Archive for the ‘Benzene Health effects’ Category
Did you know burning incense, may be a health risk?
Long-Term Exposure To Incense Raises Cancer Risk
MONDAY, Aug. 25 (HealthDay News) — Exposure to burning incense over long periods of time raises the risk of developing cancers of the upper respiratory tract, a new study shows.
Interestingly, the practice did not increase the overall risk of lung cancer.
"Given that our results are backed by numerous experimental studies showing that incense is a powerful producer of particulate matter and that incense smoke contains carcinogenic substances, I believe incense should be used with caution," said study author Dr. Jeppe Friborg, of the department of epidemiology research at Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. "That is, frequent use in rooms where people live should be minimized, or at least sufficient ventilation should be secured. In our study, we find the increased risk of cancer to be present in individuals reporting frequent use of incense for many years, thus, repeated exposure for years should probably be avoided."
Others echoed the thought.
"The American Lung Association is going to add it as a risk factor," said Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer of the association. "It’s not nearly the danger of smoking a pack a day for 20 years, but it’s a danger."
Not only is incense burned regularly as part of daily life in large swaths of Asia, the practice is also popular among certain segments in the West.
Incense burning produces particulate matter and is known to contain possible carcinogens such as polyaromatic hyodrcarbons (PAHs), carbonyls and benzene.
There have also been reports linking the burning of incense with cancer but the results have been inconsistent.
For this study, researchers conducted face-to-face interviews with more than 61,000 Singapore Chinese aged 45 to 74 who were cancer-free at the beginning of the study.
Incense burning almost doubled the risk of developing squamous cell upper respiratory tract carcinomas including nasal/sinus, tongue, mouth and laryngeal. There was an increased risk both in smokers and in nonsmokers, pointing to an independent effect of incense smoke.
There was no overall increased risk of lung cancer, but it did heighten the risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.
Will incense go the way of tobacco? Not necessarily, said some experts.
"Certainly I think bathing yourself in particles is probably not the smartest thing in the world . . . but I think very few people fill up their room with incense," said Dr. Arthur Frankel, a professor of medicine at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and director of the Cancer Center, Cancer Research Institute and Division of Hematology/Oncology at Scott & White in Temple.
The findings, which are in the Oct. 1 issue of Cancer, might also point researchers toward other household practices that should be investigated.
"It’s a population-based study, which means that you can make an association but not necessarily a conclusion," said Dr. Erin Fleener, a clinical assistant professor in internal medicine at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and an oncologist at the Bryan-College Station Cancer Clinic. "It probably promotes more work in the area of routine household items and things we need to be looking at more prospectively to make a clear cause-and-effect relationship."
In general, though, it’s not a bad idea to avoid environmental pollutants of various types.
"Anything that affects air quality negatively is not a good thing," said Dr. Len Horvitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "Burning in general and the release of smoke, these things are certainly to be avoided. At the very least, chemical irritants will set off asthma, and that’s reversible. Cancer is not reversible."
"This is not unlike the type of risk that one experiences from secondhand tobacco smoke," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. "At the end of the day, people who use incense casually, I don’t think that’s a cause for major concern, but those cultures which embrace incense as part of their daily lifestyles have to consider this has a real potential risk for cancer."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20080825/hl_hsn/longtermexposuretoincenseraisescancerrisk;_ylt=AgTQT4Gkj.RpB6wNuLTUOPUDW7oF
wow didn’t know that, thanks for sharing. I don’t burn them but my dad does. this info will come in handy.
How is my persuasive essay so far?
Dear local townspeople,
Do you believe our town is as clean as it could be? Everyday you walk the streets of our city and smell that nasty smoke which smokers leave behind. All those chemicals and poisons can not be good to have floating around in the air. Smokers have an adverse effect not only on themselves, but also to those people around them as well. Smokers are trashing our peaceful town by just throwing their cigarette butts on the ground where we all have to walk and our children have to play. This type of filth is not acceptable. Our city deserves to be a clean place suitable for all of those who live in it. I am proposing that we put a new law into place that bans smoking in all public areas in our town. I am advocating for this change because smoking exposes innocent people to secondhand smoke, it fills our town with unwanted filth, and because it encourages negative health actions by letting children watch adults who are smoking.
