What happens if you are exposed to benzene?
Long-term health effects of exposure to benzene Benzene causes harmful effects on the bone marrow and can cause a decrease in red blood cells, leading to anemia. It can also cause excessive bleeding and can affect the immune system, increasing the chance for infection.
At what level is benzene harmful?
Brief exposure (5–10 minutes) to very high levels of benzene in air (10,000–20,000 ppm) can result in death. Lower levels (700–3,000 ppm) can cause drowsiness, dizziness, rapid heart rate, headaches, tremors, confusion, and unconsciousness.
What are four known health effects of benzene exposure?
Acute (short-term) inhalation exposure of humans to benzene may cause drowsiness, dizziness, headaches, as well as eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritation, and, at high levels, unconsciousness.
How long can you be exposed to benzene?
Research shows that the benzene exposure limit in the workplace may be too high. The level can go up to 5 ppm for no more than 15 minutes. Employers must provide protective equipment like respirators for people working around higher levels.
Can benzene be absorbed through the skin?
The main way people are exposed is by breathing in air containing benzene. Benzene can also be absorbed through the skin during contact with a source such as gasoline, but because liquid benzene evaporates quickly, this is less common.
How do you neutralize benzene?
The level of benzene in blood can be efficiently reduced, an its noxious effect neutralized, by the concurrent administration of either of two groups of organic compounds: 1) methyl donors such as choline and betaine; and, 2) cysteine-HCL.
Is benzene lethal?
Inhalation of benzene vapor concentrations of 20,000 ppm for 5-10 minutes can be fatal to humans; death results from central nervous system depression (Clayton and Clayton, 1981).
What does benzene do to your skin?
Exposure to benzene liquid or vapor can irritate the skin, eyes, and throat. Skin exposure to benzene can result in redness and blisters.
Can benzene cause melanoma?
Few studies have suggested that exposure to benzene can cause malignant melanoma, stomach cancer, prostatic cancer and nasal cancer (52–55).
Is benzene bad for skin?
Benzene is also harmful to the skin. Exposure to low levels of benzene vapors may cause dermatitis, a skin reaction characterized by dry, itchy, red skin.
How is benzene a major public health concern?
Benzene is highly volatile, and exposure occurs mostly through inhalation. 1–3 Public health actions are needed to reduce the exposure of both workers and the general population to benzene. Sources of exposure to benzene. Benzene is highly volatile, and most exposure is through inhalation.
What are the symptoms of inhalation of benzene?
Neurological symptoms of inhalation exposure to benzene include drowsiness, dizziness, headaches, and unconsciousness in humans. Ingestion of large amounts of benzene may result in vomiting, dizziness, and convulsions in humans. (1) Exposure to liquid and vapor may irritate the skin, eyes, and upper respiratory tract in humans.
Is there a safe level of benzene in the air?
Air No specific guideline value has been developed for air. Benzene is carcinogenic to humans, and no safe level of exposure can be recommended. For general guidance, the concentrations of airborne benzene associated with an excess lifetime risk of leukaemia of 10−4, 10−5 and 10−6 are 17, 1.7 and 0.17 μg/m3, respectively.4
How are benzene levels measured in the body?
Estimates of benzene exposure can be made through measurement of urinary inorganic and organic sulfate conjugates. Measurement of urinary phenol levels has historically been the standard bioassay for benzene exposure, despite the well- described limitations of this test.