Chemical spill forces evacuation at Banting building, evacuation order since lifted

TORONTO, Ont. – Fears of an explosion forced people out of a laboratory at the University of Toronto, Tuesday.

The precautionary evacuation was ordered at the Banting and Best Medical Research building, located on College Street near University Avenue.

Police and hazmat teams were called in to deal with the dangerous chemical that was discovered in a lab.

The evacuation was ordered as a precaution, fearing some sort of product used in the lab could have a dangerous reaction.

“There is a chemical, which is called picric acid, which in liquid form is not at all dangerous, but if it dries out and becomes a crystal, then it can be explosive if it’s shaken. So one of our technicians saw there was a dry form of picric acid and appropriately called the security people,” Christopher Paige, president of research at UofT, told 680News.

Hazmat teams safely removed that chemical and lifted the evacuation.

An internal investigation has been launched to find out how the liquid crystallized.

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