Benzene is one of the commonest chemicals that humans encounter. It ranks among the top 20 chemicals in industrial production volume. Benzene is used to make rubbers, dyes, detergents, drugs, and pesticides. It is a component of cigarette smoke. It is also a part of gasoline and crude oil.
Benzene is also a chemical with known harmful effects on the human body. It suppresses the bone marrow, has harmful effects on the fetus in a pregant woman, and even causes blood cancers (leukemia).
The association of benzene with non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) was not very strong. Earlier studies that tried to find a link threw up contradictory results. But researchers from Berkely California pooled together a number of these studies and took another look. They have found that benzene exposure does seem to increase the existing risk of NHL by about 20%. The risk was even higher if individuals who actually had benzene exposure in their industrial workplace were carefully selected. This study adds to a growing list of new risk factors that are being identified for lymphomas.
