Karen Wetterhahn
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Karen Wetterhahn (October 16, 1948 - June 8, 1997) was a well-known professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College specializing in toxic metal exposure. On August 14, 1996, while working with an organic mercury compound called dimethylmercury, she spilled a drop or two on her latex glove. Five months later, she noticed some neurologic symptoms such as loss of balance and slurred speech.[1] She was admitted to the hospital, where it was discovered that the single exposure to dimethylmercury had raised her blood mercury level to 4,000 micrograms per liter, or 80 times the toxic threshold.[2][3] Toxic blood level is reported to be > 50 μg/L, normal range is 1-8 μg/L.[4] Despite aggressive chelation therapy, her condition rapidly deteriorated and three weeks after first symptoms appeared she fell into a coma described by one of her former students as not being "... the kind of coma I'd expected... She was thrashing about. Her husband saw tears rolling down her face. I asked if she was in pain. The doctors said it didn't appear that her brain could even register pain."[1] Wetterhahn died a few months later, less than a year after her initial exposure.
Wetterhahn's death shocked her chemistry department, as the accidental exposure occurred despite the use of gloves, a fume hood, and adherence to standard safety procedures. Her colleagues then tested various safety gloves against dimethylmercury and found that the small, apolar molecule diffuses through most of them in seconds, much faster than expected. Dimethylmercury was the common calibration standard for 199Hg NMR spectroscopy, as it has certain advantages over the alternatives that exist.[5] OSHA recommendations[6] and MSD Sheets[7] were changed in consequence and use of dimethylmercury has been highly discouraged.
Dartmouth has since established an award in her name to encourage other women in science; the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences also maintains an annual award, for a graduate student or post-doctoral researcher, in honor of Karen Wetterhahn.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Newman, Cathy "Pick Your Poison—12 Toxic Tales National Geographic May 2005
- ^ "The Karen Wetterhahn story", Simon Cotton, Uppingham School, Rutland, UK
- ^ "The Trembling Edge of Science", DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE - APRIL 1998
- ^ Nierenberg D. W. et al. "Delayed Cerebellar Disease and Death After Accidental Exposure to Dimethylmercury." The New England Journal of Medicine 1998, 1672-1676.
- ^ 199Hg NMR Standards
- ^ Hazard Information Bulletin - Dimethylmercury, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, February 15, 1991
- ^ Material Safety Data Sheet: Dimethylmercury
- ^ Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
