WANTED FOR QUESTIONING

CAPABLE OF:

• Decreasing amount of red blood cells which leads to Anemia
• Animals show decreased birth weight, delayed bone formation, and bone marrow damage
• Chronic exposre can also cause Leukemia and other cancers in blood producing organs
• Carcinogenic and mutagenic effects confirmed
• Developmental toxicity- possible

CONTAMINATES:

• Common air pollutant in homes
• Groundwater contaminates from spills
• Volatile soil contaminant

OCCURENCES:

• Naturally occurs from forest fires and volcanoes
• Comes from petroleum
• Used to produce DDT, detergents, and motor fuels
• Makes up 1-2% of a gallon of gasoline
• Benzene gas released when tobacco burns

LD50:

• Oral: acute, 930 mg/kg (rat), 4700 mg/kg (mouse)
• Dermal: acute, 9400 mg/kg (rabbit)
• Vapor: acute, 10,000 ppm 7 hrs (rat)

WANTED FOR QUESTIONING:

• Disaster strikes in China 2005- factory exploded
• Government kept it a secret
• Spilled into the Songhua river
• Millions were ingesting benzene from the water supply

LAST SEEN:

• Spill in Colorado as result of fracking
• Spilled 241 barrels of natural gas
• Eventually washed as Benzene into Parachute Creek
• Discovered after two months
• No clean up and no fines

Sources
http://www.epa.gov/teach/chem_summ/BENZ_summary.pdf
http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927339
http://www.uvm.edu/~empact/air/benzene.php3
http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/fracking-benzene-pollution-27052013/
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/benzene/basics/facts.asp
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/25/world/asia/25iht-beijing.html?_r=0 (China factory photo)
http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc150.htm (title photo)