My friend told that the chemical toluene is poisonous. Is it so?

All the chemicals are poisons. The dose makes the poison. Toluene is an aromatic solvent and is poisonous.

Toluene is a colourless, voletatile, flammable liquid with an odour, resembling that of Benzene. It is obtained from crude oil or can be synthesized from benzene and is used as a solvent and as a raw material in chemical industries.

Toluene is used as an industrial solvent for paints, pharmaceuticals and rubber. It is found in petrol, paints, varnishes, paint thinners, printing inks, glues, rubber, adhesives and shoe polish.

Inhalation of toluene put in plastic bags may cause sudden death and this is the most serious risk. In many countries the poor inhale this to forget their hunger. The solvents make them addicts.

Long time exposure to toluene and other solvents cause the damage of central nervous system, heart, kidney, liver, blood and lung.

Almost 50% chronic solvent abusers are women in their best childbearing age. When I asked them for the reason the prompt answer was we felt happy and liked the smell.

I had a colleague, a laboratory medicine M. D. whose husband was a gynecologist. In his small cabin where there was no window he used to prepare the stains from his patients. He used regularly a small amount of toluene for more than 25 years. Suddenly he became sick, later he was diagnosed to have an incurable form of leukaemia and within three months he passed away. It was because of the exposure to toluene vapours for a long time.

When you buy a fresh newspaper or magazine, the solvent smell is due to presences of toluene. Therefore, the newspaper may be kept outside till the vapours are gone. Newspapers or magazines which are immediately packed in plastic foils after printing are dangerous because they contain more vapours. These are very dangerous to our health and environment.

Is benzene a chemical which can cause cancer? Please explain me…

Yes, Benzene is a carcinogen, i. e., a substance capable of causing cancer..

Benzene, a liquid aromatic hydrocarbon, is mixed in petrol. It is an environmental pollutant and found everywhere in air. It is a very important solvent for the industry. Moreover, it is also a raw materials.

Benzene exposure has very bad health effects. Exposure to low level causes drowsiness, dizziness, fast heart rate, headache, confusion and unconsciousness and higher level can result death.

Long term exposure causes damage to the bone marrow and the immune system; decreases the number of red blood cells and increases the chance of infection.

Women who have long- time exposure suffer from irregular menstrual periods and decreased size of ovaries.

Lead has been removed from the petrol throughout the world. But to maintain the properties of leaded petrol the industry mixes benzene with petrol.

Benzene is more harmful than lead and now it is omnipresent.

Lead vs. Benzene in Petrol in our World

It is good that in our world we have lead from the petrol. Lead is not poisonous to adults. Even a pregnant woman had no problem with it.

But, lead makes only problems to the children, particularly for the school going children. It could reduce their intelligence thus their capacity of learning. There are studies from World Health Organization (WHO) involving hundreds of thousands of school going children which proved these adverse effects.

We have done a great job, but the substitute for lead in petrol, benzene is more dangerous. Up to 5% of benzene is mixed with petrol to get the similar characteristics of the leaded petrol.

Benzene comes out with the exhaust gases to the environment. It is present everywhere now and bad for our health.

Benzene is cancerous but nobody talks about that.

Long-term health effects of exposure to benzene:

• The major effect of benzene from long-term exposure is on the blood. (Long-term exposure means exposure of a year or more.) Benzene causes harmful effects on the bone marrow and can cause a decrease in red blood cells, leading to anemia. It can also cause excessive bleeding and can affect the immune system, increasing the chance for infection.
• Some women who breathed high levels of benzene for many months had irregular menstrual periods and a decrease in the size of their ovaries. It is not known whether benzene exposure affects the developing fetus in pregnant women or fertility in men.
• Animal studies have shown low birth weights, delayed bone formation, and bone marrow damage when pregnant animals breathed benzene.
• The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that benzene causes cancer in humans. Long-term exposure to high levels of benzene in the air can cause leukemia, cancer of the blood-forming organs.

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/benzene/basics/facts.asp

Now-a-days we know continuous environmental exposure is also a great risk for our health.