Toluene

1. Toluene By Thu Ha Bio 2B Dr. Blumberg May 18, 2005

2. What is Toluene? • Toluene is a clear colorless liquid that has a distinctive, sweet smell • It has a pungent, benzene-like odor • It is flammable and produces poisonous gas in a fire • It is slightly soluble • It occurs naturally in crude oil and in the tolu tree. • It is less dense than water. • It evaporates quickly Hydrocarbon CH3C6H5

3. Where is it found? • It is usually found in car exhaust and the smoke from cigarettes. • Industries using toluene

4. Uses • It is used to make paints, paint thinners, fingernail polish, lacquers, adhesives, and rubber and in some printing and leather tanning processes. • It is also found in gasoline, acrylic paints, varnishes, glues, rubber cement, and shoe polish.

5. When Toluene enters the environment • This chemical enters the environment when you use materials that contain it. It can enter surface water and groundwater from spills of solvents and petroleum products as well as from leaking underground storage tanks at gas stations • It does not usually stay in the environment long. • When toluene-containing products are placed in landfills or waste disposal sites, the chemical can enter the soil or water near the waste site. • When it is release into the air, this material is expected to have a half-life of less than 1 day.

6. How are you exposed to toluene? • Toluene for people in the workplace at levels of 100ppm are considered safe for workers, but at levels of 2000ppm, it is considered dangerous to life and health. • Breathing contaminated workplace air or automobile exhaust. • Drinking contaminated water. • Living near uncontrolled hazardous waste sites containing toluene products.

7. Ways that it can affect you • Accidental or deliberate inhalation of the fumes. • Ingestion. • Absorptions through the skin.

8. Effects on Human Health • The symptoms shortly after exposure to levels over 100 ppm of toluene in the air are tiredness, dizziness, headache, loss of coordination, insomnia, eye and nose irritation, and death at 4,000 ppm. • Prolonged exposure to toluene by inhalation is associated with heart, liver, kidney, and lung damage. • Exposure to this chemical may be harmful during childhood development as well. • Exposure may result from glue sniffing, solvent abuse, or industrial accidents. • It may cause mutations in living cells, but there is insufficient data on its carcinogenic potential.

9. Mortality • Sudden death is the most serious risk from inhalation of toluene as a result of the inability to breathe.

10. To Reduce Risk of exposure • Use toluene-containing products in well-ventilated areas. • Prevent evaporation into the air by tightly covering the top of the product.

11. Do standards exist for regulating toluene? • The drinking water standard is 343 parts per billion of toluene. It is suggested that you stop drinking the water that contains higher levels. • There are no standards for the amount of toluene allowed in the air of homes. The recommended level should be no higher than 4 parts per million of toluene in the air. • If you can smell the chemical, the level may be too high to be safe.

12. Research • There was some research done in young mice age 5 days to 8 weeks, has shown that p-nitrotoluene has an adverse affect on the developing brain inducing hyperactivity.

13. Cancer-causing? • Studies in humans and animals generally indicate that toluene does not cause cancer. The carcinogen of this chemical can not be classified by the EPA. • Research has shown that this chemical is unlikely to cause cancer. • It may affect the development of unborn babies.

14. Works Cited • http://omlc.ogi.edu/spectra/PhotochemCAD/html/toluene.html • http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts56.html • http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic594.htm • http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/t3913.htm • http://www.nsc.org/library/chemical/toluene.htm • http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/eh/ChemFS/fs/Toluene.htm