http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/benzene Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:03:25 -0800 pixel-app en http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12246 Mon, 09 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12246
He’s also the chief of Newport’s Fire/EMS Department.

When he learned a study out today from the University of Cincinnati shows that firefighters are at greater risk for prostate cancer and three other cancers, he called the findings interesting, but not surprising.

“I’ve seen it in so many of the firefighters I’ve known and worked with,” Ravenscraft said.

UC researchers analyzed data from 32 previously published studies and found that firefighters are from about 1.25 times to more than 2 times as likely as other workers to develop prostate cancer, testicular cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Firefighters are more than twice as likely as other professionals to develop testicular cancer, researchers found.

Their findings also confirmed earlier studies that showed firefighters are more than 1.5 times more likely than other workers to develop multiple myeloma.

Firefighters are more likely to develop other cancers, although the increased risk is not as pronounced, data show.

The data, garnered from 110,000 firefighters, suggest firefighters’ protective equipment might not protect them from chronic, low-dose exposure to cancer-causing compounds, including benzene, diesel fumes, soot and chloroform, say James Lockey and Grace LeMasters, two of the three principal investigators on the study.

“Firefighters have excellent equipment in relation to the acute hazards they’re facing, the high heat and carbon monoxide,” Lockey said.

When firefighters get away from the heat and flames and remove their hot, cumbersome equipment, there might be other risks that are less apparent, he and LeMasters said.

Besides the smoke and fumes firefighters breathe, soot and dust that accumulates on their skin is a concern, LeMasters said.

“Firefighters are in an inherently dangerous occupation on a daily basis,” she said. “As public servants, they need and deserve additional protective measures that will ensure they aren’t at increased cancer risk.”

Lockey is a pulmonologist. LeMasters is an epidemiologist.

Marc Monahan, president of Cincinnati Firefighters Local 48, said the study “definitely opened my eyes.”

Better technology means firefighters are safer than ever inside the fire, Monahan said, “but outside the fire, it’s something that will definitely have to be looked at.”
Monahan and Ravenscraft both said firefighters are exposed to more plastics and other chemicals than ever in carpeting, ceiling tiles, paint and other components in residential and structural fires.

“I doubt if they know what those chemicals can do,” Ravenscraft said.
Monitoring the quality of the air on the edge of fire scenes might provide some clues, Monahan said.

LeMasters and Lockey also suggested firefighters consider showering as soon as they get back to the firehouse to remove soot and dust that could be absorbed through the skin.

That could be difficult, said Ravenscraft. Firefighters are trained to clean off their equipment once they get back to base so everything is ready for the next run.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11758 Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11758
Lawyers have filed class action lawsuits against Kraft Foods in Massachusetts, Florida and reportedly California.

The actions come after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it had found batches of Kraft's Crystal Light Sunrise Classic Orange drink contaminated with benzene at more than 14 times America's legal limit for benzene in drinking water. Independent lab tests have also found a Crystal Light drink with benzene above the water limit.

Benzene is a known carcinogen.

Kraft Foods has become the latest firm to be targeted by lawyers amid renewed concerns over benzene in soft drinks, and the action increases pressure on soft drinks makers to rigorously check their products.

The Massachusetts and Florida lawsuits against Kraft also targeted several other soft drinks makers: PepsiCo, In Zone Brands, Polar Beverages, Talking Rain Beverage Company and John Doe.

The suits say Kraft, which has been in the food and beverage business since 1903, should have known about soft drinks industry and FDA testing in late 1990 that discovered two common ingredients could react in drinks to form benzene.

An internal document passed to BeverageDaily.com details how Kraft's owner in 1990, the Philip Morris group, was discussing the general formulation of Crystal Light, just days before an internal FDA memo, dated 7 December 1990, said the soft drinks association approached the agency about the problem with benzene traces in drinks.

The two ingredients found to react to form benzene in 1990 were benzoate preservatives and ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

No public announcement was ever made, and an FDA scientist told BeverageDaily.com the agency made a private deal with the industry to “get the word out and reformulate”.

The scientist also informed this website in February this year that the FDA had again found some drinks containing benzene above the US water limit, which stands at five parts per billion. There is no specific limit set for soft drinks.

The FDA said on Friday it suspected the same two ingredients as the source, but re-iterated that benzene levels found so far posed no risk to consumer health.

Kraft Foods said in a statement: “Kraft learned of this situation earlier this year and stopped producing and shipping Crystal Light Sunrise Orange single serve bottles in early February.”

The group said it brought in an independent expert to help with reformulation and only resumed sales of the drink once benzene formation had been minimised. The FDA said it tested the new Crystal Light formulation and found less than one part per billion benzene.

“Consumer safety is Kraft's priority. We would not allow any product on the market if we believed it posed a safety risk,” the firm said.

The FDA re-opened the benzene case after receiving results from independent lab tests on drinks last autumn. It announced on Friday that five drinks, including Crystal Light, had tested for benzene above the US water limit.

However, not all drinks with benzoates and vitamin C contained benzene, and both the FDA and Mike Redman, a scientist with the American Beverage Association (ABA), have told BeverageDaily.com that heat is a major factor.

The ABA said it was handing out new guidance to help beverage firms minimise benzene formation in drinks.

However, Glen Lawrence, a scientist who helped the FDA work out the link between benzene and the benzoate/vitamin C combination in 1990, said one of these ingredients should simply be dropped from drinks.

Erythorbic acid and citric acid are also thought to play a similar role to ascorbic acid.
]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11734 Fri, 19 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11734
The companies that make the drinks have been alerted and either have reformulated their products or plan to do so, the FDA said. Government health officials maintain there is no safety concern, an opinion not shared by at least one environmental group.