Smoking out in public not only damages smokers’ bodies, but also those who have to be around them. Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. It is involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers. It lingers in the air hours after cigarettes have been extinguished and can cause or exacerbate a wide range of adverse health effects, including cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma. Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke. It contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic ammonia and hydrogen cyanide. Secondhand smoke causes almost 50,000 deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year. Therefore, if we ban smoking in all public places in our town we will be able to prevent many diseases and deaths from occurring. Together we can make our town a healthier place to live.
What can I do to make this better?
Well, I’d like to first say that you have a pretty solid basis here, but I would add some stylistic changes to increase the persuasive function of the essay.
First, don’t name smokers as the cause right away.
start by just pointing out all the filth, getting your audience agreeing with you, THEN you blame it on the smokers. If you lay blame to quickly, your audience may think you’re finger-pointing or presumptuous, and that’s not persuasive.
Second, I would make the descriptions more vivid. Don’t just stop by saying that there’s filth and smoke, but DESCRIBE the experience, it’ll be more convincing,
other than that it’s good
Your Health and your Car
Air pollution is one of the well known types of pollution. Doctors and researchers point it out as the main cause of respiratory illnesses. Such pollution is derived from factories, appliances, engines, and cars, or anything that secretes harmful gases such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, suspended particles less than 10 microns in size, benzene, formaldehyde, and polycyclic hydrocarbons. And among auto parts, the exhaust system excretes these pathogens.
In a research, it was found out that nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide can cause cancer.
Ninety-five percent of pollution related sulfur oxide emissions are in the form of sulfur dioxide (SO2), a heavy, colorless gas with an odor like a struck match. This gas combines easily with water vapor, forming aerosols of sulfurous acid (H2SO3), a colorless, mildly corrosive liquid. This liquid may then combine with oxygen in the air, forming the even more irritating and corrosive sulfuric acid (H2SO4).
Exposure to high concentrations for a short period of time can constrict the bronchi and increase mucous flow, making breathing difficult. Children, the elderly, and those with chronic lung disease and asthma are especially susceptible to these effects. Sulfur dioxide can also:
• Immediately irritate the lung and throat at concentrations greater than 6 parts per million (ppm) in many people.
• Impair the respiratory system’s defenses against foreign particles and bacteria, when exposed to concentrations less than 6 ppm for longer time periods.
• Apparently enhance the harmful effects of ozone. (Combinations of the two gases at concentrations occasionally found in the ambient air appear to increase airway resistance to breathing.)
Bad headaches and nausea are caused by benzene.
Most formaldehyde exposures occur by inhalation or by skin or eye contact. Formaldehyde is absorbed well by and destroys the lungs, gastrointestinal tract, and skin.
Lastly, according to the same research, polycyclic hydrocarbons can cause cancer.
The automotive industry is one major contributor to air pollution. To combat air pollution it is important for car owners to keep their vehicles in shape, as badly maintained vehicles are more likely to contribute to air pollution. Auto parts, especially the exhaust system must be regularly checked and worn or damaged parts immediately replaced with quality parts like the Borla exhaust system.
Hanna Racey
http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/your-health-and-your-car-96449.html
Benzene Is A Carcinogen Found In Gasoline / Chemical Safety PSA
Benzene Is A Carcinogen Found In Gasoline / Chemical Safety PSA. Public domain video courtesy of NIH.
