Cat in a Vat, of hexavalent chromium

[TheVat]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/13/japan-cat-toxic-chemical-vat-fukuyama-nomura-plating-metal-plant

It could be the opening scene from a new Marvel film. Residents of a Japanese city have been warned not to approach or touch a missing cat that appears to have fallen into a vat of toxic chemicals before scampering off.

The search for the unlucky feline began after an employee of a metal plating plant in Fukuyama, western Japan, arrived at work to find a trail of yellowy-brown paw prints leading away from a container of hexavalent chromium, a highly acidic carcinogen.

Touching the chemical can cause skin inflammation and inhaling it can lead to respiratory problems. Factory employees wear masks and rubber gloves when handling the substance, the firm said, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Security camera footage shows the cat leaving the factory, its whereabouts currently unknown.

There does not appear to be any footage showing how the cat came into contact with the chemical, which was stored in a three-metre-deep vat. (end quote)

I'm wondering how bad this stuff is.  I know this was the chemical that was the basis of a huge class action suit in California, in the famous Erin Brokovich case (subject of an Oscar-winning movie with Julia Roberts), where it had contaminated groundwater that got into tapwater.  There's still dispute from industry groups as to how concentrated it must be to be carcinogenic, and also an epidemiologic debate as to what actual exposures were.  I would guess that the cat's level of exposure if it was falling into a vat would be lethal, especially given that a cat's instinct with anything in its fur is to bathe itself with its tongue.  

[John Cuthber]

In all sensible probability, nine lives won't be enough.
 

[MigL]

I remember many years ago, working for a chemical waste disposal company, a young fellow employee and I, had been sent to sample a vessel containing cyanide electroplating solution, at a decommissioned plant, about 4 hours away.
We brought all necessary PPE with us, such as impermeable HazMat suits, gloves, boots, and SCBA breathing air with full face respirators, just to be on the safe side.
When we got to the decommissioned plating plant, we found about a dozen workers doing the clean-up, on their lunch break , sitting around the open top vessel of cyanide solution, eating their lunch.
We decided not to scare the bejeesus out of them; quickly took a few samples, with dip tubes, wearing just gloves, and left.

I hope there were no cats in the area.

[KJW]

On 3/14/2024 at 2:30 AM, TheVat said:

I'm wondering how bad this stuff is.

Well, chromium(VI) compounds can cause organic material to burst into flames.