When I was taking organic chemistry my (mid-to-late 60s at the time in ~20010) teacher told us an anecdote about benzene when we started learning about aromatic molecules. She told us that they used to clean their lab bench with benzene solvent to make it sparkling clean. Of course, she also told us it was carcinogenic and then finished by saying a lot of her contemporary colleagues that went into organic chemistry research were now dead. Really drives home that a lot of safety precautions and practices are "written in blood", so to speak.
Back in the day, I worked at a print shop as a press operator for AB-Dick 360CD printing presses.<p>We'd clean the ink off the rollers between separations with benzene. We didn't have any special ventilation (or even use gloves, for that matter). The first few times you did it, you'd get quite a headrush.<p>It's 40 years on, now, and I haven't yet experienced any health effects that I can directly link to that exposure. I'm sure I'm dumber than I would have been had I avoided the exposure, although I also grew up in the era of leaded gasoline. Based on what I've read, I'm more likely to experience Parkinson's, anemia, and various cancers in the future.
Benzene is everywhere, particularly in trace amounts in otherwise harmless products.<p>Benzene is a building block for the production of many chemicals, including plastics, synthetic fibers, rubber, resins, dyes and pharmaceuticals, and residual amounts may remain in the final products.<p>Benzene is used as a solvent and cleaning agent in printing, paint manufacturing, electronics, etc. Benzene contributes to the overall VOC load of paint for example.<p>And benzene is in the formulation of adhesives and sealants. Regulations often restrict the amount of benzene to a certain amount
All I recall besides being one of many carcinogens is that it's in cigarette smoke. From a Dutch health page. [<a href="https://www.rivm.nl/en/tobacco/harmful-substances-in-tobacco-smoke/benzene" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.rivm.nl/en/tobacco/harmful-substances-in-tobacco...</a>]<p>> For smokers, tobacco smoke is the most important source of exposure to benzene. It is released in the smoke when tobacco is burned. Non-smokers are also exposed through tobacco smoke when they inhale smoke passively. A typical smoker inhales an average of ten times more benzene per day than a non-smoker.
Crazy how people just drive around in cars and fuel up with gasoline that contains like 2% benzene. And we let teenagers do this, with no personal protective equipment and no basic supervision.
Back in the late 80s/early 90s my elderly Italian-speaking grandfather lived with us in the states.<p>Whenever he'd watch driving my gas RC car, if the thing would die he'd motion with his thumb down (like a pouring spout) while saying "benzene?".<p>I don't know if it's an Italian language thing, his dialect, or just his knowledge of engines, but RC car fuel was "benzene". Makes me wonder what kind of benzene exposure <i>he</i> had in his younger days...
Benzene's wide-ranging negative health effects have been known for a long time. It's far from clear why this article reporting the results of a mouse study with rather unremarkable findings is on the front page.
I and family was expose to very large amounts of benzene from a gas leak over the course of three months. It was a rental house came with that smell, and they kept making excuses as to why it had a weird smell.<p>It’s taken about five years to get something resembling normal health.<p>Intelligence of all family members dropped like crazy. Blood started clotting a lot. Nerve pain and inflammation were the norm.<p>Doctors didn’t know what effect those chemicals would have so refused to sign any paperwork saying it was cause of all health problems. So lawyers wouldn’t take the case.<p>Only in the past year can me and my oldest daughter start having normal conversations like we used to.
These types of studies are so intensive you really need to know about the subject matter to follow completely.<p>I hate to ask this but is there anyone who can explain even the bulk of it for a layman?
Ah. Just in time for summer camping…My Svea 123 says to use benzene fuel. I use naphtha or “camp fuel”. Are we talking about the same compound?<p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svea_123" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svea_123</a><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naphtha" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naphtha</a>
I have this large plastic box that has quite a strong smell when I open it.<p>I guess the plastic is decaying or reacting with something that's in it.
This topic was recently brought to attention by David Friedberg in the latest episode of the All-In podcast. <a href="https://youtu.be/5cQXjboJwg0?t=6645" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://youtu.be/5cQXjboJwg0?t=6645</a> (1:50:45)
Looks like a small dose is about as effective as a massive dose.<p>What’s the downside of a quack doctor selling benzene-contaminated supplements for fat loss?<p>I’m sure there’s a huge increase in cancer risk, but wouldn’t this cause a lot of fat loss in a human?