A mercaptan gas leak at Rouen; the effects could be smelled as far as Paris

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The foul smell that reached as far as Parisduring the night from Monday into Tuesday was caused by a leak in the Lubriziol chemical plant in Rouen. The leak released mercaptan, an olfactory marker of the type used to give a smell to natural gas supplies.

Michel Aubier from Inserm research unit U700 “Physiopathology and epidemiology of respiratory insufficiency”, or Isabella Annesi-Maesano from Inserm unit EPAR-UMR-S 707 Inserm/UPMC can give you more details about the toxicity of mercaptan