Washington - Even "safe" levels of benzene damage immune system cells and could lead to cancer or other problems, United States and Chinese researchers reported on Thursday.
A study of factory workers in China shows that tiny amounts of the chemical can affect bone marrow and blood cells - which suggests the chemical is even more dangerous than people believed, Qing Lan of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues there and in Beijing reported.
Benzene is just about everywhere and it is almost impossible to avoid. It is known to cause leukaemia.
"Exposure to benzene occurs worldwide to workers in the oil, shipping, automobile repair, shoe manufacture, and other industries and to the general public from cigarette smoke, gasoline, and automobile emissions," the researchers wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.
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| 'Exposure to benzene occurs worldwide' |
They looked at the blood of 250 shoe workers who had been exposed to various levels of benzene above and below the current US occupational standard of one part per million. They compared the results to 140 people who had not been exposed to benzene at work.
Defective blood and bone marrow cells were found in many of the shoe factory workers, even those who only breathed in air with benzene levels below one part per million.
Much of the damage was to the progenitor cells, also known as stem cells, that give rise to different types of blood cells. And people with certain genetic variations seemed particularly susceptible, the researchers said.
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