The five drinks listed by the government were Safeway Select Diet Orange, Crush Pineapple, AquaCal Strawberry Flavored Water Beverage, Crystal Light Sunrise Classic Orange and Giant Light Cranberry Juice Cocktail. The high levels of benzene were found in specific production lots of the drinks, the FDA said.

Benzene, a chemical linked to leukemia, can form in soft drinks containing two ingredients: Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, and either of the two preservatives: sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate.

The presence of those ingredients doesn't mean benzene is present. Scientists say factors such as heat or light exposure can trigger a reaction that forms benzene in the beverages.

Federal rules limit benzene levels in drinking water to 5 parts per billion. A limited FDA analysis of store-bought drinks found benzene levels as high as 79 parts per billion in one lot of Safeway Select Diet Orange.

A Safeway Inc. spokeswoman did not immediately return a message left seeking comment.

Dr. Laura Tarantino, director of the FDA's Office of Food Additive Safety, said drinking sodas high in benzene does not pose a health risk.

"This is likely an occasional exposure, it's not a chronic exposure. Obviously, no benzene is something someone wants to have, but the amount of benzene you are getting in a soda is very, very small compared to what you're being exposed to every day from environmental sources," Tarantino said.

However, a spokesman for Environmental Working Group which has accused the FDA of suppressing information about benzene in soft drinks saw the results as a problem.

"FDA's test results confirm that there is a serious problem with benzene in soda and juices," said Richard Wiles, senior vice president at Environmental Working Group.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11572 Wed, 19 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11572
America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said last week an ongoing investigation, also known as work by independent scientist James Neal-Kababick, showed its tests for benzene in drinks over the last 15 years may be faulty.

Kababick has now announced his Flora Research Laboratories in California have developed a new procedure that would minimise the formation of benzene during testing by halving the time and temperature needed to measure benzene levels in drinks.

Current FDA tests for benzene involved heating up the beverage, a process likely to increase benzene formation in the drink during testing and, therefore, risk unrealistic results.

Recent FDA testing has found some soft drinks containing benzene, a known carcinogen, above the maximum level allowed in US drinking water. The suspected source is two common ingredients – sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) – in the drinks.

The FDA and soft drinks industry have known for 15 that these two ingredients could react to form benzene in drinks, as well as that exposing such a drink to heat could significantly raise benzene levels.

Kababick said that, bearing this in mind, “it took me 10 minutes to realise the problem with their [FDA] testing method”.

His new method has now been contracted by the US government's Office of Dietary Supplements to help it examine benzene formation in liquid supplements and vitamin drinks that also contain sodium benzoate.

It could also help soft drinks firms, and producers of other liquid foods or supplements containing the two ingredients, to examine their own products.

Kababick said: “A different sampling technique to remove benzene means we can measure levels down to 500 parts per trillion, which makes it more sensitive than the FDA method. It is important for producers to see benzene formation before it hits the EU or FDA limits for water.”

The flaw identified in FDA testing for benzene does not, however, mean the agency and soft drinks firms are out of the woods.

It was unclear why the FDA had apparently not altered its testing method for benzene in the 15 years since it first made the link between benzene and the sodium benzoate-ascorbic acid combination, in 1990.

“They have lots of labs all over the country and there could be a lot of factors involved, but I'm not sure why the FDA did not address this matter,” said Kababick.

And, he added, the new testing procedure should not be used to belittle the issue of benzene forming in drinks containing sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid.

Recent tests on drinks conducted by Kababick found a bottled lemon concentrate drink with 50 parts per billion benzene, five times above the World Health Organisation's limit for benzene in tap water.

“Actually I would grade that as fairly accurate,” said Kababick, despite the result coming from what he termed a transition testing model. Other tests done by Kababick's Flora labs revealed “fairly low” levels of benzene in various different kinds of soft drinks.

But, he said, all the samples had been refrigerated prior to testing, and the effect of heat on benzene formation should not be discounted.

Industry testing on soft drinks 15 years ago is thought to have found that temperatures of 30°C and exposure to UV light for several hours were enough to more than triple benzene residues in some drinks.

Both Kababick and a food scientist who worked on those industry tests said it was essential for authorities and companies to test for benzene in soft drinks exposed to a range of different storage and transport conditions.

“Not all consumers are buying their beverages from refrigerators in grocery stores. And sometimes when the drinks are brought home they are left standing in the sun on a porch or in a hot car,” said Kababick.

Data reported by America's soft drinks industry association in the 1980s showed that soft drinks could be exposed to between 32°C and 49°C in US summer months.

Kababick said his new testing procedure merely aimed to provide greater accuracy during tests on drinks from a range of different conditions. He expected to publish a journal article on the procedure, together with tests on drinks, within six months.

The stakes are high following recalls of drinks in the UK, and the launch last week of the first lawsuits against soft drinks firms over benzene in drinks.

Law firm McRoberts, Roberts & Rainer LLP joined forces with tobacco litigation veteran Tim Howard to file class action lawsuits against In Zone Brands, who make Bellywashers drinks, and Polar Beverages.

They alleged independent tests showed both companies had drinks contaminated with benzene above the limit for drinking water in the US.

The FDA has repeatedly said that none of the benzene levels it had found in drinks so far were considered a health risk for consumers.

The continuing presence of the issue 15 years after it was discovered, however, suggests a communication breakdown. One FDA scientist told BeverageDaily.com in February that soft drinks firms had pledged in 1990 to “get the word out and reformulate”.

The American Beverage Association said reformulation did take place, but that some brands may not be aware of the potential for sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid to form benzene.

“15 years ago it was under control, but this is a fast-growing industry. There are a lot of new companies, a lot of new brands and things have changed,” association spokesperson Kevin Keane told this website.
]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11440 Fri, 03 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11440
That's because the beverage industry told the government it would handle the problem and the FDA thought the problem was solved.

