DFliyerz
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Max G. Gergel
Browsing around the internet, there's a surprisingly small amount of information about Max G. Gergel besides from his two books. Does anyone know
where there's more?
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Zombie
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While not exactly a book, it is a good read... MULCAHEY v. COLUMBIA ORGANIC CHEMICALS CO., INC.
http://www.leagle.com/decision/199417729F3d148_1146.xml/MULC...
They tried to have me "put to sleep" so I came back to return the favor.
Zom.
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BromicAcid
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Also a big fan myself see here:
https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=21...
I have actually talked to Mr. Gergel as well as exchanging a letter. He told me as he has told others (and one of the articles linked in the previous
thread) that he has enough information to fill a few more books but nothing is in a state ready for publication unfortunately.
So many chemists have come and gone without a trace, it's honestly a testament to his character that as much information on Mr. Gergel exists on the
internet as it does. He is truly a great man.
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BromicAcid
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One more aside, the original Columbia Chemical site underwent remediation by the EPA. For some reason looking over the few photos they provided of
the remediation process just makes the whole thing seem that much more real:
http://www.epaosc.org/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=2960
Or to look at the street view of the actual location and think, "Wow, people probably have no clue what happened here." Or thinking of Mr. Gergel working there for
decades and all the cats they had on the property or the fires. Especially with Max jumping around with the bottle of isopropanol held above his head
 That's where it happened.
[Edited on 4/15/2015 by BromicAcid]
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Zombie
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It looks rather innmocent from the view in the Pict. but these are the picts that people should see...
http://www.epaosc.org/site/image_zoom.aspx?site_id=2960&...
I believe there is no redemption for some acts. Be it the soldier or the general... RESPONSIBILITY!!!
  
They tried to have me "put to sleep" so I came back to return the favor.
Zom.
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S.C. Wack
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When the books were posted, I assumed he was already dead, but this was premature.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Gergel "He died in Columbia, South Carolina on July 5, 2017, aged 96".
He got religion the day before.
https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/3730634/jewish/9...
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BromicAcid
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I did have the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Gergel over the phone. I got his address I think though one of the posts on the forum. He said he had
material for another two or three books. I also sent him a copy of his second book which he signed for me "An old, bold chemist".
The religion note is interesting since it pops up as a theme at the end of his first book (commissioned to work in the Holy Land) and also is woven
lightly into his second book.
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Dr.Bob
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What many people don't understand is that in many cases, for example in world war 2, companies were told that they needed to produce X for the war
effort, and if they failed, they could be treated very harshly. In Max's case, he was told to produce methyl iodide and other compounds, in huge
amounts, and the government did not care about waste, worker safety, or how the chemicals were made. If you look at Oak Ridge, Livermore, Los
Alamos, and many other nuclear sites, they often created huge amounts of waste, contaminated workers, and danger. But that was during a war, and
most people were OK with that.
Also, until the 70's there were few laws regulating chemicals and waste, so companies could legally do almost anything. It was not good how things
were done, but until the laws changed it was allowed. That is only part of the story to people like Max Gergel. He also has stories about going to
visit a buddy in Florida (I think that was where it was), whose company was closing, and the guy had been making some pharma intermediate in bulk for
Merck or such. The guy told Max that it would likely be destroyed or lost in the changes. Max proceeded to offer to buy it, and then proceeded to
empty his car's trunk, put a tarp down, and shovel or dump about 500 pounds of the material (a white powder) into his trunk, which he drove back to SC
and bottled and sold for a large profit. Not a DEA compound, BTW, just a valuable chemical.
He also had an incredible memory, which helped him to keep track of who made or had what chemicals, their phone number and location, and who was
looking to buy chemicals. It was truly amazing the number of chemicals he kept track of had in his head. He stayed sharp until he was in his 80's,
when he started to decline. My friend Ed knew him well, and kept up with him for many years. They both knew Alfred Bader, who started Aldrich
Chemicals, and sold chemicals to and from him. For those who don;t know, Alfred Bader also passed away, not that long ago, and also wrote a few
books. He mentioned Max in the first one, and said that he was very smart about chemicals, and not as smart about some other parts of the business.
That applies to Ed as well, he was a great chemist, but not always very good about many other areas of business, like environmental concern,
community buy-in, and regulatory issues.
Another source of info is Kary Mullis' (won the Nobel prize for the PCR reaction) book, "Dancing Naked in the Mind Field". It is even weirder than
Max's books. Kary worked for Max at Columbia Organics as a youngster, even making compounds in his garage a few times. Kary clearly took too much
LSD or something later in his life. He also just recently died last month, so the last few years have seen a lot of old school chemists pass away.
Mullis, K (1998). Dancing Naked in the Mind Field. Vintage Books. pp. 115–18, 143–53. ISBN 978-0-679-44255-4.
[Edited on 4-9-2019 by Dr.Bob]
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draculic acid69
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Whatever happened to Columbia organics? Were they sold off to some other company?
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Dr.Bob
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Not sure if shut down by EPA, or closed before it could happen, but something like that. That has happened to many of those era companies. Aldrich
was both lucky and careful in order to survive that era. Many of the other companies from that era were either bought by big corporations or just
shut down by regulatory issues. Only big companies can do the paperwork, legal stuff, and bribes to government people to stay afloat now.
I believe that some of the people who worked there eventually created Oakwood Chemicals and Matric Scientific, both of which now mostly buy chemicals
from other sources (mostly in China and India) and repack them for sale. It is hard to make chemicals in the US now, due to the regulatory issues
and the cost of labor here.
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draculic acid69
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I don't know why all the leftover red p/h3po3/h3po4 by-product leftover from there alkyl halide reactions was tipped out in the back garden behind the
factory rather than packaged and resold to somewhere.surely it could have been reused somewhere.might only have been worth a few cents per liter but
still when you're making 44gal drums of methyl iodide that's a lot of leftover red p still floating around in the flask that they tipped out.
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Dr.Bob
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They were doing much of the large Me Iodide synthesis during World War II, and were short handed, under govenment imposed due dates, and had very
limited ability to get chemicals or equipment, so they had to use what they could get or find. I don't think most people now understand that war
time was different then than today, when we don't have shortages, rationing, production quotas, or most males under 40 drafted. I have spoken with
several people from that era, and they were under massive pressure to make things happen in a hurry. Just read the books about Oak Ridge, and the
lapses in the hurry to make Uranium (done by the US Government) makes the mistakes of Columbia Organics look insignificant. People were killed
often, chemical and nuclear waste was everywhere and leaked all over, and they still have not cleaned up most of Hanaford's radioactive mess in
Washington state yet. In modern times, it would make no sense to do things the way they did them, but we have way more resources and tools available
now.
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