Posted on 06/26/2010 8:27:00 AM PDT by Kartographer
C. The benzene gas is water soluble and is a carcinogen at levels of 1 ppm. If an oil glob is approaching or hits your coastline you need to know the water is safe to swim from dissolved benzene.
D. Large amounts of methane gas may result in depleted oxygen layers in deeper waters. We know very little as to the chemical make-up (and fate and transport) of large underwater oil/gas plumes (see ongoing measurements at http://gulfblog.uga.edu and Dr Samantha Joye et al). We need to acquire the data - heard that yet from anybody in Government?
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article20006.html
Anything that you aren’t hearing, I probably won’t be allowed to pass on. He’s not really worried about the storm, though.
“The benzene gas is water soluble and is a carcinogen at levels of 1 ppm.”
Sure didn’t kill us in the early 50s when we used benzene to mix alcohol with gasoline to cheat drag racing.
So what do you do about the benzene that’s naturally in crude oil?
•Benzene works by causing cells not to work correctly. For example, it can cause bone marrow not to produce enough red blood cells, which can lead to anemia. Also, it can damage the immune system by changing blood levels of antibodies and causing the loss of white blood cells.
•The seriousness of poisoning caused by benzene depends on the amount, route, and length of time of exposure, as well as the age and preexisting medical condition of the exposed person.
Immediate signs and symptoms of exposure to benzene
•People who breathe in high levels of benzene may develop the following signs and symptoms within minutes to several hours:
Drowsiness
Dizziness
Rapid or irregular heartbeat
Headaches
Tremors
Confusion
Unconsciousness
Death (at very high levels)
Long-term health effects of exposure to benzene
•The major effect of benzene from long-term exposure is on the blood. (Long-term exposure means exposure of a year or more.) 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.
•Some women who breathed high levels of benzene for many months had irregular menstrual periods and a decrease in the size of their ovaries. It is not known whether benzene exposure affects the developing fetus in pregnant women or fertility in men.
•Animal studies have shown low birth weights, delayed bone formation, and bone marrow damage when pregnant animals breathed benzene.
•The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that benzene causes cancer in humans. Long-term exposure to high levels of benzene in the air can cause leukemia, cancer of the blood-forming organs.
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/benzene/basics/facts.asp
HAZARD SUMMARY
* Benzene can affect you when breathed in and by passing through
your skin.
* Benzene is a CARCINOGEN HANDLE WITH EXTREME CAUTION.
* Exposure can cause you to become dizzy and lightheaded. Higher
levels can cause convulsions and death.
* Exposure can irritate the nose and throat and may cause an
upset stomach and vomiting.
* Benzene can cause an irregular heart beat that can lead to
death.
* Prolonged exposure can cause fatal damage to the blood
(aplastic anemia).
* Benzene is a FLAMMABLE LIQUID and a FIRE HAZARD.
IDENTIFICATION
Benzene is a colorless liquid with a pleasant odor. It is used
mainly in making other chemicals, as a solvent, and is found in
gasoline.
REASON FOR CITATION
* Benzene is on the Hazardous Substance List because it is
regulated by OSHA and cited by ACGIH, DOT, NIOSH, IARC, NTP,
CAG, DEP, NFPA and EPA.
* It is on the Special Health Hazard Substance List because it
is a CARCINOGEN, a MUTAGEN and is FLAMMABLE.
* Definitions are attached.
ECOLOGICAL INFORMATION
Benzene is produced from coal and is used to make medicinal
chemicals, dyes, and many other organic compounds. It is also used
to make artificial leather, linoleum, oil cloth, varnishes and
lacquers. Benzene can enter the environment mostly from industrial
effluents.
ACUTE (SHORT-TERM) ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS
Acute toxic effects may include the death of animals, birds, or
fish, and death or low growth rate in plants. Acute effects are
seen two to four days after animals or plants come in contact with
a toxic chemical substance.
Benzene has high acute toxicity to aquatic life. It can cause
death in plants and roots and membrane damage in leaves of various
agricultural crops. No data are available on the short-term
effects of benzene on birds or land animals.
CHRONIC (LONG-TERM) ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS
Chronic toxic effects may include shortened lifespan, reproductive
problems, lower fertility, and changes in appearance or behavior.
Chronic effects can be seen long after first exposure(s) to a toxic
chemical.
Benzene has high chronic toxicity to aquatic life. No data are
available on the long-term effects of benzene on plants, birds, or
land animals.
http://www.valdezlink.com/pages/benzene.htm
NIOSH sets much lower exposure limits than the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for several chemicals monitored during the cleanup of the oil spill, including benzene.
OSHA exposure limits are based on an eight-hour workday. However, many responders near the leaking well are working longer hours than that.
“I wouldn’t use OSHA standards here as the sole measure for decision-making for protection of workers,” said Steven Markowitz, an environmental science professor at the City University of New York who directed a clinic that treated response workers after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
“[Gulf] workers will likely have exposure to mixtures of substances which OSHA standards don’t address. One of the things we learned from the World Trade Center is, when you’re unsure, err on the side of protection. Don’t err on the side of false reassurance.”
NIOSH, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sent two teams to the Gulf earlier this month to test for chemical exposures of workers burning off collected oil and placing booms to help contain the spill.
Not addressed in the report is the level of benzene in the air. News crews dispatched to the Gulf have all commented on the smell of oil in the air, which means that benzene exposure could be more widespread than originally suspected.
So sorry to break the news, but the unvarnished truth is that if you can smell raw crude, and if the rain and ocean mists are oily, rest assured you are being exposed to dangerous cancer-causing levels of benzene molecules. Studies have linked benzene exposure in the mere parts per billion (ppb) range to terminal leukemia, Hodgkins lymphoma, and other blood and immune system diseases within 5-15 years of exposure.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set a permissible exposure limit of 1 part of benzene per million parts of air (1 ppm) in the workplace during an 8-hour workday, 40-hour workweek. The short term exposure limit for airborne benzene is a mere 5 ppm for 15 minutes. Typically, if one can smell raw crude oil that has evaporated into the air from a massive oil spill, the OSHA safe limits for “short term exposure” has been massively exceeded.
He’s not joking, he eats oil, baths in it, and he’s most likely in a straight jacket.
I was going to show him this but I figured he would say he snorts it for fun.
http://www.helium.com/items/1864136-how-the-ultimate-bp-gulf-disaster-could-kill-millions
Glad you find it funny.
An oiled dolphin that washed ashore near Fort Pickens beach in Florida has died. The young dolphin had beached itself and those who found the calf said that it was covered in a thick layer of oil. Though help arrived quickly from the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge, the young dolphin didn’t make it.
Christy Travis found the dolphin near the beach and spoke with FoxNews. She said that immediately she and others with her began scraping oil off of its sides and around the mammal’s eyes. She described the scene as emotional, “”It was very sad, it would make you cry. It was crying. There was pod of dolphins just off surf and they were jumping out of water and they were making noise,” Christy Travis said.
Gulf oil spill’s wildlife toll: sharks near shore, turtles incinerated
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