Las Vegas Benzene Lawyers

Sam Harding Law Firm have experience in handling Benzene cases in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you or a someone you know has suffered serious injury from Benzene in the state of Nevada, we can help.

Benzene is an aromatic hydrocarbon that is produced by the burning of natural products. It is also a component of products derived from coal and petroleum. It is found in gasoline and other fuels, and is used in the manufacture of plastics, detergents, pesticides, and other chemicals. Exposure to benzene from 5 to 30 years causes a fatal disease known as ‘leukemia’, which in common lingua is called cancer. It also causes another very well known and dreaded disease called AIDS.

Benzene is a hydrocarbon that also affects the bone marrow and blood production. The effects of long-term exposure to benzene might sound drastic but the effects of short-term exposure are not any better. Short-term exposure to benzene result in dizziness, unconsciousness and sometimes even death. Besides entering the body through the respiratory tracks, benzene can enter the body through the skin as well.

Being cheap to manufacture and an effective solvent, it is used to make glues, rubber cement, paint thinners, varnish and various petroleum products. In spite of all the hazards it causes to human health, it is commonly used on account of its cost and solvency. Workers in industries where benzene is used in high dozes become severely anemic and finally end up with the fatal leukemia.

Exposure to benzene causes irritation to the eyes and skin, increased body temperature, blood changes and severe bone marrow damage. The symptoms of benzene poisoning are fatigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea, and loss of appetite and loss of weight. But the symptoms start setting in very gradually. Hence it is difficult to detect the poisoning in its initial stages.

Benzene is a major component of naphthalene, aniline, phenol and hydroquinone. It is also contained in xylene and toluene. All these hydrocarbons have the same effect as pure benzene. They damage the bone marrow causing anemia and reduces the immunity of the body. Benzene poisoning causes prolonged fever, fatigue, rash, cough, intestinal disorders, pneumonia, hepatitis, diarrhea, sweats, wasting, T-cell abnormalities, fibrosis, inflammation, insomnia, headaches, internal lesions, nerve degeneration, memory loss and a number of secondary infections. It is believed that possibility of benzene entering AIDS patients for the first time was more through rectal absorption as compared to oral absorption. This is because rectal absorption bypasses the digestive tracts and is directly absorbed via the mucus membrane into the blood stream. A lot of oil-based lubricants used by homosexuals have a high benzoic acid content as compared to water- based lubricants which contain benzoic acid is smaller dozes. Benzoic acid is the acid form of benzene and is as harmful as benzene itself. It also causes leukemia, AIDS and has very harmful effects on the bone marrow and the body’s immunity system. Being slow in its progress, it is difficult to detect benzene poisoning and it is therefore advisable for people working in industries using benzene to protect themselves by wearing materials that can resist the entering of benzene through the skin and by wearing approved masks to stop the benzene from entering the respiratory tracts. Also these people should get themselves tested regularly for benzene poisoning so that it can be caught in its tracks and stopped when it can be.