A decade and a half later, benzene has turned up again. The FDA has found levels in some soft drinks higher than what it found in 1990, and two to four times higher than what's considered safe for drinking water.

Both the FDA and the beverage industry said the amounts were small and that the problem didn't appear to be widespread.

"People shouldn't overreact," said Kevin Keane, a spokesman for the American Beverage Association. "It's a very small number of products and not major brands."

"The issue here is not something that should cause anyone alarm or terrific concern," said George Pauli, a top food safety expert at the FDA, "but if there's something that can be reduced, we want to reduce it."

Neither Keane nor Pauli would identify the drinks being tested because the investigation is still under way.

Pauli said that people ingest more benzene by breathing than they would if they drank a can of soda containing the chemical. Small amounts of the chemical also are naturally present in some foods such as fruits, vegetables and dairy products.

Still, Pauli added, "You want to avoid it in any degree you can."

Of the 60 or so varieties of sodas, sports drinks, juice drinks and bottled waters that the FDA has tested so far, benzene levels have ranged from two and three parts per billion to more than 10-20 parts per billion.

The Environmental Protection Agency's safety standard for benzene in drinking water is five parts per billion. If it exceeds that, authorities are required to notify the public.

Keane said it was "tough to compare" the safety standard for water with soft drinks because the water rule is based on the fact that people drink more water each day.

Benzene is an industrial chemical that's found in tobacco smoke, car exhaust and vapors from household products such as paint, detergents and furniture wax. Long-term exposure can cause leukemia and other cancers of the blood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Benzene can show up in soft drinks when two common ingredients react: ascorbic acid, otherwise known as vitamin C, and either sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate. Both are preservatives used to prevent the growth of bacteria.

But the presence of these chemicals doesn't necessarily produce benzene.

"It's not as simple as looking at the label, and if you see those two, there will be problems," Keane said.

Pauli said that a catalyst such as temperature or light is needed to trigger the formation of benzene. That's what scientists suspect occurred in 1990 when authorities found benzene in products made by Cadbury Schweppes and Koala Springs, an Australian beverage company.

But a health safety watchdog organization said the FDA should inform the public, particularly since so many soft drinks are marketed to children.

"Most people would prefer there are no known human carcinogens in what they drink," said Jane Houlihan, vice president for research at the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit, nonpartisan scientific research group that studies toxic chemicals. "This is a case where industry agreed to get it out of the products, and all the evidence says they didn't."

Soft drink manufacturers PepsiCo and Coca-Cola declined to comment and referred calls to the American Beverage Association.

When benzene first turned up 16 years ago, FDA officials met with representatives of the beverage industry who "expressed their concern about the presence of benzene traces in their products and the potential for adverse publicity associated with this problem," according to an internal FDA memo from December 1990.

Keane said the industry told the FDA that it was reformulating its products to alleviate the problem. Adding sugar, for instance, or replacing the vitamin C, can inhibit the chemical reaction that produces benzene, Pauli said.

An FDA official who asked not to be identified said that the agency didn't inform the public about the benzene problem 16 years ago because it didn't consider it a public health concern since the levels were low and the companies were reformulating.

He said the FDA conducted follow-up testing in the early 1990s, but not since because "we thought the problem was gone and over. Then it resurfaced."

The current investigation began when an activist concerned about soft drink machines in schools tried to get the FDA interested in the issue. He then sent lab results showing some soft drinks with higher-than-normal benzene levels.

"Our first reaction was, `Yes, we looked at this in 1990 and essentially there was nothing there,'" Pauli said. "Then he came up with some numbers and we said, `That's not what we came up with back then. We have to go back and look.'"

Asked why the problem would resurface 16 years later, Keane said the industry took the necessary steps at the time, but it's possible some manufacturers just didn't know.

"It's a very fast-growing industry, both in terms of companies and new brands, so a lot has changed in the last 16 years," he said.

Food safety authorities in Great Britain and Australia also are testing soft drinks for benzene.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/9846 Sat, 16 Apr 2005 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/9846
The state Department of Environ-mental Management ordered Decatur-based Petroleum Sales Inc., owner of Bud's Chevron at Sixth Avenue and Seventh Street Southeast, to assess whether gasoline leaked into the Terrys' yard.

The head of PSI, Stratton Orr, refused comment Friday.

Haley has acute lymphocytic leukemia. Had her parents sought treatment 30 days later than they did, the girl's doctor told them, she would be dead.

While experts say they believe there is a link between benzene, a chemical in gasoline, and leukemia, it is a link they do not entirely understand.

The girl looked more vulnerable than sick Friday. Lying on a couch and covered with a favorite blanket, she slept with her knees pulled to her chest, her thumb in her mouth. Thinning blond hair signaled the early effects of the aggressive chemotherapy that her parents pray will kill the invading cancer cells.

"I want to say, 'Why her, God?' " Harry Terry said as he focused on the girl's steady breathing. "Why did you have to pick this little girl?"

The Terrys have lived in the house since 1994. Until a few days ago, they had not known that ADEM discovered soil and water contamination at the gas station in 1999.

Terry wonders why the owners of the station did not mention the contamination then.

"This question has been raised before, but there is no regulatory requirement to give notice," said Dorothy Malaier, chief of ADEM's Underground Storage Tank Corrective Action section. "There's nothing to prevent the owner from warning people, though."

Last week, under orders from ADEM, contractors installed two groundwater monitors in the Terrys' back yard. ADEM also took soil samples from the yard. The agency took no samples from the Terry yard in 1999, when it first discovered the contamination.

Malaier said laboratory results from the samples would not arrive for several weeks.

"We don't have the test results yet, but there is evidence that the soil did have odors suggesting contamination," Malaier said. "It hasn't been quantified yet."

She said ADEM has confirmed contamination of soil and groundwater on the gas station's land and on adjoining land.

