A U.S. company recently issued an announcement that its wash products contained the carcinogen, benzene, in a sampling test.
The substance has been detected in many products, including many spray products, and after the detection of benzene, the official also said that "unexpected levels of benzene".
Apparently, these care products have begun to be recalled in the United States, and they have also affected Canada.
Once again people turn their attention to benzene, as if this thing is far away from our lives, but in fact it is very common in our lives, and our lives are closely related to this substance.
Can carcinogens also be used in daily necessities?
I'm afraid you probably don't know enough about benzene.
1. Has your home been renovated?
With the continuous improvement of our living standards, many people have begun to buy houses, and decoration is obviously not a rare thing.
But you know what? When performing interior decoration, one of the air pollutants measured is very noteworthy, that is, benzene.
In paint, wall paint, and decorative materials, this substance is not rare, and it is very easy to contact in our lives.
This kind of pollution is indoor air pollution.
But many scholars believe that indoor air pollution will become the enemy of our health, after all, who can imagine that their homes are not safe?
Moreover, the World Health Organization has also listed indoor air pollution as one of the top ten threats to human health, which has been valued by many countries and populations.
First of all, how much time do you usually spend indoors? Or do you spend more time outdoors?
According to the survey results of the World Health Organization, in the current human activities, 80% of the time is spent indoors, especially the frail middle-aged and elderly people are more reluctant to go out to activities, and the time indoors will appear longer.
But is it safe to stay home? Not many objects in the decoration contain glue substances, and the benzene emitted by these substances is a compound that is harmful to the human body.
Benzene, which is a typical representative of aromatic compounds, has great advantages, it can be used as a very good organic solvent, at room temperature benzene is without any color, looks like oil.
But, does it have a taste? Yes, it is a special non-pungent fragrance, but as long as the substance containing benzene will easily emit benzene, this is because it has a high volatility.
And as a very good organic solvent, it can be easily soluble with other substances, ethanol, ether, acetone, and even very easily soluble with serum in the human body.
Benzene can be described as ubiquitous in life, and benzene can be seen in the furniture, paints, and coatings mentioned above, of course, there are pesticides, plastics and some drugs, as well as synthetic rubber, and the presence of benzene cannot be found.
So widely used, is it harmful to the human body? Is it non-toxic and harmless?
Second, carcinogenicity.
Don't look at his ability, but the harm of benzene to the human body is not small.
In 1987, the World Health Organization investigated that benzene is found in 30% of new buildings around the world, and it is easily emitted into the air, forming indoor air pollution.
Since then, with the deepening of research, it has been found that 4% of the diseases are related to the indoor environment, and the resulting deaths are not uncommon.
In the case of benzene, if long-term exposure to low concentrations of benzene, women or people exposed before pregnancy, may cause damage to the reproductive system, deformities and infertility are very common consequences.
And the damage to the next generation is not limited to this, some children have congenital heart disease, leukemia, many studies show that children's intelligence level may be affected, mortality has increased.
If exposed to high concentrations of benzene, the consequences are even more severe, the body's lymphocyte DNA will be exercised, and this problem will even more easily affect the next generation, because he has obvious genotoxic effects.
Tests in people who have been exposed to benzene for a long time have found that lymphocyte chromosomal aberrations in their peripheral blood increase, most likely because benzene and related metabolites have very strong oxidation properties, both directly and indirectly, and have exhausted dna damage.
In addition, it is sometimes found that patients with acute benzene poisoning tend to have dizziness and headaches, many people also have nausea and vomiting, if the poisoning is more serious, even confusion will occur, and severe deep coma will occur.
Long-term exposure to low concentrations of benzene is also prone to the effects of the nervous system, such as insomnia, memory loss and other problems.
More importantly, benzene has the potential to cause cancer.
After long-term exposure to benzene, the body's blood system will have inflammatory changes, peripheral blood cells will decrease, and may also manifest as aplastic anemia, many leukemias are caused by this.
At the same time, there are also cases of lung cancer found after long-term exposure to benzene.
The occurrence of these tumors is related to the oxidative stress caused by benzene and the decline in immune surveillance, and benzene may also induce human lymphocyte apoptosis regulation disorders and accelerate tumor formation.
In addition, in the experiment, some scholars have found that after exposure to benzene, the liver and kidney function of mice will be reduced, especially the liver tissue structure will also change significantly.
Why should we be afraid of benzene?
Studies have shown that as a highly volatile organic compound, the release rate of benzene in building materials is very slow, and this time may reach several years, or even decades.
The incubation period in the human body can even reach 15 years.
Obviously, benzene pollution will bring a lot of harm to the human body, and these hazards are immeasurable.
So, can we really just sit back and wait?
Of course not!
The State has long established a basis for this problem.
In 1993, the World Health Organization listed benzene as a carcinogen, and since then many countries have had more standardized requirements for building materials.
China is no exception, in 2002, the State Quality Inspection and Inspection Supervision, the General Administration of Inspection and Quarantine, the State Environmental Protection Administration and the Ministry of Health jointly issued the "Indoor Air Quality Standards", which strictly limits benzene and xylene, which are the main components of indoor pollutants.
And for the sake of everyone's health, we are also actively controlling and reducing other pollution caused by benzene, such as outdoors, we have been working hard to improve the exhaust of motor vehicles, control the release of exhaust gases, and improve the quality of fuel.
But then again, the most important thing related to our health is that building materials are also strictly controlled by many institutions for these materials, and some researchers are also developing greener decoration materials, using less harmful chemical raw materials, so that our health is more assured.
summary.
The presence of benzene, on the one hand, makes our lives more progressive and enables us to live more comfortably.
But at the same time, this substance also has a very clear carcinogenic teratogenic effect, as long as the contact is very troublesome, it can even be latent for 15 years.
But as long as we strictly control the pass, try to avoid contact with benzene, and promote a greener life and a more low-carbon life, the harm to us will become smaller and smaller.
And when buying daily necessities or other electrical appliances and decoration materials, we must pay attention to his source and do not buy three no products, otherwise it will have an "invisible" impact on health.