Benzene pollution from poor-quality gasoline?

The concentration of benzene in the environment in Ho Chi Minh City is . 6.72 times the standard of the World Health Organization. Scientists are skeptical, may be related to gasoline?

On January 17, the Culture and Science House and the Ho Chi Minh City Chemical Society held a seminar on petroleum quality and environmental pollution.

Gas station (Photo: VietNamNet)

Since July 1, 2001, Vietnam has no longer used leaded gasoline. The problem is that what kinds of petroleum imported into Vietnam that people are using every day use what additives to replace lead? And is this additive safe for humans as well as the atmosphere?

According to GS-TSKH Ho Si Thoang, in developed countries, lead was no longer used as an additive in gasoline from the 70s and 80s of the last century. Compounds containing oxygen gradually replace lead .

Poisonous lead . replace lead with other substances, still toxic!

In particular, methylter-butyl ether (MTBE) compound is the most preferred because it is produced from the by-products of the oil processing industry.

However, by the end of the 1990s, MTBE was alarmed as a compound capable of causing disease to people, especially cancer.

Although no scientific work has been done on the effects of MTBE on human health, research results in mice show that if breathing regularly leads to kidney cancer, testicles and leukemia.

In addition to the ability to spread in the environment, MTBE also penetrates into the soil into the groundwater . In addition, MTBE is a non-biodegradable and capable of deposition. Therefore, some US states have banned the use of MTBE as a gasoline additive and the trend to ban the use of this compound is widespread.

What additives are used in imported petrol?

Is the problem of using gasoline in Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular using MTBE as an additive?

According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Le Ninh - Standing Vice Chairman of the Automobile Association and motivational equipment - until now, the types of gasoline in Vietnam using additives to replace lead are still a question. ask big. Because according to Mr. Ninh, the petroleum company did not publish this.

Associate Prof. Dr. Nguyen Le Ninh also led a news source in the newspaper, saying that the fuel that Vietnam is using is a low-cost, high-sulfur fuel. Even the highest in the world, sulfur amount is up to 1,500ppm, and for oil, sulfur amounts to 5,000ppm.

Meanwhile, in Europe, sulfur is only 30ppm. For benzene in gasoline, according to Vietnam standards in 2000, it is 5%. Meanwhile in Europe, benzene content is allowed at 1%.

According to scientists, the failure to disclose the quality of gasoline is an undeserved secret, because consumers have the right to know what kind of gasoline they are using and how it affects health. human as well as the environment.

HCMC: Benzene in the air . too high!

In the framework of the workshop on petroleum quality and environmental pollution, the Center for Analysis Services experiments published a research result of scientists on the pollution of benzene, toluene, xylene in the air in the field. city ​​table. Research results are based on sampling on some major roads in the city.

Accordingly, the average benzene concentration is 33.6mcg / m3 of air, 6.72 times higher than the standard of the World Health Organization. If based on this result to calculate the risk of leukemia when exposed to benzene in the air is 5.4 times higher than the maximum acceptable value (1mcg / m3).

This means that there are signs of benzene pollution in the air along the main roads of Ho Chi Minh City. According to calculations by scientists, traffic police are 540 times more likely to develop leukemia than those who are not exposed to benzene.