Car Dash and toxins?

[ryoohki]

Anyone hear about this email going around?

Does it apply to all dashes?

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Closed Vehicles left in the Sunlight........MUST READ

Please do not turn on A/C as soon as you enter the car. Open the

Windows after you enter your car & wait several minutes before turning ON the air-conditioner.

Here's why: According to a research, the car dashboard, & interior materials emit Benzene,

A Cancer causing toxin (carcinogen) You can actually observe the smell of heated plastic in your car.

In addition to causing cancer, Benzene poisons your bones, causes

Anaemia & reduces white blood cells. Prolonged exposure will

Cause Leukemia, increasing the risk of cancer & may also cause miscarriages..

Acceptable Benzene level indoors is 50 mg per sq.ft.

A car parked indoors with windows closed will contain

400-800 mg of Benzene.. If parked outdoors under the sun at a

Temperature above 60 degrees F, the Benzene level goes up to

2000-4000 mg, 40 times the acceptable level...

People who get into the car, keeping windows closed will inevitably inhale, in quick

Succession excessive amounts of the toxin. Benzene is a toxin that

Affects your kidney & liver. What's worse, it is extremely

Difficult for your body to expel this toxic stuff..

So friends, please open the windows & doors of your car - give some time time before you turn on the a/c.

Thought: 'When someone shares something of value with you & you benefit from it,

You have a moral obligation to share it with others.'

Chinese Proverb.

[Keisari]

As with all scientific claims, unless the author of a given statement is prepared to give you the source of their claims (after all, the person is giving hard numbers, surely they could just give the name of the study they read?) you should be entirely skeptical. Since this person does not, the default position is to take the claims with a grain of salt and do our own thinking and researching.

It's true that benzene is used in polymer chemistry. It's also true that benzene is carcinogenic. But it is unclear that benzene is used anywhere in your interior plastics at all, and if it is, whether it is chemically unbound and free to become gaseous with the addition of heat. Or how this behaviour differs between a brand new car and one that's aged. Or how it differs between different vehicles. Or whether the effect is statistically and biologically significant. Or whether not turning on one's aircon for the first few minutes of driving actually helps.

Personally I'd be much more concerned about benzene exposure during refuelling or doing an oil change. We know that benzene is in petrol. We can actually see the fumes evaporating around the bowser. But again, is this statistically and biologically significant? It's the dose that makes the poison; just about everything is toxic in one way or another given the right dose.

[Silver-Aurion]

Well, I've never heard of someone getting cancer from there car. Your probably exposed to more cancer causing chemicals stuck in traffic then the life time you spend in your car.

[SuperDave]

Why must these sorts of chain emails always have a Chinese proverb at the end?

[Foss]

Its probably bollocks. Everything gives you cancer these days.

Smoke? CANCER!

Drink? CANCER!

Spend the day in the sun? CANCER!

Put your undies on backwards? CANCER!

It's ridiculous!

[TrolleyHopper]

Hahahah Damn,

i must stop wearing my unides back to front and pretending ive got a g banga on.

[DJKOR]

Put your undies on backwards?

Every time I hear that, I keep thinking of this (at 2 minutes, 50 seconds):

Please wait a few seconds for Video to Load!

[prometheus]

I have read this sort of thing before and there is an element of truth to it.

All the new plastics and various materials in a new car will emit some level of chemicals until they de-gas (for want of a better term) , these chemicals are solvents etc.

So , when the car is new , its probably a good idea to keep a window partly opened when the car is parked at home to allow for ventilation and for any chemical nasties to escape.

As far as cancer causing , EVERYTHING is toxic , what matters is the DOSE.

These chemicals emitted in a new car may give some people a headache or a few other symptoms , but giving you full blown cancer ... thats just scaremongering.

[DJKOR]

So , when the car is new , its probably a good idea to keep a window partly opened when the car is parked at home to allow for ventilation and for any chemical nasties to escape.

This is true. The new car smell you get is all the chemicals etc used during manufacture. They aren't particularly good for your health, so letting the car get ventilation is a good idea.

Despite that, I would rather breathe these harmful chemicals because it sure smells nice. Like when working around painters in a construction site. It's such a nice smell

On a side note, I'm not sure about the truth to this, but I was once told that the greasy substance that builds up on your interior car windows is actually from the chemicals released from the plastics in your car when they are heated. That would make sense though, and if this is true, it just shows that these chemicals are in the air inside your car.

As said though, it's all about dose. I wouldn't be concerned about it shortening your life. There are probably hundreds of other things out there far worse.