Associated Press, 03/28/97
HANOVER, N.H. - A respected Dartmouth College professor is in the hospital after an apparent research accident left her poisoned by the toxic mercury she was studying.
Professor Karen Wetterhahn was diagnosed with mercury poisoning eight weeks ago. The college and hospital won't discuss her condition, but her family issued a statement saying treatment is continuing.
Officials from Dartmouth's Chemistry and Environmental Health and Safety departments believe Wetterhahn was poisoned sometime in August while working alone with dimethylmercury. The mercury compound has no practical uses, but Wetterhahn was using it in her studies of mercury toxicity. There also is a delay between exposure and when a victim begins feeling the effects.
No one knows for sure how Wetterhahn was poisoned, but they suspect some of the mercury touched her skin and was absorbed into her body.
John Winn, chairman of Dartmouth's chemistry department, said it was hard to tell how much she had absorbed. He was not sure whether the mercury compound soaked through protective gear or touched her skin directly.
Wetterhahn was diagnosed after tests in January showed she had an elevated level of mercury. She was tested due to numbness in her fingers, unsteady walking, difficulty in speaking and vision and hearing problems.
The News York Times
HANOVER, N.H., June 10 - A Dartmouth College chemistry professor has died from exposure to a rare form of mercury, first synthesized more than 130 years ago.
Karen E. Wetterhahn, 48, who also had served as an associate dean and a dean at the college, died on Sunday, about 10 months after accidentally spilling a few drops of dimethylmercury on her disposable latex gloves while performing a laboratory experiment. The substance, which has no practical application, is used in research on heavy metals.
Prof. John S. Winn, chairmen of the college's chemistry department, said Professor Wetterhahn was a leader in the study of how heavy metals can initiate cancer at the molecular level. Dimethylmercury is so rare that it is only in use in perhaps 100 laboratories worldwide at any given time, he said.
Through a search of medical literature, the college determined that exposure to the substance killed two laboratory assistants in 1865, shortly after it was first synthesized, and a 28-year-old chemist in 1971.
"Karen Wetterhahn's death is a tragedy for her family and for the Dartmouth community," said Dartmouth's president, James O. Freedman.
After years of study chromium metal toxicity, Professor Wetterhahn had turned to the study of mercury in a sabbatical at Harvard University in September 1995, Professor Winn said. In the experiment at Dartmouth last August, she had used dimethylmercury to set up a standard against which to measure other mercury involved in her research.
The drops apparently spilled onto her gloves, passed quickly through the latex and were absorbed through her skin. After her illness was diagnosed in late January, the college had the latex gloves independently tested, and it was determined that the mercury could pass through in 15 seconds or much less.
Other types of gloves offer more protection, but she probably used latex to increase dexterity during the delicate procedure, he said.
In a letter to Chemical and Engineering News about the accident, Professor Winn and the other college officials recommended that heavier gloves be used during experiments, and that "medical surveillance measuring mercury concentrations in whole blood or urine" should be considered during extended use of these compounds.
Professor Wetterhahn's symptoms, which initially included difficulty with balance, speach, vision and hearing, progressed rapidly and she was in a coma from late February until her death. Although treatments were administered to eliminate the mercury in her system, they began too late to prevent irreversible damage to the nervous syster, Professor Winn said.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the U. S. Department of Labor has concluded its investigation into the death by mercury poisoning of a Dartmouth College professor. Federal regulators have fined Dartmouth College $13,500 for "serious" safety violations in connection with the death of Dr. Wetterhahn. A serious violation is defined by OSHA as one in which there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result, and the employer knew or should have known of the hazard.
David May, OSHA's New Hampshire director, said Dartmouth had failed to provide adequate training on the limits of the gloves and to provide appropriate gloves for the research of dimethyl mercury. Also, the Lab's Chemical Hygiene Plan was fine for deficiencies.
Director May stressed dimethyl mercury is highly toxic with little commercial use. It was being used in research as an NMR standard. Dartmouth officials said they would not contest the fine and would comply with OSHA's safety recommendations. In the past months, the college has held workshops on different types of gloves and their uses, and has affixed labels to gloves warning of their limitations.