What is benzene, the substance detected in the Chilean city of Quintero?

The Chilean authorities of the Superintendency of the Environment (SMA) warned of high levels of benzene in the air in the municipalities of Quintero and Puchuncaví in a new episode of atmospheric saturation by pollutants in the area.

The area has been designated as a “sacrifice zone” due to operating a copper smelter and an oil refinery that has affected the locals’ quality of life for at least four decades.

The SMA “reported a sharp rise in benzene – a potentially carcinogenic – in the air of Quintero early Tuesday morning [May 23], detected by measuring equipment installed in the center of the commune and at the República de Francia School,” reported Radio Cooperativa.

In the one-hour interval, SMA detected 108.7 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3) and 40.2 ug/m3 of benzene.

These values exceeded the maximum permitted for this compound (30 ug/m3), according to the primary air quality standard in force since May 11, reported the local newspaper El Mercurio.

Benzene is a hydrocarbon, a crude oil component, refined in the Quintero area.

This chemical compound can be carcinogenic, depending on the degree of exposure.

Another way of exposure to benzene is through cigarette smoke, as well as in adhesive products.

It can also be present in the air in gases from volcanic eruptions and large forest fires.

During the afternoon of May 23, authorities confirmed a new episode of gas emissions that led 102 people to medical consultations, 82 of them with symptoms compatible with intoxication by environmental agents, consigned the deputy health minister, Andrea Albagli.

The SMA ordered the provisional reduction of the productive activity of the seven largest companies emitting volatile organic compounds in the area until further notice.

Juan Pablo Rodríguez, head of the SMA’s Air Quality Department, told Radio Cooperativa that the authorities’ measures “seek to improve conditions for people as quickly as possible, without prejudice to continuing to apply instruments of a general nature that could lead to sanctions for the sector of industries that concentrate these emissions”.

The deputy mayor of Quintero, Francisco Jeldres, asked to accelerate the process of an official declaration of sanitary emergency in the commune.

“We are in Chile, a bureaucratic country (…) with slow administrative processes. We would like that, for Quintero and Puchuncaví, these actions were quicker, but unfortunately, this is not the case.”

“All the processes must be improved so that we have a quick response, which is what the community is asking for, not to wait two or three months to know the result of an investigation”, he criticized.

With information from Sputnik

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