Regarding "Transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 antagonists block the noxious effects of toxic industrial isocyanates and tear gases".

I read with great interest the report by Bessac et al. entitled: “Transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 antagonists block the noxious effects of toxic industrial isocyanates and tear gases (1).” In the introduction the authors mention a variety of environmental exposure scenarios, including Bhopal, India, and a large-scale pesticide spill that occurred on the Sacramento River in Northern California in 1991. In the latter case, a slight correction is in order. The pollutant released at Bhopal was, indeed, methyl isocyanate (MIC), a potent mucous membrane and pulmonary irritant. The pollutant produced by the hydrolysis of the pesticide metam sodium in the Sacramento River, however, was methyl isothiocyanate (MITC), the sulfur analog of MIC (2). The authors refer later in the article to MITC, but identify it as a native compound applied as a soil fumigant. In reality it is metam sodium that is applied as a soil fumigant, with in situ hydrolysis releasing MITC into soil. While a potent irritant, MITC is somewhat less active than MIC and, fortunately, the human health impacts more circumscribed. In the case of the 1991 Sacramento River metam sodium spill, although there were no fatalities, cases of irritant-induced asthma were nevertheless documented amongst both occupationally and environmentally exposed individuals, underscoring the potential human health hazard of the pesticide and its major breakdown product (3).