Listening to Fritz's story, Dena couldn't help but think of some of the chemical aspects she had learned, especially the chemical aspects of pesticides.

"It has a pungent smell, can induce violent coughing, has a very strong irritation to the eyes, can make people cry, just like chili water, and can also induce blindness after poisoning......"

Thinking so, Dena asked, "Have you asked the doctor to come and see you?" ”

At this time, Fritz may have coughed violently again because he had said too much. His pale face turned red, and large grains of sweat rolled down his head.

"Mr. Niemann, the doctor at the factory, bleed him at the time of the accident, and Mr. Elber and some people from the union asked Dr. Oshalet to see him once." Hannah, who was staying on the side, said as she wiped the sweat from Fritz's head.

"What did the doctor say?" Dena asked.

"The doctor said that Fritz was lucky, and if the valve had closed a minute or two late, Fritz would have died, and even then, Fritz would have been completely blind." Hannah replied.

"Mr. Fritz, are there any other people who are showing symptoms of pulmonary edema?" Dena asked suddenly.

"Yes." Elber, who was on the sidelines, said, "Putra died a little more than half an hour after the incident because of pulmonary edema. Miss Dena, do you have this in mind? ”

"I thought of something, but it wasn't necessarily reliable. Ah, is your pesticide factory producing carbaryl? Dena asked.

Secarbyl, a pesticide factory owned by the MacDonald consortium, specializes in cotton bollworms and soybean heartworms, and Dena wonders if Germany has something similar.

"It doesn't seem to be." Elber said that he was one of the leaders of the union and naturally knew a little more.

"The carbaryl you're talking about is the kind of thing made in the United States that is specially used to kill cotton bollworms, right?" Siegfeldt suddenly interjected, "Germany doesn't produce a lot of cotton, so if you want to use it, it's imported directly from the United States." Because of the small dosage, it is not profitable to develop similar products on your own. So, as far as I know, there should be no pesticide factories in Germany to produce this thing. ”

"Oh." Dena nodded and asked, "So what kind of pesticide does your factory produce?" ”

"Mostly six-six-six." Elber replied.

The scientific name of "hexachlorocyclohexane" is a saturated compound formed by the substitution of one hydrogen atom on each carbon atom of cyclohexane by a chlorine atom. Because the structural formula of the molecule contains 6 atoms of carbon, hydrogen and chlorine, it has the name "666". This thing was developed by Faraday in 1825, but it was not used on a large scale at that time, and it was not until recent years, when the United States began to use pesticides in large quantities and reaped amazing harvests, that Europeans began to manufacture pesticides in large quantities. Since many pesticide patents are in the hands of the MacDonald consortium, "666", which does not exist patent barriers and can kill most pests very well, has become the favorite of most pesticide factories in Europe. However, in the production process of "Liuliuliu", there is no such intermediate product that needs to be loaded with a pressure vessel, which can be quickly vaporized, and can lead to blindness and pulmonary edema death in a short time if inhaled. If it's the carbaryl mentioned by Dena earlier, there are some things that meet this condition in the production process.

"Do you know what the volume of that pressure vessel in your factory is?" Dena asked.

"It's about eight cubic meters, but it never seems to be full. Every once in a while, a vehicle will take some of the contents away. As for where it went, we don't know. Because every time this happens, the workers are driven out by the factory guards. So we just know that things were taken away, who transported them, where they went, and what they were used for, we don't know at all. Elber replied.

"Do the various valves on this jar always break faster than in other similar places?" Dena asked again.

"You don't say I really didn't notice, it's true." Fritz, who gradually calmed down his cough, said.

"Miss Dena, what kind of speculation do you have?" Elber asked.

"Nothing." "I was just reminded of a similar accident in the United States," Dena said. Oh, did you make it a point when you did the operation that you should never let water seep into the pressure tank? ”

"Yes, yes, there are rules." Fritz replied hastily, and he coughed again because he had spoken so quickly.

