Benzene hexachloro - (HCB): Health effects
Description
Worksafe Australia describes HCB as toxic, with a concentration cut-off level of 0.1 % weight/weight.
he heath effects caused by breathing hexachlorobenzene or by getting it on your skin are not known. Porphyria-induced skin disorders have been reported in humans following ingestion of bread prepared from grain containing hexachlorobenzene. There is evidence that hexachlorobenzene is toxic to young children; offspring nursing from hexachlorobenzene exposed mothers are exposed through the milk. Hexachlorobenzene has been found to decrease the survival rates of young children. Therefore, nursing infants of humans may be particularly susceptible due to the transfer of hexachlorobenzene through maternal milk. This has been confirmed by doing experiments in animals. Other animal studies show that eating hexachlorobenzene on a long-term basis can harm the liver, immune system, kidneys, and blood and produce eruptions and pigmentations of the skin. Studies in animals also suggest that eating enough hexachlorobenzene on a long-term basis can lead to cancer of the liver and thyroid. Hexachlorobenzene is generally regarded as a probable carcinogen.
Entering the body
Hexachlorobenzene can enter your body when you eat hexachlorobenzene-contaminated food, breathe hexachlorobenzene particles in the air, and/or when your skin comes in contact with it. Following intake, hexachlorobenzene rapidly spreads to many tissues in the body, especially to fat, probably within a few hours. Most of the hexachlorobenzene leaves your body in the faeces, and smaller amounts are found in the urine. Hexachlorobenzene will remain in your body, especially in fat, for years. A large portion of hexachlorobenzene in fat can be transferred in human milk.
Exposure
You may be exposed to hexachlorobenzene if you live near an industrial site where hexachlorobenzene is used or produced as a by-product, or a waste dump where it has been discarded. At these sites hexachlorobenzene may be carried in the air on dust particles. If you work in an industry that produces the chemical unintentionally as a by-product or uses hexachlorobenzene, you may also be exposed to hexachlorobenzene particles or dust particles that carry hexachlorobenzene and possibly get it on your skin.
Exposure to hexachlorobenzene can occur through eating and drinking foods and liquids, such as milk, other dairy products, meat, and poultry. When this substance is eaten in combination with fat or oil, more of it is taken up by the body than when consumed in drinking water.
Exposure to hexachlorobenzene can also occur through contact with hexachlorobenzene-contaminated soil, dust particles, or industrial releases into the environment.
Because of its low water solubility, hexachlorobenzene is usually not present in drinking water.
Health guidelines
No national guidelines.
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