Where is hexachlorobenzene found?

Hexachlorobenzene can mostly be found in treated and background soils, sediments, and oceans. It can also be found in air, surface water, and groundwater due to use and disposal of hexachlorobenzene products and as a byproduct of other processes.

What is hexachlorobenzene used for?

Hexachlorobenzene has been used primarily as a fungicide or biocide. Organochlorine pesticides can enter the environment after pesticide applications, disposal of contaminated wastes into landfills, and releases from manufacturing plants that produce these chemicals.

How is hexachlorobenzene produced?

Hexachlorobenzene is a white crystalline solid that is not very soluble in water. It does not occur naturally in the environment. It is formed as a by-product while making other chemicals, in the waste streams of chloralkali and wood-preserving plants, and when burning municipal waste.

What does hexachlorobenzene do to humans?

Chronic (long-term) oral exposure to hexachlorobenzene in humans results in a liver disease with associated skin lesions. Epidemiologic studies of persons orally exposed to hexachlorobenzene have not shown an increased cancer incidence.

Is hexachlorobenzene a PCB?

The three most abundant organochlorine pollutants in human serum samples are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), and hexachlorobenzene (HCB). PCBs have mainly been used as hydraulic fluids, coolant–insulation fluids in transformers, and plasticizers in paints.

What is another name for hexachlorobenzene?

Hexachlorobenzene

How do you convert benzene to hexachlorobenzene?

Explanation: As we know that in the presence of sunlight, the addition of chlorine to benzene gives hexachlorobenzene. It is extensively used as an insecticides. The reaction is an addition of chlorine on benzene ring.

Is hexachlorobenzene banned?

Hexachlorobenzene, or perchlorobenzene, is an organochloride with the molecular formula C6Cl6. It is a fungicide formerly used as a seed treatment, especially on wheat to control the fungal disease bunt. It has been banned globally under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

Is pentachlorophenol banned in the US?

March 9, 2021 The US National Toxicology Program lists pentachlorophenol as a “reasonably anticipated” human carcinogen. The chemical is banned under the United Nation’s Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, a treaty the US signed but never ratified.

What causes PCB contamination?

Most people are exposed to PCBs by eating contaminated fish, meat, and dairy products. Catfish, buffalo fish, and carp usually have the highest PCB levels. Plants take up only small amounts of PCBs from the soil, so amounts in grazing animals and dairy products are generally lower than in fish.

Where is benzene commonly found?

Benzene is found in crude oil and is a major part of gasoline. It’s used to make plastics, resins, synthetic fibers, rubber lubricants, dyes, detergents, drugs and pesticides. Benzene is produced naturally by volcanoes and forest fires.

What kind of gas is hexachlorobenzene made of?

Hexachlorobenzene is a stable, white, crystalline chlorinated hydrocarbon that emits very toxic fumes of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrochloric acid and other chlorinated compounds when heated to decomposition.

How is hexachlorobenzene used as a fungicide?

An agricultural fungicide and seed treatment agent. Hexachlorobenzene is a stable, white, crystalline chlorinated hydrocarbon that emits very toxic fumes of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrochloric acid and other chlorinated compounds when heated to decomposition.

What kind of cancer can hexachlorobenzene cause in humans?

(5) Hexachlorobenzene, when administered orally, has been shown to induce tumors of the liver, thyroid, and kidney in several animal species. (1,3,5) EPA has classified hexachlorobenzene as a Group B2, probable human carcinogen.

What is the concentration of hexachlorobenzene in cheese?

Hexachlorobenzene was detected at an average concentration of 0.05 ug/g in cheese from Mexico (4) and at concentrations of 0-48.4 ng/g in cheese from Spain (5). The concentration of hexachlorobenzene in beef muscle, beef liver and pork from South Korea was 0.45 ng/g, 0.64 ng/g and 0.13 ng/g respectively (6).