Trucks that fill the underground tanks of Bud's Chevron do so 30 feet from Haley's swing set.

Until the recent repaving of the alley between the Terry house and the gas station, Terry said, he had for years tried unsuccessfully to prevent flooding that shed surface water from the station onto his back yard.

No way to know

Dr. Richard Hayes, a cancer epidemiologist with the National Institutes of Health, said there is no way to know with certainty whether benzene contributed to Haley's acute lymphocytic leukemia.

"We know benzene affects the production of blood cells. Generally it leads to a decrease in blood counts," Hayes said. "That's one effect that is easily measured in people exposed to benzene."

Hayes said benzene can enter the body either through the mouth, as occurs when the chemical contaminates drinking water, or through skin absorption.

The link between benzene and childhood leukemia is particularly difficult to assess, Hayes said, because so few children are exposed to the chemical.

Left untreated, 95 percent of patients with acute leukemia will die within one year of diagnosis.

What gives the Terrys hope is that if doctors can keep her free of the disease for over four years she probably will never have a relapse.

A study published in France last year concluded that children living near gas stations are four times more likely to develop leukemia than the general population.

The longer a child lived near a gas station, the study concluded, the greater the risk.

Haley Terry has spent her entire life next to Bud's Chevron. Throughout her life, ADEM and the owners of the station knew it was contaminated.

A spokesman for ADEM, Clint Niemeyer, said PSI must file a report outlining the corrective action it intends to take by April 29.

That report will address how PSI will go about removing contaminated soil, groundwater and soil vapors.

Rebecca Terry, Haley's mother, took her daughter to a family doctor in late November because of a persistent but low-grade fever. The doctor recommended Tylenol and sent her home.

The fever continued, however, and she asked the doctor to give the child a blood test.

The doctor returned with the results and, Harry Terry recalls, said, "Don't even go home. I know a doctor at Children's Hospital in Birmingham. Go."

"We were both praying it would not be leukemia, but I think we knew it was," the child's father said.

Terry struggles to fit his daughter's illness into his faith, but he said he has no doubt that a small insect bite on his daughter's leg was a gift from God.

After hiking in the woods with his daughter in November, he noticed a small, red bite with a white dot in the center, on her leg. Fearing it was from a brown recluse spider, he took her to a hospital.

He was unsatisfied with the out-of-state hospital's examination.

Terry's fear of that bite may have saved his daughter's life. When she developed a slight fever and fatigue, both parents feared the bite was poisonous. That fear prompted them to be aggressive in pursuing a diagnosis when the girl developed a fever and showed signs of fatigue.

Haley's prognosis is good, largely because her condition was discovered so early. The aggressive chemotherapy regimen is exhausting, but the oncologist said he expects her to survive the disease. She must undergo the chemotherapy for another two years.

Standing over his sleeping daughter, trying to stop his tears, Terry said, "If it weren't for that little spider bite"]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/9159 Tue, 21 Dec 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/9159
Scientists have known that workers in industries like oil and shipping who are exposed to high doses of the substance run an increased risk of having their bone marrow altered and developing leukaemia. But the potential dangers from smaller amounts of the chemical have been unclear.

The new study, published in the magazine Science, shows that workers who inhaled less than one part per million (ppm) of benzene - an exposure considered safe under United States occupational guidelines had fewer white blood cells than
unexposed workers.

"It really breaks new ground on the potential effects of low levels," said toxicologist Bernard Goldstein of the University of Pittsburgh's School of Public Health.

Scientists from the US National Cancer Institute, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the University of California, Berkeley and other institutions conducted a 16-month study.

It compared 250 workers exposed to benzene-laden glues in two shoe factories in China to 140 unexposed workers who sewed clothes in other Chinese factories.

They took urine samples and tested air in the factories, as well as at each worker's home. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8957 Fri, 03 Dec 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8957
Researchers reported Thursday in the journal Science that workers in a Chinese shoe factory exposed to less than one part per million of benzene experienced a significant decline of white cells and found their blood-forming cells were less vigorous than normal.

U.S. occupational guidelines limit benzene exposure to one part per million, but the study found changes in the blood from lower exposure.

"We can't say that this is associated with the future risk of disease," said Dr. Nathaniel Rothman, one of two senior authors of the study. "But it does raise the question of what else is going on in the bone marrow" as a result of low-level exposure to benzene.

Benzene also appears to have a toxic effect on the progenitor cells that form blood cells and that the effect of benzene can be underestimated if only mature blood cells are studied, said Rothman, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health.

Benzene is one of the most frequently used chemicals in American industry. It is used as a solvent and to make plastics, resins, adhesives and synthetic fibers. Workers in shipping, automobile repair, shoe manufacture and the refining and transportation of oil and gasoline are routinely exposed to fumes from the sweet-smelling, highly combustible chemical.

In 1987, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration set the maximum allowable industrial exposure to inhaled benzene at 1 ppm in eight hours.

Rothman said it is too soon to say if that standard should be changed, but he added that the new study raises concerns about the risks of low levels of benzene and suggests that more studies are needed to ensure that American workers are protected.

"Biological events are occurring (as a result of the exposure)," said Rothman. "The question is: What are the health consequences to the workers?"

In the Science study, researchers analyzed blood samples from 240 workers who were routinely exposed to benzene-laced glue in a Chinese shoe factory. They compared the results with blood drawn from 140 unexposed workers in a Chinese clothing plant.

The researchers also tested the air in the factories and took urine samples to determine precisely the intensity of benzene exposure in the two workplaces.

They found 109 shoe factory workers who were exposed to less than 1 ppm of benzene had an average of 15 percent to 18 percent fewer white blood cells than did workers in the other plant.

Researchers also discovered that the blood progenitor cells in the shoe factory workers were less able to grow and reproduce than were such cells taken from the clothing workers.

