Anyone from the refrigeration industry that has some neuron functionality will know what this leak was caused by. They're just not saying it to
anyone who'll publicize it. The rest have just fallen for the utter baloney put out by the makers of these refrigerants (read: mostly American
massive multinationals... read: DuPont et al) that they are 'safe'. They are anything but safe.
The cause of this incident is a leak of fluorocarbon refrigerant (most likely to be "R123" in this case) from one of the many chillers at the
airport which provide air-conditioning to the building. The leak would be due to some kind of system failure or overpressure, causing a release of the
gas, which was taken up through an air-conditioning intake and distributed to the unwitting occupants of the airport.
You want a conspiracy? The real conspiracy here folks, is the massive amounts of money poured into the pushing and propagating a dangerous and
uneccessary range of synthetic chemicals, with the US government acting as accessories to the whole dog-and-pony show. Even the USEPA frowns at DuPont
et al from one side of their face whilst kissing them on the rear with the other half of their face.
Why such a propaganda and marketing extravaganza for these products? Simple - these synthetic chemicals are PATENTABLE, natural refrigerants on the
other hand, are not. DuPont et al hold the key patents, so they hold the keys to the money tree whilever they can maintain a dominant campaign in the
minds of average-joe-whadda-I-know-about-refrigeration-I-just-want-my-airconditioner-to-work. Meanwhile the ozone layer gets blasted by these
chemicals. greenhouse heats up and leaks such as this leave everyone wondering what the hell happened.
Why would the system be designed so poorly, such that a leak could get straight into an air intake, you may ask? Elementary, my dear Watson, because
the fluorocarbon industry has intentionally misled industry and the public about the real human exposure risks of it's refrigerant chemicals, so the
designers neglect such leak scenarios because they have not been properly educated about the risks. Why have they not been properly educated?
Elementary again: if the fluorocarbon industry were to educate the industry and public about the real risks, they would lose market share to natural
refrigerants because people would realise that fluorocarbons have no net safety benefit compared to more natural alternatives.
More info on fluorocarbon refrigerants, including the likely culprit in this particular incident, can be found here. This is data published by one
Australian university professor who has been a constant annoyance to the fluorocarbon industry because of his persistence in publicizing the truth
about fluorocarbons and the availability of superior, more natural, alternatives:
patch.bpa.nu...
These kinds of incidents occur all the time. If it's an ammonia-based airconditioning system (which is easy to detect because of it's unique smell)
then fluorocarbon lobby make sure the public knows it was a "nasty ammonia leak" (ammonia is a "natural refrigerant, so DuPont can't monopolise
it). But when there's a fluorocarbon leak, the propaganda machine switches into "suppress" mode and does all it can to assist the public in being
blissfully unaware of the real risk of fluorocarbons.
It's about money, folks. The Number ONE driver behind all REAL conspiracies....
To Flyin High: It is international standard practice to stench all natural gases and light hydrocarbons with mercaptans. It was not such natural
gases. Furthermore, natural gas exposure does not cause the symptoms mentiond. Fluorocarbon R123 data, on the other hand, reveals a virtual dead
ringer match of the symptoms documented in the Melbourne incident.
