China has suffered another pharmaceutical manufacturing accident--its second in two months. Sixty-two workers were sickened Thursday afternoon at a Wanbei Pharmaceutical plant in Eastern China due to a chemical leak.
Eight people are reported in critical condition after inhaling phosgene, a toxic component used in painkillers and antibiotics. More than half of the 62 injured were hospitalized at least overnight. Phosgene is also known as triphosgene or BTC, reports CRIEnglish.com.
In early December, a Shandong Yanggu Zhongshi Pharmaceutical factory in Liaocheng City suffered two explosions within five hours. Firefighters were onsite when the second blast, fueled by the chemical aniline, occurred.
And in early May, 1,000 people were sickened by a gas leak, suspected to be sulfur dioxide, at Apeloa Topso Pharmaceutical eastern China's Zhejiang Province.
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