Dr. Gilbert Omenn of the University of Michigan Medical School said in Science that the study "should cause a stir in the occupational and environmental health circles."

Bill Perry, director of the Office of Chemical Hazards at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said the current benzene standard was developed "after more than a decade of extensive research and a comprehensive regulatory process."

He said the study in Science has not yet been reviewed and "evaluation will take some time."

Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency did not respond to requests for comment.

The study is a subset of a larger benzene study, now under way in China, that was prompted by concerns among scientists there that the chemical might increase leukemia among workers.

Dr. Martyn T. Smith of the University of California, Berkeley, was the second senior author. Other co-authors included those from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites); the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; the New York Blood Center, White Plains, and the Peking Union Medical College in Beijing. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8958 Fri, 03 Dec 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8958 They have shown that workers who inhaled less than one part per million had fewer white blood cells than those who were not exposed.

Benzene is found in many sources, including second-hand cigarette smoke, petrol vapours and air pollution.

The research, by US and Chinese scientists, is published in the journal Science.

Scientists have known that workers in industries like oil and shipping who are exposed to high doses of the substance run an increased risk of developing leukaemia.

But the potential dangers from smaller amounts of the chemical have been unclear.

The new study shows that even exposure to levels of the chemical that are considered safe under US guidelines appear to cause changes to the bone marrow.

The researchers compared 250 workers exposed to benzene-laden glues in two shoe factories in China to 140 workers who sewed clothes in other Chinese factories, but who did not come into contact with the chemical.

They measured benzene exposure by taking urine and blood samples and testing air in the factories, as well as at each worker's home.

Surprise results

As expected, workers exposed to benzene at levels of 1ppm and higher had fewer white blood cells, such as granulocytes and B cells, than did unexposed workers.

But this also held true for the 109 workers exposed to less than 1ppm of benzene even after controlling for smoking and other potential confounding factors.

These workers had on average 15% to 18% fewer granulocytes and B cells than did unexposed workers.

The researchers say that although these workers showed no signs of ill health, the findings suggest that low doses of benzene may have a damaging impact on bone marrow which could lead to health problems.

White blood cells, which are produced in the bone marrow, play a key role in the body's ability to fight off infection and disease.

However, Dr Richard Irons, of the University of Colorado, who is leading an industry-funded study into the effect of benzene, said it was possible that the findings recorded by the study might be due to exposure to other chemicals, or factors such as nutrition.

The researchers also studied the effect of benzene on the progenitor cells found in the bone marrow that give rise to blood cells.

They found that the ability of progenitor cells to grow and multiply declined with higher exposures.

More work needed

Dr Richard McNally, of the Cancer Research UK Paediatric and Familial Cancer Research Group, said it would be wrong to draw firm conclusions from the study.

He said: "It does not show how low-level exposure to benzene affects the risk of leukaemia, if at all.

"What it does show is that low-level exposure to benzene can lead to reduced blood cell counts.

"The observed dose-response relationship suggests this is a real result.

"However, the effects occurred within a particular genetic sub-population.

"Whether exposure to benzene would have similar effects in the UK population would depend on how many people in the UK have the genetic susceptibility described in the report, and would need to be tested through further research."

Among the institutions who took part in the research were the US National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing, the University of California, Berkeley. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8951 Thu, 02 Dec 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8951
Researchers reported Thursday in the journal Science that workers in a Chinese shoe factory exposed to less than one part per million of benzene experienced a significant decline of white cells and found their blood-forming cells were less vigorous than normal.

U.S. occupational guidelines limit benzene exposure to one part per million, but the study found changes in the blood from lower exposure.

We cant say that this is associated with the future risk of disease, said Dr. Nathaniel Rothman, one of two senior authors of the study. But it does raise the question of what else is going on in the bone marrow as a result of low-level exposure to benzene.

Benzene also appears to have a toxic effect on the progenitor cells that form blood cells and that the effect of benzene can be underestimated if only mature blood cells are studied, said Rothman, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health.

Common industrial chemical
Benzene is one of the most frequently used chemicals in American industry. It is used as a solvent and to make plastics, resins, adhesives and synthetic fibers. Workers in shipping, automobile repair, shoe manufacture and the refining and transportation of oil and gasoline are routinely exposed to fumes from the sweet-smelling, highly combustible chemical.

In 1987, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration set the maximum allowable industrial exposure to inhaled benzene at 1 ppm in eight hours.

Rothman said it is too soon to say if that standard should be changed, but he added that the new study raises concerns about the risks of low levels of benzene and suggests that more studies are needed to ensure that American workers are protected.

Biological events are occurring (as a result of the exposure), said Rothman. The question is: What are the health consequences to the workers?

In the Science study, researchers analyzed blood samples from 240 workers who were routinely exposed to benzene-laced glue in a Chinese shoe factory. They compared the results with blood drawn from 140 unexposed workers in a Chinese clothing plant.

The researchers also tested the air in the factories and took urine samples to determine precisely the intensity of benzene exposure in the two workplaces.

They found 109 shoe factory workers who were exposed to less than 1 ppm of benzene had an average of 15 percent to 18 percent fewer white blood cells than did workers in the other plant.

Researchers also discovered that the blood progenitor cells in the shoe factory workers were less able to grow and reproduce than were such cells taken from the clothing workers.

'Evaluation will take some time'
Dr. Gilbert Omenn of the University of Michigan Medical School said in Science that the study should cause a stir in the occupational and environmental health circles.

Bill Perry, director of the Office of Chemical Hazards at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said the current benzene standard was developed after more than a decade of extensive research and a comprehensive regulatory process.

He said the study in Science has not yet been reviewed and evaluation will take some time.

Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency did not respond to requests for comment.

