Originally Posted by
crhilton
Yea I know about the stuff. It'll remove flesh on contact and it's toxic when it forms as a gas. I'm actually from Iowa.
I was actually pointing this out to someone on the Des Moines Register's site: If he'd been in a car it may have been much much worse as the car might have broken open the anhydrous tank.
As toxic as it is in it's concentrated form, which is usually how it is transported in the tanks and used in industrial refrigeration applications, it is easily diluted and easy to clean up a spill or leak. Enough water will pretty much make ammonia inert and not harmful at all. After water is added then adding some sort of absorbant material and disposing of it is even easier. It is the initial spill or leak that can kill.