Toluene is a chemical found in natural sources and in products such as nail polish, cigarettes, gasoline, and paints. It can harm health when inhaled or ingested and can cause symptoms such as headaches, confusion, and tremors. Exposure can occur through inhalation, skin contact, or contaminated water supplies. Toluene abuse as an inhalant can cause permanent brain damage. Both children and adults are at risk, and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to birth defects and mental impairment.
Toluene is a clear chemical with a strong, distinctive scent. Found naturally in a type of balsam tree called tolu balsam, as well as in crude oil; Toluene is also present in the environment due to its use as an additive in products such as nail polish, cigarettes, gasoline, dyes, perfumes, explosives, paints and thinners, adhesives and other manufactured goods. The chemical can affect a person’s health when it is breathed in or when water contaminated with it is swallowed. Despite the chemical’s known hazards, there is not enough evidence to definitively list it as a carcinogen.
People who smoke are exposed to toluene when they inhale tobacco smoke. In other cases, people can be exposed to it by drinking or coming into contact with contaminated water supplies. This contamination can occur when industrial storage tanks leak or when industrial plants release the chemical into the environment, perhaps by unintended release.
Toluene, also known as toluene, methylbenzene, phenylmethane and methylbenzene, is toxic and exposure causing symptoms requires medical attention. Limited exposure may affect the nervous system when inhaled and may affect coordination and cause headache, confusion and dizziness. Increased exposure caused by repeated instances of contact with the chemical presents a more serious health risk that can lead to death. A person who breathes in large amounts of toluene can experience hearing loss, tremors, and memory loss, among other symptoms. Drinking water with toluene can lead to similar symptoms. The chemical can also affect a person’s health through skin contact.
This chemical has been abused as an inhalant and, when used in this way, can cause permanent changes to the human brain through repeated exposure to high concentrations. In daily life, people can be exposed to its vapors from car exhaust, contaminated workplace air, or breathing the vapors while painting machinery or polishing nails with certain nail polishes. Exposure can also occur when you live near a site that has been contaminated, such as a landfill or dump, or when you work with products made with chemicals, such as heating oil, kerosene, and gasoline, on a daily basis.
Exposure threatens both children and adults. Children may experience symptoms similar to those faced by adults when exposed to the chemical. Pregnant women are also heavily affected because exposure to high levels can lead to physical birth defects and also affect a baby’s mental abilities.
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