The study is a subset of a larger benzene study, now under way in China, that was prompted by concerns among scientists there that the chemical might increase leukemia among workers.

Dr. Martyn T. Smith of the University of California, Berkeley, was the second senior author. Other co-authors included those from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; the New York Blood Center, White Plains, and the Peking Union Medical College in Beijing.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8953 Thu, 02 Dec 2004 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8953
The study looked at 250 shoe-factory workers in China exposed to benzene fumes from glue and found that people exposed to levels below 1 part per million the U.S. occupational standard experienced a significant decline in their white blood cell counts. Blood-forming cells performed less vigorously than normal, raising concern about harm to the bone marrow where those cells are found.

"We're finding evidence that biological changes in the blood system are occurring. It raises a question about the long-term risks for leukemia," said Dr. Nathaniel Rothman, a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute who co-authored the study with NCI molecular epidemiologist Qing Li and others. "A direct link hasn't been established. Our work is showing something is going on, and if something is going on, we need to understand it."

The study is of special interest in the Houston area, which is well-known for its poor air quality as well as for being one of the world's largest centers of petrochemical production, employing thousands of people in the industry.

At high levels of occupational exposure, benzene causes leukemia, but its disease-causing potential at lower levels is unknown. In 1987, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration set the maximum allowable industrial exposure to inhaled benzene at 1 part per million in eight hours.

Refiners compliance cited

Experts said it is too soon to know whether the standard should be changed.

OSHA's Bill Perry said the current benzene standard was developed "after more than a decade of extensive research and a comprehensive regulatory process." He said the study in Science had not yet been reviewed and "evaluation will take some time."

Occupational health professionals say the largest refineries, such as Exxon, Dow and Shell, keep their benzene levels well below the U.S. standard. Even if the U.S. standard were cut in half, those companies could probably meet that limit without difficulty, "because they're probably there already," said Jonathan Ward, director of environmental toxicology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

"The Fortune 500 companies have invested a lot of money in occupational safety and health, and understand it influences the bottom line," said Dr. Arch Carson, an assistant professor of occupational medicine at the University of Texas School of Public Health. "But the majority of our American work force works in companies that employ less than 50 people. It's those companies that have a harder time assessing the problem and controlling it."

It is unclear what percentage of the petrochemical work force is employed at small plants, said Gary Adams, president of Chemical Market Associates, a Houston-based consulting firm.

390 workers monitored

In the study, researchers compared 250 benzene-exposed shoe workers with 140 unexposed people who were otherwise similar in terms of age and sex and who worked in nearby clothing factories.

For up to 16 months, the researchers monitored workers for benzene exposure through personal air monitors and urine samples taken after workers got off their shifts. In blood samples, they found a steep decrease in disease-fighting lymphocytes, T-cells, platelets and other cell types.

Ward, who has conducted similar research on the chemical 1,3-butadiene, said the cell changes are a reaction to the toxicity of benzene. Benzene also causes damage to blood cell DNA, and with enough damage, a person can develop leukemia, a potentially fatal blood cancer.

Ward said the strength of the China study is that it looked at a fairly large group of people and closely measured their exposure to the chemical.

"Obviously having such a clear-cut finding in individuals to exposures below the current limit will probably give rise to a careful review of the exposure limit," Ward said. "I would think that this might push us in the direction of" lowering the limit.

Neighborhood levels

Carson disagreed and said that most occupational health professionals consider current standards adequate for the vast majority of workers.

Workers in the oil industry, shipping, auto repair and shoe-making are exposed to benzene, and general public is exposed through cigarette smoke, gasoline and auto emissions. Levels measured in Houston neighborhoods are far lower than the occupational limit, and are measured in parts per billion.

Houston ambient levels range from 2 to 4 parts per billion, and any health impact has not been observed by scientists.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7300 Mon, 22 Sep 2003 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7300
In her lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Reno, Vicky Morin accuses the government of negligence and asks for damages in excess of $75,000.

While working for Allen Corporation of America from 1982 to 1986 at the base, Morin was "bathed in jet fuel regularly dumped by the Navy jet aircraft on their approach to landing," the suit alleges.

In February 2001, Morin, 42, was diagnosed with malignant plasmacytoma of the brain.

Dr. Alan Levin, an Incline Village doctor and attorney who's representing Morin, said jet fuel has been linked to plasmacytoma or its close relative, multiple myeloma, in several scientific studies.

Jets flying into the Fallon base on training missions have routinely dumped fuel to simulate carrier landings, he contends.

"It's routine to dump fuel before bringing an aircraft aboard a carrier," Levin said Sunday. "They deny they do it out at Fallon, but the lawsuit is going to show the Navy is lying."

Air station spokesman Zip Upham and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Reno didn't immediately return a phone call Sunday.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office told the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard newspaper that they had not seen the lawsuit as of Wednesday and could not comment on it.

Levin also has sued over a childhood leukemia cluster in Fallon, a small farm and military town 60 miles east of Reno.

His earlier suits seek to force the Navy, fuel companies and the city to pay for leukemia screening for children with ties to Fallon.

Sixteen children who lived in Fallon have been diagnosed with leukemia since 1997. Three have died.

State and federal officials suspect an environmental cause of the cluster.

Levin contends both the cluster and Morin case are associated with benzene, a carcinogen found in jet fuel.

"Absolutely, I view jet fuel as the prime suspect in the cancer cases in Fallon," he said.

Morin, who's married and has children, is unable to work because of her health condition, Levin said. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5320 Sun, 06 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5320
Health department samplings conducted in late 2002 and January showed nine more private wells in the neighborhood bounded by Martin Downs Boulevard, Mapp Road and the St. Lucie River were contaminated with chemicals used in gasoline, including benzene and napthalene.

That study of 142 neighborhood wells found 39 wells had those chemicals in trace amounts that did not exceed state standards.

