<lisse at saintmail.net> wrote:
>My online enquiry about Benzene was prompted by someone building a gas
>station right next to a primary school building, which houses over one
>thousand little schoolchildren.
>>At first I had only the fear of explosion (of the gas station) which could
>injured or killed the schoolchildren studying in a building next door,
Gas stations don't blow up if they're built to Western codes. We heat our
schools here in the USA with natural gas and propane. We power many
school buses with gasoline. The safety record is very good.
>when I was told that gasoline contains Benzene (among other toxic
>chemicals), and Benzene has been shown to cause various types of cancers,
>like Leukemia and bone marrow abnormalities, my concern regarding the case
>where someone building a gas station right next door to a school building
>only increases.
Emissions from gas stations should be controlled by the local
environmental authority, if any. I'm guessing from the header that you're
posting from Malaysia, which has a rotten record of air pollution control.
The air in many parts of Asia will kill the kids before they ever get
close to a gas station.
>Right now, I am trying to gather all types of evidences, from the explosive
>properties of gasoline (and cases of actual explosions of gas stations as
>references), to toxicological studies of gasoline - and all the chemical
>compounds that are found in gasoline - along with all the research data that
>have indicated that chemicals like Benzene causes cancers in human bodies.
Well, I'm pretty sure you'll find that benzene in any concentration is a
fairly potent carcinogen, but I don't think that an independent, unbiased
statistical study will reveal much of a link between casual exposure to
gasoline and cancer. There are, of course, experts who will be glad to
prove anything you wish.
>I am trying to gather all these information so that I can show them to the
>PTA of the school, the local council and all the related authorities who
>have granted approval for someone (I am still tracking the identity of the
>person) building the gas station.
>All I know now is the gas station is going to be a Shell gas station, and I
>have tried to obtain data from www.shell.com, regarding the chemical make-up
>of their gasoline, but so far they have stonewalled me.
Most gasoline is roughly the same in composition. Have a look in the
petrochemical section of your local library and you ought to find out just
about everything you're interested in.
>My concern is this - the students studying in that school building are
>LITTLE KIDS, and they have to spend up to 7 hours in and around that
>building _every_ school day, for at least six years of their lives.
On US school schedules, kids spend about 1/8 of their time in school: 1/4
of the day, for 1/2 of the year. The rest of the time, they ride in cars,
play in yards, climb trees, eat anything that won't eat them first, and
throw things at each other. Most seem to survive the experience.
>Children's body are not as strong as adults, they are more supcetable to all
>types of immunological diseases, and if gasoline somehow have negative
>effect in human beings, I am worried that some students may come down with
>some irrepairable ailment/diseases in the future.
Some will. Happens all the time. But despite what the fringe science
community likes to tell us, there doesn't seem to be much evidence that
many, or even most, cancers are environmentally related. It's a very old
disease and was common before anyone used benzene, tobacco, or any of the
other environmental factors that are fashionable to blame it on.
>To summarize what I am doing:
>> I am trying to stop the building of
> a gas station which is located right
> next to a school building, and I am
> trying to gather all the information
> which can show the danger of placing
> a gas station right next door to a
> school building, including the toxic
> and carcinogenic effect of chemicals
> like Benzene.
>Sir, I hope that you can help me, by providing me with whatever information
>that you have. The more info I have to backup my claim that gasoline station
>isn't a good neighbor to a school, the stronger case I can make.
>>Would you help me, sir? I'd appreciate any and all help from anyone who
>cares.
The problem is that, from a rational, scientific standpoint, there's
probably no danger whatsoever to the kids from a gas station near the
school. It's eminently clear that you're either convinced otherwise or
perhaps have other reasons for opposing the construction of that
particular facility.
Mark Kinsler
--
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114 Columbia Ave. Athens, Ohio USA 45701 voice740.594.3737 fax740.592.3059
Home of the "How Things Work" engineering program for adults and kids.
See http://www.frognet.net/~kinsler
