Word: foam
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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...substance stirring the most concern-and the apparent source of the California woman's illness-is formaldehyde, a gas given off by, among other things, poorly installed foam insulation. Although colorless, the gas has a pungent odor, can irritate the eyes and nose and can cause dizziness and vomiting. If animal tests are any indication, it can also create more serious problems. Subjected to prolonged high concentrations of formaldehyde, at levels comparable to those in some buildings, rats and mice developed cancerous tumors in their noses...
Industry spokesmen note that formaldehyde has long been used safely in products from nonwrinkle fabrics to fiberboard and drugs. The lab results, they say, cannot be extrapolated to humans. But many officials disagree. Massachusetts banned the sale of formaldehyde-based foam insulation last year, and other states are looking into the situation. So is the Federal Government, which now employs tax incentives to spur use of energy-saving insulation, including formaldehyde foam. Acting on the conclusion of a scientific advisory panel that there is indeed a cancer risk involved, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is slated to vote this week...
...shore builds slowly, the glassy, sloped back hiding the roiling currents underneath. The crest grows more and more quickly; the higher it reaches, the more precarious its base becomes. And every time, the wave topples, sometimes earlier and sometimes later, its peak crashing into its middle and exploding in foam...
...rickety wooden bridge to view the damage: just 300 yds. away on Sinbad Island, bright orange flames and thick black smoke curled from a coastal dredging vessel that had been nearly cut in half by a direct hit. Fire engines raced to the scene and sprayed water and foam to prevent the flames from spreading to nearby military craft...
...film is quite another matter. John Hurt, last seen giving caesarean birth to a malignant Alien, plays Merrick in a grotesquely authentic foam latex mask that leaves the actor almost unrecognizable. Yet he captures Merrick's humanity through his eyes and his gestures, the way he reflexively straightens his tie when a nurse enters the room, the way his voice rises and falls in the fruity arpeggios of a Covent Garden tenor. Treves described Merrick as having "the brain of a man, the fancies of a youth and the imagination of a child," and Hurt inhabits this sweet-souled...