Gasoline contains benzene, depending on the source of gasoline, and countries, ranges of concentration of benzene in gasoline have been reported as 1 to 6%. Gasoline is also used as an industrial solvent and workers commonly experience inhalation and skin exposure. In my practice, it is not unusual to hear from workers that “I washed my hands with gasoline to remove paint daily” or “the smell was so strong that I got dizzy”, demonstrating substantial exposure to gasoline ongoing on a daily basis. Since benzene is a known human carcinogen, it would be expected that gasoline will be also a hematopoietic toxic and cancer causing agent as well. Indeed, Aksey et al as early as 1928 reported aplastic anemia, and in 1941, Machele et al reported thrombocytopenia from gasoline intoxication. Other hematopoietic malignancies have been reported as a result of gasoline exposure. Epidemiological studies of workers and filling station attendees have shown genotoxic effects at very low benzene from gasoline vapor exposure. Brandt et al have demonstrated genotoxic effects in workers exposed to low levels of benzene from gasoline. Santos-Mello et al have shown chromosomal deletions in lymphocytes of workers exposed to gasoline as attendants. Infante et al reported hematopoietic malignancy in petrol exposed workers. Similar exposures to gasoline in garage mechanics and filling stations have been reported. What are the health effects of exposure to gasoline vapors? Gas cans emit pollutants such as hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and volatile organic compounds (VOC). These pollutants can contribute to health problems that may affect homeowners, their families, and the community. VOC can produce ozone, which may cause respiratory problems for those with cardiac or respiratory diseases. Chemicals in these substances can also react in the air to form ground-level ozone (smog), which has been linked to a number of respiratory effects. EPA has developed a Web site related to ground-level ozone. Benzene: Exposure to benzene may cause irritation of the skin, eyes, and upper respiratory tract as well as blisters due to dermal exposure. Long-term exposure to benzene may cause blood disorders, reproductive and developmental disorders, and cancer. EPA has collected extensive information on the health effects of exposure to benzene. When gasoline vapors collect in a closed environment such as a non-ventilated shed or garage, the potential for an explosion increases. Benzene is an aromatic hydrocarbon that is produced by the burning of natural products. It is a component of products derived from coal and petroleum and is found in gasoline and other fuels. Benzene is used in the manufacture of plastics, detergents, pesticides, and other chemicals. Research has shown benzene to be a carcinogen (cancer-causing). With exposures from less than five years to more than 30 years, individuals have developed, and died from, leukemia. Long-term exposure may affect bone marrow and blood production. Short-term exposure to high levels of benzene can cause drowsiness, dizziness, unconsciousness, and death.
Duration : 0:0:30
How Second Hand Smoke Threatens Your Health
Secondhand smoking, breathing in of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is also called passive smoking. It is when a person breathes in smoke given off into the environment by other people.
Secondhand smoke or ETS is a combination of side stream smoke coming straight from the burning tobacco and the mainstream smoke that is exhaled by the smoker. It comprises of over 4000 chemical constituents, a large proportion of which are the inducers of respiratory illnesses and around 40 are known or suspected carcinogens.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified ETS as a class A (known human) carcinogen along with other known carcinogens such as arsenic, asbestos and benzene etc.
ETS is unfiltered, thus the levels of carcinogens in it are much more than in smoke inhaled directly by an active smoker. Smoking of a cigarette produces smoke from two major places, mainly from the tip of cigarette and from the rest of the cigarette as the hot vapors liberated through the cigarette and its filter.
About 70% to 80% of ETS is from the burning tip of cigarette and comprises of the highest levels of nicotine, carbon monoxide, tar and various other carcinogens. Therefore, a constant exposure to an ETS is apparently even more injurious than directly smoking a cigarette for an equivalent period.
Effects of Exposure to Secondhand Smoke
Immediate effects:
Immediate effects of secondhand smoking comprise of eye irritation, cough, sore throat, headache, nausea and dizziness.
Long-term effects:
Lung cancer: The major cause of lung cancer among non-smokers is secondhand smoke. One of the studies revealed that hospitality workers who were exposed to secondhand smoke became three times more prone to lung cancer.
Cardiovascular problems: ETS can induce short-term and long-term harm to the heart by decreasing its functional capacity and lowering the capacity of blood to carry oxygen. Some of the chemicals in secondhand smoke can block or harden the arteries, causing problems like atherosclerosis, hypertension and later heart attack. In one of the studies, it was found that secondhand smoking enhances the risk of a heart attack by at least two times.
Stroke: Non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke run at least 80% more risk of stroke than do the non-exposed people.
Asthma: One of the studies revealed that the non-smokers exposed to ETS at work showed at least twice the risk of asthma than the non-exposed people did. Those who were exposed to ETS at home as well, showed as much as five times greater risk for asthma than the non-exposed people did. In individuals who already suffer from asthma, exposure to ETS can
significantly decline their lung function.
Breast Cancer: Some of the recent studies have revealed ETS to increase the risk of breast cancer among women.
Effects on the fetus:
Smoking by a pregnant woman can have various serious consequences on the developing fetus.
- Babies born to women who smoked during their pregnancy have a low birth weight and are often born prematurely.
- Their organs, chiefly the lungs, are smaller than of other babies and these babies are more susceptible to cot death.
- They are more prone to illness all their life and are more likely to become addicted to the tobacco later in their life.