Since 1988, contamination that exceeds state standards has been found in 25 wells in the neighborhood.

The cause of the contamination, health department officials say, was leaking tanks at three gas stations along Mapp Road.

Willie Puz, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said Jack's Service Station, Texaco Minit Mart and Speedway all reported "discharges" between 1988 and 1999.

Speedway already has cleaned up the site, while Jack's Service Station and Texaco continue to work on the cleanup.

But groundwater contamination in the area has continued to spread, health officials say.

"Some of the contamination has spread out," Environmental Health Director Bob Washam said. "It's very likely that it's related to these three gas stations."

Washam is quick to say that short-term exposure to the chemicals poses little health risk.

"The health danger would usually be drinking the water over a lifetime," he said. "People in this area have been drinking the water for a short period of time. The short term use of the water is really not a danger."

The most recent wells identified had levels of benzene at about four times the safe level, Washam said.

The highest levels were reported at two wells tested on 33rd Street, which had benzene levels at 20 times the safe level, he said.

Of the 25 affected wells, the DEP has paid to connect 21 homes to county water lines. DEP officials have installed a special filter on wells at the remaining six homes to remove the chemicals, Washam said.

Wells that showed trace amounts of benzene are retested four times a year, and residents are notified of the contamination level, Washam said.

But those residents aren't given any recommendation by the health department on what to do about the contamination.

"We just let them know they have trace amounts, we don't make any recommendations," Washam said.

After reading the health department's report on groundwater contamination in Old Palm City, Commissioner Michael DiTerlizzi said he was concerned about "areas where wells were contaminated but there was no filter."

He said he wants to be sure that all affected homes have either been hooked up to county water or a filter has been placed on the well.

"We shouldn't have people with contamination and no filter," he said. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5321 Fri, 04 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/5321
In February 2002, Trueblood told the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that her employer, VonRoll America, was accepting hazardous wastes it was not permitted to incinerate and storing drums of chemical waste on a parking lot at the adjacent Heritage Environmental Services, a separate waste transfer facility that has an ownership interest in the incinerator.

VonRoll fired Trueblood in October 2002 for, it said, exceeding her sick day limit. But federal Administrative Law Judge Richard Morgan ruled last week that she was unlawfully terminated for blowing the whistle on those illegal waste handling practices.

Morgan's 60-page decision scolds VonRoll for concocting a story to cover up Trueblood's termination, and awards her $50,000 for back pay and $125,000 in exemplary damages.

He also ordered WTI to reinstate her to her job, but added that her return to work would be a "terrible mistake" and urged the company and Trueblood to reach a different, mutually acceptable settlement.

VonRoll has filed notice that it will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board in Washington, D.C.

Raymond Wayne, a WTI spokesman, said it is the company's policy not to comment on pending cases or appeals. He said any action on Trueblood's reinstatement is on hold pending the outcome of the appeal.

Richard Renner, Trueblood's attorney, said he contacted the company last Friday about her reinstatement but has had no response. He said provisions of the federal Energy Reorganization Act require that Trueblood be reinstated and given back pay even though the appeal is pending.

"She can't wait forever. She's about to lose her home in East Liverpool and she's flat run out of money," Renner said. "She's really suffered for taking the stand that she did."

The WTI incinerator, in East Liverpool's poor East End neighborhood along the Ohio River, 30 miles west of Pittsburgh, has been a lightning rod for safety and health concerns since plans for its construction were announced in the early 1980s. Despite strong opposition, the $140 million incinerator was built 400 yards from an elementary school and finally opened in 1993.

Incinerator opponents have seized on the waste handling irregularities reported by Trueblood as confirming their fears about dangerous practices at the incinerator that operates seven days a week, 24 hours a day, burning 60,000 tons of hazardous waste a year.

Trueblood, worked in the waste industry since 1991 in her home state of Louisiana, as well as in Texas, Iowa and California before getting a job at WTI in 1998. She said she doesn't share the concerns of the incinerator opponents, as long as the business operates by the rules.

"Incineration for the types of waste WTI handles is the best technology we have," Trueblood, 39, said. "Some of the WTI waste is 'two-stepper' stuff, meaning if you get a whiff of it you can take two steps and you're gone. I can't see landfilling that kind of stuff, but I believe they could handle it better."

Trueblood said the initial complaint to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio EPA about WTI's waste handling irregularities came from another person at the facility, but when the agencies contacted her at home she told them what she knew.

She told the agencies that WTI was storing hazardous wastes off-site at Heritage Environmental open-air parking lot and had accepted shipments of bromoform and 100 percent benzene that it did not have a permit to incinerate.

She said the waste handling irregularities happened on "multiple occasions," but she documented only one occasion for the investigating agencies.

Benzene is a widely used industrial chemical and a known human carcinogen.

Bromoform was used in the past as a solvent and flame retardant, or to make other chemicals. It is now used mainly as a laboratory reagent. Overexposure affects the central nervous system causing unconsciousness, loss of reflexes, shallow breathing, erratic heart rate, and respiratory failure.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4856 Fri, 28 Feb 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4856
According to the lawsuit, toxic chemicals escaped from the West Avenue Landfill and poisoned the daughter of Charles Pollock (pictured, right), who moved into the home eight years ago along with his wife, who was pregnant at the time with their daughter Sarah.

The landfill was located behind the Pollock's backyard.

The jury found that the city failed to replace an often-broken gas collection system at the landfill.

An attorney for the Pollocks presented evidence that the highest concentrations of toxic gas, including benzene, were found directly behind the Pollock home.

"The circumstances were very unique to the Pollocks, said Sylvan Lang, the plaintiff's attorney. "Because of their exact location, Tracey's pregnancy and the landfill gas we contend they were exposed to."

Charles Pollock said that he felt the city should have informed him and his neighbors about the potential danger.

