ABERDEEN, Md. -- For the second consecutive day, employees of a research
laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground were being monitored for exposure to
dangerous chemicals after a brief power outage.
Wednesday's outage occurred shortly before 2 p.m. at a laboratory operated
by the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, an organization that does chemical
and biological research for the Defense Department, Aberdeen Proving Ground
spokesman George Mercer said.
Three employees suffered possible exposure to small amounts of several chemicals,
including hydrogen cyanide; GB, a nerve agent; and mustard, a blister agent.
They were under observation but had shown no symptoms in the few hours immediately
following the outage, Mercer said.
The outage only affected a few laboratories in a single building at the
Edgewood Chemical Biological Center complex, and there was no apparent connection
to an outage Tuesday at a separate laboratory complex that caused 15 people
to be monitored for exposure to chemicals.
Two people were taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center after Tuesday's
incident, and they were released Wednesday morning, Mercer said. One returned
to work Wednesday, while the other took the day off.
In both cases, the outages briefly shut down the hoods that filter the air
as researchers work with dangerous chemicals.
There was no danger to the public, area residents or other APG employees
in either incident, Mercer said.
"We're definitely investigating possible causes" of both outages, Mercer
said.
