What immediate health effects can be caused by exposure to benzene?
Breathing benzene vapor in small amounts can cause headache, dizziness, drowsiness, or nausea. With more serious exposure, benzene may cause sleepiness, stumbling, irregular heartbeats, fainting, or even death. Benzene vapors are mildly irritating to the skin, eyes, and lungs. If liquid benzene contacts the skin or eyes, it may cause burning pain. Liquid benzene splashed in the eyes can damage the eyes. Generally, the more serious the exposure, the more severe the symptoms.

Can benzene poisoning be treated?
There is no antidote for benzene, but its effects can be treated, and most exposed persons recover fully. Persons who have experienced serious symptoms may need to be hospitalized.

Are any future health effects likely to occur?
A single small exposure from which a person recovers quickly is not likely to cause delayed or long term effects. After a severe exposure, some symptoms may take a few days to develop. Repeated exposure to benzene may cause a blood disorder (i.e., aplastic anemia) and cancer of blood-forming cells (i.e., leukemia). Aplastic anemia and leukemia have been reported in some workers exposed repeatedly to benzene over long periods of time.

What tests can be done if a person has been exposed to benzene?
Specific tests for the presence of benzene in blood generally are not useful to the doctor. Phenol, a breakdown product of benzene, can be measured in urine if the benzene exposure was high. Other tests may show whether injury has occurred in the heart, kidneys, blood, or nervous system. Testing is not needed in every case.

Where can more information about benzene be found?
More information about benzene can be obtained from your regional poison control center; the state, county, or local health department; the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR); your doctor; or a clinic in your area that specializes in occupational and environmental health. If the exposure happened at work, you may wish to discuss it with your employer, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Visit our Regulatory Agencies page to find contact information for the aforementioned government agencies.