BERLIN (AP) -- Chemical company BASF says a breakdown at its headquarters in western Germany sent 10 tons of an industrial chemical spewing into the River Rhine.
BASF SE said in a statement Monday that the leak had been stopped and posed no danger to humans or the environment.
The company said the chemical, HPN, is used to make paints and varnishes. Direct contact can be harmful to a person's eyes, but BASF said the compound was biodegradable and would be so diluted by water in the Rhine that it posed no risk to humans or nature.
It said the cause of the leak was unknown.
