Toxic substances list
Mercury and benzene both belong on the toxic substance list, which means its harmful and must be handled with care. Mercury is an element and is found in many products like a thermometer and barometer.Benzene is an aromatic that is found in many products as well like glue, gasoline and kerosene.
Harmful effects
Mercury mostly affects organisms, because it's a neurotoxin and is able to bioaccumulate in a food chain. Benzene is able to create a smog cloud when in the atmosphere when in contact with other chemicals and if these chemicals are able to be transported to a cloud, it can be rained and contaminate the soil and water in an environment.
Harmful health effects
Mercury is very harmful to organism because its ability to accumulate, the toxins are transported in each food chain gathering more and more toxins as the food chain climbs until the predator eats the last link in the food chain in which the organisms a lot of the toxins which can an array of health effects, most often humans are top predators when talking about consumption of tuna, which is received from factory run off in the ocean. Mercury vapor is also very damaging to humans due to is ability to cause an attack in the nervous system in an individual which can lead to death. Benzene can also cause an array of attack in the body, but it's mostly targets blood and tissue. It cause hematologic problems, long exposure to benzene can result in a lack of production white and red blood cells in the body, which affects the bone marrow of the body. It also causes problems in the clotting process.
When people started to realize negative effects and take notice
In Japan in 1961 researchers observed a link between an individual mercury level and the amount of fish they consumed. Researches observed as a nearby factory released mercury into the nearest body of water where a village lived near. The villagers began to observe many harmful issues with their body like respiratory issues, vision and of course neurological issues. The outcry was that people wanted more information about mercury poisoning and every year more information was given out to people. After 1950’s benzene was introduced as a gasoline additive and the question whether benzene was safe to be reintroduced back into industry, people feared it entering the groundwater and causing unneeded problems, eventually countries limited the amount of benzene concentration allowed in gasoline.
Government reaction
The concentration of benzene in gasoline became an issue due to the possibility of the benzene to enter our environment through water and air, so the government placed a regulation to lower the concentration to 0.62. Since mercury is a product for consumption and the amount of mercury cannot be monitored for each individual in the country, the government released safe amounts of mercury that should be ingested per week to avoid mercury poisoning.
Alternatives
Mercury can be found in many thermometers and it can provide detrimental if anything happens to the case containing the mercury, so an alternative would be to replace mercury thermometers with digital one, this way there is potential of a mercury leak and potential harmful effects. Benzene acts as a solvent and there are many other solvents that can be used instead of benzene like cyclohexane.
Mercury and benzene both belong on the toxic substance list, which means its harmful and must be handled with care. Mercury is an element and is found in many products like a thermometer and barometer.Benzene is an aromatic that is found in many products as well like glue, gasoline and kerosene.
Harmful effects
Mercury mostly affects organisms, because it's a neurotoxin and is able to bioaccumulate in a food chain. Benzene is able to create a smog cloud when in the atmosphere when in contact with other chemicals and if these chemicals are able to be transported to a cloud, it can be rained and contaminate the soil and water in an environment.
Harmful health effects
Mercury is very harmful to organism because its ability to accumulate, the toxins are transported in each food chain gathering more and more toxins as the food chain climbs until the predator eats the last link in the food chain in which the organisms a lot of the toxins which can an array of health effects, most often humans are top predators when talking about consumption of tuna, which is received from factory run off in the ocean. Mercury vapor is also very damaging to humans due to is ability to cause an attack in the nervous system in an individual which can lead to death. Benzene can also cause an array of attack in the body, but it's mostly targets blood and tissue. It cause hematologic problems, long exposure to benzene can result in a lack of production white and red blood cells in the body, which affects the bone marrow of the body. It also causes problems in the clotting process.
When people started to realize negative effects and take notice
In Japan in 1961 researchers observed a link between an individual mercury level and the amount of fish they consumed. Researches observed as a nearby factory released mercury into the nearest body of water where a village lived near. The villagers began to observe many harmful issues with their body like respiratory issues, vision and of course neurological issues. The outcry was that people wanted more information about mercury poisoning and every year more information was given out to people. After 1950’s benzene was introduced as a gasoline additive and the question whether benzene was safe to be reintroduced back into industry, people feared it entering the groundwater and causing unneeded problems, eventually countries limited the amount of benzene concentration allowed in gasoline.
Government reaction
The concentration of benzene in gasoline became an issue due to the possibility of the benzene to enter our environment through water and air, so the government placed a regulation to lower the concentration to 0.62. Since mercury is a product for consumption and the amount of mercury cannot be monitored for each individual in the country, the government released safe amounts of mercury that should be ingested per week to avoid mercury poisoning.
Alternatives
Mercury can be found in many thermometers and it can provide detrimental if anything happens to the case containing the mercury, so an alternative would be to replace mercury thermometers with digital one, this way there is potential of a mercury leak and potential harmful effects. Benzene acts as a solvent and there are many other solvents that can be used instead of benzene like cyclohexane.