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Benzene Lawsuit Attorneys
Benzene Exposure Lawyers in California
Benzene exposure can cause leukemia, other
cancers and various blood disorders.
Benzene, a known carcinogen (cancer causing chemical), has been used
during the last two centuries as a solvent for various industrial, commercial
and consumer applications. Currently, benzene is an ingredient in many
commercial and consumer products, including paints, solvents, degreasers,
pesticides, adhesives, dry cleaning fluids, lubricants, and chemicals
used in the rubber industry. Exposure to Benzene can result in various
ailments, including chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), acute myoloid
leukemia (AML), multiple myeloma and aplastic anemia (a precursor to
AML).
According to the National Cancer Institute, more than 12,000 cases
of AML are diagnosed every year and many workers and consumers are exposed
to Benzene daily.
What is Benzene?
Benzene is a highly flammable, clear, colorless, sweet-smelling liquid
used in the production of plastics, paints, rubber, resins, detergents,
lubricants, drugs, pesticides, and synthetic fabrics. Benzene is predominantly
found in petroleum refineries and is a naturally occurring compound
of gasoline and crude oil.
Benzene Health Effects
Long-term exposure to benzene has been associated with several diseases,
including anemia, leukemia, and conditions characterized by the depression
of the immune system such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Benzene causes leukemia. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency
classifies Benzene as a known human carcinogen. Even the companies who
produce it and their industry lobbying groups agree on the danger. They
confine their dispute to how much Benzene the body can take and over
how long a period before cancer, illness and death occurs.
It has been known since as early as 1897 that Benzene causes diseases
when doctors first linked it as a cause of aplastic anemia. Now we know
it causes much more than that.
One hundred years later, in 1997, a report by the Canadian Occupational
Board on Occupational Diseases summarized links between Benzene and
the following diseases:
- Acute Myelogenous or Myeloid Leukemia (AML) - also
known as acute myelogenous leukemia, acute granulocytic leukemia,
and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia is defined
as a malignancy of blood-forming tissues that results in an excess
of immature white blood cells. The malignant cells begin to replace
bone marrow and normal blood cells cease to function. Symptoms of
this disease include but are not limited to: prolonged bleeding, skin
rash, fatigue, bone pain, and weight loss.
- Myelodysplastic Syndromes - a group of conditions
characterized by changes in the bone marrow that suggest a pre-leukaemic
state.
- Secondary Aplastic Anemia - also known as acquired
aplastic anemia, secondary anemia is defined as a failure of the bone
marrow to form blood cells and is characterized by a reduction in
all types of blood cells. Symptoms of this disease include but are
not limited to: fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, and rapid
heart rate.
- Pancytopenia
These conclusions rest on case reports, epidemiology, chromosomes studies,
metabolic studies and experimental evidence.
Considerable evidence also links Benzene to:
- Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) - also known
as chronic granulocytic leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia is
defined as a rapid growth of the blood forming cells in bone marrow,
body tissues, and blood that causes bone marrow failure. Symptoms
of this disease include but are not limited to: fever, bone pain,
enlarged spleen, and fatigue.
- Chronic Lymphacitic Leukemia (CLL) and Multiple
Myeloma have also been linked to benzene exposure.
- Multiple Myeloma
- Myelofibrosis
- Myelodysplasia - a condition characterized by the
abnormal formation of bone marrow cells.
A number of studies report an association between Benzene and:
- Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) - also known as
acute childhood leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia is defined as
a malignant cancer characterized by an accumulation of immature white
blood cells. The malignant cells begin to replace bone marrow and
normal blood cells cease to function. Symptoms of this disease include
but are not limited to: prolonged bleeding, skin rash, fatigue, bone
pain, and weight loss.
- Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma - also known as lymphocytic
lymphoma, histiocytic lymphoma, and lymphoblastic lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma is defined as a malignancy in the lymphatic tissue (lymph
nodes, spleen, etc.). Symptoms of this disease include but are not
limited to: enlarged lymph nodes, fever, weight loss, and excessive
sweating.