Dena turned to the others and said, "It seems that my guess is very likely to be correct." I guess the jar was filled with methyl isocyanate. This is one of the raw materials used in the manufacture of carbaryl. It's just a toxic volatile liquid with a boiling point of only 37 degrees at a standard atmospheric pressure, and it will volatilize very quickly in weather like this. So it has to be packed in a pressure vessel. This thing is very toxic, and the symptoms of poisoning are very similar to what you described. And this thing has a certain corrosiveness to metal, so the valve is particularly easy to break. In addition, once this thing encounters water, it will have a strong chemical reaction, so pay special attention to waterproofing. Because of this, I suspect that this time they are methyl isocyanate poisoning. ”

"Miss Dena, you said there had been a similar accident in the United States?" Siegfelt asked.

"Yes." "But it's not a factory accident, it's a real room accident." With that, Dena stretched out her hand and straightened her hair, and then said:

"I heard about it from my chemistry teacher. At that time, I was still at the University of Cleveland, and we had a big yàn room in our school. It was there that the accident happened. Of course, we have seen with our own eyes, and it wasn't even what happened in the year I was studying.

At that time, when the Dashi yàn room was conducting relevant research, a real yàn staff member improperly operated and let some water into the container containing this thing, which caused an accident. Results ......"

"How did it turn out?" Siegfelt asked.

"As a result, five real yàn members were poisoned in the room, and two of them were blind. If it weren't for the fact that our room was very close to the hospital affiliated to our school, the Salvation Hospital, and the rescue was timely, I am afraid that several people would have died. The two blind members both suffered from pulmonary edema and almost died. Dena replied.

"What odds me is that this stuff doesn't seem to have any other purpose than to make carbaryl." "And even if you sell it to other companies to make carbaryl, you don't have to be so mysterious." There must be something wrong with this. How's that, Mr. Siegfeldt, what do you think? ”

"Hearing you say that, I also think there must be something strange about this matter." Siegfelt said the same.

……

After visiting the two remaining victims, it was getting late, and Dena and Alice caught the last tram and returned to their hotel in the center of Nuremberg.

"Alice, I still think it's strange that this factory produces methyl isocyanate inexplicably." Lying on the bed, Dena said to Alice.

"It's weird, but that's not the point." Alice, who was already tired from a long day of running, yawned and said, "Our report should focus on the safety and security of workers, as well as the personal protection of workers who are injured at work." ”

"yes." "But I'm just a little curious." As she spoke, Dena rolled over and closed her eyes, as if she were about to fall asleep, but she suddenly opened them again and said to Alice, "I suddenly came up with an idea to investigate this matter." ”

"What." Alice replied vaguely, "Dena, I'm so sleepy, let's talk about it tomorrow." ”

But Dena was a person who couldn't sleep at the thought of something interesting, so she turned over again, faced Alice and said, "Sleepy? I'll help you refresh yourself. With that, he reached out and tickled Alice. After staying with Alice for so long, Dena knew that Alice was most afraid of tickling.

"Don't make a fuss, Dena...... I'll be really angry if I make trouble again. Well, I'm not sleeping, you can say it......" Alice said as she fended off Dena's attack.

"Good sister, I think we can use the power of the family in Europe." "You told them that I had discovered that the Germans were producing methyl isocyanate, and that they were doing something that infringed our patents," said Dena. Coupled with the boredom of life, my eldest lady had a temper attack and insisted on investigating the matter herself. You're worried that I'm in danger, so I'm in touch with them, hoping to give me an answer as much as possible, so that I don't have to make any trouble...... If you talk to them like this, do you think they will help us find out something? ”

"Even if it's just to find out if there's a manufacturer that wants to produce carbaryl, they'll look it up. But on the other hand, for the sake of this matter, they will definitely strengthen their surveillance of you, so you don't worry about this? Alice asked.

"This strengthening is only temporary at best. There's something to worry about. Well, sleep, sleep. Muttering, Dena closed her eyes.

……

A few days later, reports appeared in the Forward and Bavarian Forward newspapers exposing the pesticide manufacturer's disregard for worker safety and the accident. And these reports use conclusive evidence to reveal that these companies deliberately ignore the various safety hazards that exist in the production process, as well as the lack of relevant protection for workers in order to reduce costs.

In response to these reports, the Nuremberg CGT launched a general strike to demand that such companies raise safety standards and provide workers with work-related injury protection.