Effect on Children
- Kids that are exposed to secondhand smoke from either parent during the first year of their lives are far more likely to be afflicted with asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, bronchiolitis and other respiratory problems than kids who were not exposed.
- Secondhand smoking may also predispose children to the impairment of the blood circulatory system, behavioral problems and olfactory (nasal) problems.
- It also increases their susceptibility to develop cancer during their adulthood.
John Pawlett
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/how-second-hand-smoke-threatens-your-health-91101.html
EnCana Buries Hydraulic Fracturing Pit Sludge in Unlined Pit May 14, 2009
Twenty-three days after EnCana completed hydraulic fracturing operations on the F11E, the liner is removed, some of the sludge is pumped out and the remainder – perhaps 70 barrels or more – is dozed in.
The pad overlies a spring that often surfaces here. It is fed by a shallow groundwater aquifer that supplies water to West Divide Creek and a family’s private water well located maybe 200 yards away. An irrigation ditch is located approximately 30 feet from the East end of the pit.
If one of the pumper trucks had overturned on the county road, spilling this stuff into the environment, a hazardous materials unit would have responded, sequestered the area, potentially evacuated citizens and employed measures to safeguard first responders, citizens and the environment. But because this is a hydraulic fracturing waste pit, out of sight of the public and on private land (owned, coincidently, by EnCana) it is simply covered up.
This same site – if it were at a gas station or a paper mill or a chemical manufacturing plant – would likely be a violation and require extensive clean-up and proper disposal at a licensed facility… as it should. But, again, here, in rural Garfield County, it is simply buried.
Industry would like us to believe that frac fluids are merely salt water, a little thickener, and food additives. But we know frac mixtures contain all kinds of hazardous substances, like biocides, benzene, hydrocarbons, solvents, descalers, surfactants, enzymes, acids, and patented synthetic chemicals. We also know the adverse health effects of some of these agents.
We know a nurse in Durango, CO nearly died of catastrophic organ failure after unprotected exposure to fracturing chemicals (we don’t know what happened to the field worker she cared for). We know her physician had to guess how to treat her as she lay dying. And we know that industry lawyers blocked her testimony at a rules reform hearing where citizens and advocacy groups were lobbying for chemical disclosure. We also know that the oil and gas industry has totally refuted her claims in literature distributed to lawmakers in Washington, DC intended to influence legislators against voting to repeal hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Watching a bull dozer blade this toxic brew beneath twenty feet of uncontained soil is horrifying. Knowing that this industry is allowed to poison the land, the water and the people is even worse.
Eventually this pit was completely covered.
This site is less than a half mile from my home…. a place in the Rocky Mountains now exploited for its natural gas resource. A place once rich in other resources as well… water – air – land – wildlife – community.
EnCana calls where I live their “Field of Dreams”. As they abuse the ecosystem and destroy its fragile sustainability, they reap a finite reward while leaving behind an industrial waste dump.
I apologize for the shaky video and loud background noise. The wind was blowing so hard it was shaking my hand and totally flooded the microphone.
Despite the awful nature of this situation, the meticulous work conducted by the dozer and excavator operators was something to see. I knew an operator who competed in heavy equipment rodeos, and watching him excavate was amazing.
All the folks on this site seemed capable, and I doubt that any of them gave a second thought to burying this pit. Field workers have told me this is common practice. They probably had no idea it was right over an aquifer and never considered the effects on a stream or private water well. They work around this stuff all the time, and many come to consider it routine, even unknowingly putting their own health at risk. But, EnCana leadership is well aware, and that is where accountability must begin.
As with most of these situations, it is the underlying structure of inappropriate federal exemptions, weak state rules and poor but accepted practices that lead to making this the terrible situation it is.
Only with full accountability can we develop workable and mutually beneficial solutions. Which are more than possible – they are at the leading edge of demand and on the precipice of necessity.
Ultimately, the fossil fuel industry must come out of the dark ages and embrace a more honest and cooperative manner of conducting their operations.
Part of that involves repealing exemptions that allow and encourage them to operate like a lawless regime, putting human health and safety as well as the environment at frequent and serious risk.
For over a year, at www.journeyoftheforsaken.com, I’ve been documenting EnCana’s aggressive and irresponsible development of 60 natural gas wells around our home and the infamous area of the 2004 West Divide Creek natural gas blowout.
Duration : 0:4:21