Independent Sun Care Product Screening for Benzene Contamination

Study of a light hydrocarbon fraction spill migration that occurred in an area of the Mexican southeast using computational fluid dynamics

The present work aimed to study, predict and understand benzene migration that occurred during an industrial spill using numerical simulation by computational fluid dynamics. Advection, diffusion and adsorption were the main mechanisms considered that governed the spill incident. The incident occurred due to a fracture under a fuel oil storage tank. The tank was located on a hill 18 m high, and the initial value of benzene concentration (soil saturation) was 60 ppm. When the spill was discovered, samples in the affected zone were taken using an experimental design. Many samples showed a greater concentration of benzene than allowed by Mexican Official Standards (MOSs) (15 ppm). The concentrations found 100 m away from the spill were around 60 to 15 ppm. Due to the spill being under the tank, it was difficult to discover. The numerical simulation provided an estimate that the spill started around 2 years ago. The type of soil in the afflicted zone is rocky, and, consequently, it is difficult to estimate how long it will take to reach the concentration allowed by the MOSs, but the numerical simulation predicts that this concentration will be reached in 14 years. Experimental values of the spill contaminant concentration were statistically similar to the CFD estimated data (p < 0.05).

Occurrence of and dermal exposure to benzene, toluene and styrene found in hand sanitizers from the United States

Human exposure to carcinogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as benzene, from hand sanitizers is a topic of current concern. In light of the heavy use of hand sanitizers during the COVID-19 pandemic, determination of exposure to toxicants present in these products deserves attention. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had set an interim limit for benzene in alcohol-based hand sanitizers at 2000 parts-per-billion (ppb). We determined the concentrations of and exposure to three VOCs namely, benzene, toluene and styrene, in 200 hand sanitizers using high-resolution gas chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC-HRMS). Benzene, toluene and styrene were found in 31%, 25% and 32%, respectively, of the samples analyzed at mean concentrations of 395 (range: 0.181-22,300), 164 (range: 0.074-20,700) and 61.3 ng/g (range: 0.082-4200 ng/g), respectively. Benzene was found at concentrations > 2000 ng/g (above the FDA interim limit) in 5% of the samples, representing 9 brands. The mean potential dermal exposure doses (DEDs) to benzene (children/teenagers: 34.6; adults: 24.7 ng/kg-bw/d) were higher than those for toluene (children/teenagers: 14.4; adults: 10.3 ng/kg-bw/d) and styrene (children/teenagers: 5.37; adults: 3.83 ng/kg-bw/d) in the 200 hand sanitizers analyzed. The estimated cancer risk from exposure to benzene in children/teenagers and adults from hand sanitizer use (at an estimated usage rate of 5 g/day) was greater than the one-in-a-million risk benchmark (1.0 × 10^-6) for 10% and 9% of the samples, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to determine both the concentrations of and exposure risks to benzene, toluene and styrene present in hand sanitizers.