- Hodgkin's disease
- Thromborythemia
Symptoms of the four major types of leukemia to which Benzene is
related to are as follows:
- Fatigue
- Weight loss
- Excessive bruising
- Weakness
- Abnormal bleeding
- Malaise
- Abdominal pain
- Enlarged spleen, liver, or lymph nodes
- Infection or fever
- Bone or joint pain
Current research, especially a large study in China completed in cooperation
with the American National Cancer Institute and Mayo Clinic researchers,
has demonstrated a link between Benzene and Lymphatic cancers. (Journal
of the National Cancer Institute, July 16, 1997) This study and others
suggest a relationship between Benzene and all cancers, neoplasms, related
to blood, especially AML (acute myelogeneous Leukemia).
Other suspected causes of AML include ethylene oxide, ionizing radiation,
styrene 1, 3-butadiene, vinyl chloride and paints. The adhesives used
in plywood, particle board and other wood processing plants have links
to AML. This type of Leukemia does not run in families. AML normally
has a chemical cause.
The most common cause, probably because it is such a common chemical,
is Benzene. It comes from oil and petroleum. Manufacturers place it
in gasoline, cleaners, adhesives and a huge assortment of other products
used in the home and workplace.
The American Petroleum Institute's own spokesman has said, "We
recognize that Benzene can cause Leukemia at high levels of exposure,
say 25, 50 or 100 parts per million in the workplace." (Environmental
Health Perspectives, March 1994) Independent studies (independent meaning
a study not funded by an oil company or oil lobbying group) find it
takes much less Benzene to cause AML. The independent studies show that
the minimum safe level is 1.0 ppm which OSHA, Occupational Safety and
Health Administration, requires by law. Many medical, health and safety
professional groups in and out of government recommended a level ten
times lower, 0.1 part per million, for safety. For example, the American
Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists recommends 0.1 part
per million limit. The question is: How much does it take? How long
does it take?
For adults and children sick with any Benzene related diseases, the
argument about safe levels is nonsense. They are sick. The disease does
not run in families. Chemicals cause AML. Chemicals cause the diseases
whatever the exposure:
- It can take 30 years or longer for some Benzene related diseases
to develop. Before 1978, high workplace concentrations were common.
- Children breathe more, drink more and eat more for body weight than
adults. Children therefore place more Benzene into their small bodies
per pound than do adults.
- More toxic metabolites (the chemicals found when the body breaks
down Benzene) occur proportionally at lower doses than higher doses.
(Henderson and Rogers, at Lovelace Inhalation-Toxicology Laboratory)
- Highest exposures occur in the petroleum industry: oilfields, refineries,
pipelines, service stations, etc.
- Rubber workers have a very high incidence of AML. Tire builders
washed tires with Benzene. Vinyl chloride occurs in high concentrations
in rubber compounds. Vinyl chloride causes brain cancers, liver cancers
(angiosarcoma) and AML.
- Other workers in the plastics industry experience more exposure
to Benzene that leads to death. Environmental Health Perspectives,
Dec. 1996, reported pilofilm workers had "a significant occurance
of acute myelocytic or acute monocytic Leukemia (AML, AMLL) diseases.
According to the study, AML results when workers breathe air with
1.0 parts per million of Benzene. This is dose dependent-the more
Benzene, the more the Leukemia.
- Plywood and furniture workers have unexpected high exposure levels.
The glues and adhesives contain some Benzene and also Phenols. The
body breaks Benzene down into Phenols in the liver (Mary Smith, School
of Public Health, University of California, Berkley). The Phenols
then act on the bone marrow to produce Leukemias and related blood
disorders. The bone marrow makes blood cells, so a chemical that acts
on it affects the blood.
Study after study links Benzene and other chemicals to AML and other
blood diseases: from shoe workers, to parts washers, to printers, to
painters, etc. If you have one of these blood diseases or cancers, start
looking for a chemical and immediately contact our law firm.
Our law firm handles Benzene, Vinyl Chloride, Ethyline Oxide, ionizing
radiation, syrenl, and 3-butadiene exposure cases nationwide.
If you or a loved one suffered a blood cancer and you believe it was
from Benzene exposure , please call us at (800) 718-4658 or email your
inquiry to us. We will help you at no cost. We charge a contingency
fee only. This means we only charge a fee if we obtain a recovery for
you. If we do not obtain a recovery for you - you owe us nothing.
Please contact us immediately.
For more information about the hazards of Benzene please click here
to visit our Benzene
exposure website.
If we can help you; if you have any questions;
call today,(800) 718-4658, or e-mail, info@personalinjurylawcal.com.
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