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Urban benzene and population exposure

Nature volume 404, pages 141–142 (2000)Cite this article

People aren't just at risk from carcinogenic benzene when they are out on city streets.

Abstract

Benzene pollution emanating from motor traffic can cause leukaemia1,2,3, with the risk being estimated at about four cases per million among people who experience lifelong exposure to benzene concentrations of 1 μg m−3 in air4,5,6. But we show here that personal exposure, and therefore risk estimates, cannot simply be estimated from environmental concentrations of benzene. Using a new sampling device that monitors both of these parameters, we have discovered that people living in different European cities are exposed to concentrations of benzene that may be twice as high as the urban average.

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Figure 1: Benzene personal exposure level cannot be calculated as a time-weighted average of outdoor and indoor mean concentrations owing to large hourly urban pollution oscillations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri-IRCCS , via Svizzera 16, Padova, 35127, Italy

    Vincenzo Cocheo, Paolo Sacco & Caterina Boaretto

  2. Joint Research Centre, Ispra, 21020, Italy

    Emile De Saeger & Pascual Perez Ballesta

  3. National Environmental Research Institute , Frederiksborgvej 399, Roskilde , 4000, Denmark

    Henrik Skov

  4. Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek, Boeretang 200, Mol , 2400, Belgium

    Eddy Goelen

  5. Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et de Risques, Verneuil-en-Halatte , 60550, France

    Norbert Gonzalez

  6. Departamento de Ingenieria Quimica-Murcia Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, 30071, Spain

    Antonia Baeza Caracena

Authors
  1. Vincenzo Cocheo
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  2. Paolo Sacco
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  3. Caterina Boaretto
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  4. Emile De Saeger
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  5. Pascual Perez Ballesta
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  6. Henrik Skov
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  7. Eddy Goelen
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  8. Norbert Gonzalez
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  9. Antonia Baeza Caracena
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Cocheo, V., Sacco, P., Boaretto, C. et al. Urban benzene and population exposure. Nature 404, 141–142 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35004651

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