting materials are similar to those used in polyurethane (PUR) except that the proportion of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) is higher and a polyester-derived polyol is used in the reaction instead of a polyether polyol. The resulting chemical structure is significantly different, with the isocyanate groups on the MDI trimerising to form isocyanurate groups which the polyols link together, giving a complex polymeric structure.

Occupational lung diseases are work-related, lung conditions that have been caused or made worse by the materials a person is exposed to within the workplace. It includes a broad group of diseases, including occupational asthma, industrial bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiolitis obliterans, inhalation injury, interstitial lung diseases, infections, lung cancer and mesothelioma. These diseases can be caused directly or due to immunological response to an exposure to a variety of dusts, chemicals, proteins or organisms.

A toxicant is any toxic substance, whether artificial or naturally occurring. By contrast, a toxin is a poison produced naturally by an organism. The different types of toxicants can be found in the air, soil, water, or food.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Shaw (conservationist)</span> American scientist, explorer, conservationist, author (1943–2022)

Susan D. Shaw was an American environmental health scientist, marine toxicologist, explorer, ocean conservationist, and author. A Doctor of Public Health, she was a professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health at the State University of New York at Albany, and Founder/President of the Shaw Institute, a nonprofit scientific institution with a mission to improve human and ecological health through innovative science and strategic partnerships. Shaw is globally recognized for pioneering high-impact environmental research on ocean pollution, climate change, oil spills, and plastics that has fueled public policy over three decades. In 1983, with landscape photographer Ansel Adams, she published Overexposure, the first book to document the health hazards of photographic chemicals. Shaw is credited as the first scientist to show that brominated flame retardant chemicals used in consumer products have contaminated marine mammals and commercially important fish stocks in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. She became the first scientist to dive into the Gulf of Mexico oil slick following the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion to investigate the impacts of chemical dispersants used in response to the spill.

Silent Spring Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to studying and reporting primarily on breast cancer prevention, although its research covers other health-related topics as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grenfell Tower fire</span> 2017 fire in West London

On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. Seventy-two people died, two later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escaping. It was the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom since the 1988 Piper Alpha oil-platform disaster and the worst UK residential fire since World War II.

Indeno(1,2,3-<i>cd</i>)pyrene Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), one of 16 PAHs generally measured in studies of environmental exposure and air pollution. Many compounds of this class are formed when burning coal, oil, gas, wood, household waste and tobacco, and can bind to or form small particles in the air. The compounds are known to have toxic, mutagenic and/or carcinogenic properties. Over 100 different PAHs have been identified in environmental samples. One of these 16 is Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene (IP). IP is the combination of an indeno molecule and a pyrene molecule with a fluoranthene network. In 1962, the National Cancer Institute reported that indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene has a slight tumor activity. This was confirmed in 1973 by the IARC in mice testing.

References

  1. 1 2 "Staff Profiles: Prof Anna Stec". UCLan - University of Central Lancashire. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  2. ↑ "Catalogue record for "Fire toxicity and its measurement"". Copac. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  3. ↑ Israel, Brett (4 April 2012). "Flame Retardants May Create Deadlier Fires". Scientific American. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  4. ↑ "Some flame retardants make fires more deadly". Press Releases. American Chemical Society Office for Public Affairs. 27 March 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  5. ↑ Leake, Jonathan (25 February 2018). "Firefighters three times as likely to die of cancer". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  6. ↑ Knutt, Elaine (February 2018). "Cancer risk from toxins on firefighters' PPE needs regulation, researchers say". www.healthandsafetyatwork.com. Retrieved 12 October 2018.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ "Grenfell Disaster: Investigation Reveals Plastic Lobby Influenced Government's Climate Regulations - The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)". The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF). 27 November 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  8. ↑ Hopkins, Nick (12 October 2018). "'Huge concentrations' of toxins found in Grenfell soil, study finds". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  9. ↑ "Inquiry instructs expert witness". Grenfell Tower Enquiry. 19 September 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
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