Water boils away at 212 degrees F.
It is easier to get most benzene into a gaseous or vapor state at 90 to 100 degrees F, the summer temperatures of the Gulf than water. It is all gas at a lower temperature than water.
Our NIOSH pocket guidebook also tells us that the Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) from OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) in parts per million of benzene that we should not exceed is only 1(one) part per million. This is about 500 to a 1000 times lower than most other chemicals found in crude oil and our gasoline.
Benzene is left in our gasoline to boost the octane rating and to prevent the knocking sound one gets from low octane fuels. There are many other aromatics that will also do the job that are not nearly as carcinogenic.
This means we only need 1 milliliter in a 1000 liters (1 cubic meter) or 35.32 Cubic foot or 6.3 barrels or 265 gallons of air for it to cause cancer when exposed to it over an eight hour period in a working capacity. Humans are able to smell benzene at 1.5 parts per million and taste it at 2 parts per million in water. So, by the time we can just smell it, it is carcinogenic and causing cancer and leukemia.
People working on the boats on skimmers, fisherman and scientists are going to have their lives changed forever by this chemical. Chemical gas masks and chemical filters are required. Dust filter masks will not save their lives.
Benzene is 300 to 1500 times more toxic than the other chemicals in crude oil and gasoline which are already toxic.
At 500 (parts per million) we face immediate Danger to Life and Health (IDLH) according to
(NIOSH). That is about a pint of benzene vapor, not liquid, to 265 gallons of air.
Let us call for the total removal of this compound from our gasoline.
Death occurs when exposed to benzene gas in 5 to 10 minutes at 20000 parts per million (2% in air) for humans.
I see the mobile truck mounted units for measuring VOC'S (Total Volatile Organic Compounds) for all the various chemicals are stationed along our coasts. The VOC'S are starting to reach our shores at 1 to 7 parts per million. Now this is not by any means all benzene, but a small fraction will be.
Call to measure benzene separately from the other volatile organic compounds. Lumping benzene along with the other organic compounds is not safe.
Danger of Hydrogen Sulfide
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