Exposure to levels of benzene below that allowable in UK workplaces may pose a health risk, suggests new research. The study has shown that workers who inhaled less than one part per million (1ppm) had fewer white blood cells than those who were not exposed. The UK exposure standard for benzene is currently 1ppm averaged over a working day, suggesting UK workers could be facing potentially health damaging exposures even if workplace safety limits are not exceeded. The research, by US and Chinese scientists, is published in the journal Science. The study prompted the industry-financed Benzene Taskforce Project in Shanghai which ran from 2000 to 2009. In 2014, the Center Public Integrity exposed this as an industry attempt, in the words of the industry body API, to “develop scientific data… for use in science advocacy, risk management, litigation support.” The API memo states that benzene is “of particular concern to the industry” because “tighter regulation… could impose substantial costs.”

Q lan, L Zhang G Li and others. Hematotoxicity in workers exposed to low levels of benzene, Science, volume 306, issue 5702, pages 1774-1776, 3 December 2004. Risks 186.