"I don't think any parent wants to watch their child die," Pollock said. "That was always on our minds."

But City Attorney Michael Hodge argued that nothing from the landfill, which has since been covered with dirt, caused the leukemia.

"Our evidence, we felt, showed that there was no gas escaping to the neighborhood from that landfill," Hodge said. "The landfill was monitored at a regular basis."

The city plans to appeal the jury's decision.

The Pollocks have since moved out of the home and their daughter is now in remission. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4260 Tue, 14 Jan 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4260
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency estimates that one of every 500 people exposed to airborne benzene and other chemicals from the plant has a higher-than-normal risk of developing cancer.

By contrast, the cancer risk in most urban areas is between one case per 100,000 people and one per 1 million.

"That was a record," EPA toxicologist Paul Koval said. "We were hard-pressed to find any other place in the country, or even the world, with levels that high."

The EPA won a $2.6 million court judgment against New Boston Coke last month, which until last spring operated the processor in this Ohio River village of 2,340 people about 85 miles south of Columbus.

Mayor Jim Warren said nobody in town knew how bad the pollution was or the risks it posed.

"We thought everything was under control," Warren said. "Then again, we live in a river valley lined with steel mills and chemical plants. We're getting it from all sides every day."

A ruling issued in December by Scioto County Common Pleas Judge Howard Harcha said New Boston Coke never complied with permits that required it to limit air pollution from its battery of ovens, which baked coal into coke for fueling blast furnaces in Midwestern steel mills.

The biggest portion of the fines imposed by Harcha $1.9 million was a record judgment for the EPA's Division of Air Pollution Control. Harcha also fined the company for violating hazardous-waste and clean-water laws.

When the plant's 70 coke ovens were baking as much as 600,000 tons of coal a year, EPA tests determined levels of airborne benzene in New Boston were 42 times higher than levels found in Cleveland and four times higher than in Cincinnati. Long-term exposure to benzene can cause leukemia and anemia.

Court records show the plant emitted high levels of pollution for years, despite routine inspections by the EPA and the Portsmouth Local Air Agency. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4077 Fri, 03 Jan 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/4077
The proposal would require manufacturers and retailers to sell only cans that are less permeable and come with spill-proof spouts. If approved, the regulation would take effect in 2004.

Environmental officials said old leaky gas cans release hundreds of tons of emissions each year that contribute to ozone pollution.

Under the proposal, retailers would be given a year to sell all their old stock, and consumers may continue to use their old cans for as long as they last.

"If they last 100 years, they'll be able to use them," said Jeffrey Crawford of the department's Bureau of Air Quality. "The fuel can police are not going to take your gas can."

Officials said they have concerns about gas cans because of their effect on the environment.

According to studies by manufacturers and the Ozone Transport Commission, a coalition of states working to reduce ozone pollution, portable fuel containers release an estimated 6.6 tons of volatile organic compound emissions per day in Maine. VOC emissions are a major component of ozone pollution.

Some of that pollution comes from spills and leaks, the rest from evaporation that occurs as the cans "breathe."

"What happens is the gasoline can will expand during the day and contract at night when it cools off, so it's basically pushing gas vapors out," Crawford said.

The new DEP rule eventually would cut fuel can emissions by 75 percent, a reduction on par with switching to reformulated gas.

The new standard will also cut people's exposure to benzene, a known carcinogen, and other toxic substances found in gasoline.

The additional cost to the consumer is $6 to $10 per can. When the loss of gas through spills and evaporation over the life of the can is taken into account, the net cost is expected to be $1.33, Crawford said.

Some devices would be exempt from the rule, including fuel containers with a capacity of a quart or less, safety cans and portable marine fuel tanks designed to be operated with an outboard motor.

Similar rules are already in effect in California, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, and other eastern states plan to adopt the standard as well. Manufacturers have not mounted any major efforts to oppose the rules in other states, Crawford and others said. ]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/benzene Fri, 03 Jan 2003 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/benzene Benzene Benzene is colorless liquid with a characteristic odor and burning taste that is one of the most commonly used solvents in the United States. Benzene is used as an additive in gasoline and an ingredient in paints, inks, adhesives, rubbers, glues, old spot removers, and furniture wax. Benzene is also used to make some types of plastics, glues, rubbers, lubricants, dyes, detergents, drugs, and pesticides. It is also natural component of cigarette smoke. Benzene ranks in the top 20 chemicals for production volume in the United States.

However, Benzene is a known human carcinogen. Long-term exposure to high levels of benzene in the air can cause leukemia, cancer of the blood-forming organs. There are several ways to be exposed to unhealthy levels of benzene. Workers in industries that make or use benzene may be exposed to the highest levels of Benzene and are at the highest level of risk.

You can also be exposed to dangerous levels of the solvent from indoor air that contains benzene from products that contain it such as glues, paints, furniture wax, and detergents. Air around hazardous waste sites or gas stations will contain higher levels of benzene. Leakage from underground storage tanks or from hazardous waste sites containing benzene can result in benzene contamination of well water. Another major source of benzene exposure is cigarette smoke.

Industrial processes are the main source of benzene in the environment. Benzene can pass into the air from water and soil. It reacts with other chemicals in the air and breaks down within a few days. Benzene in the air can attach to rain or snow and be carried back down to the ground. It breaks down more slowly in water and soil, and can pass through the soil into underground water.

If you believe that you have been exposed to benzene you should report your suspicions to your employer and be tested. Several tests can measure your exposure to benzene. There is a test for measuring benzene in the breath that must be done shortly after exposure. Benzene can also be measured in the blood. However, benzene disappears rapidly from the blood and test results are only accurate if the test is performed after recent exposure.

If you or a loved one suffered side effects from benzene exposure, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation by a qualified pollutants attorney.]]>