DR. MIKE - Need your Thoughts on This Posting

I THINK MOST OF US DO THE PROPER THING IN THIS REGARD, BUT HERE IS A REMINDER TO OPEN YOUR WINDOWS FIRST, THEN YOU CAN TURN ON THE AC

CAR AIR-CONDITIONING - VERY IMPORTANT!
My car book says to roll down the windows to let out all the hot air before turning on A/C.

WHY ?
Car Air-conditioning -
No wonder more folks are dying from cancer than ever before.
We wonder where this stuff comes from but here is an
Example that explains a lot of the cancer causing incidents.

Many people are in their cars first thing in the morning and the last thing at
Night, 7 days a week.
As I read this, it makes me feel guilty and ill.
Please pass this on to as many people as possible.
Guess it’s not too late to make some changes

Car A/C (Air Conditioning) MUST READ!!!

Please do NOT turn on A/C as soon as you enter the car.
Open the windows after you enter your car and then turn ON the AC after a couple of minutes.

Here's why: According to research, the car dashboard, seats, air freshener emit Benzene, a Cancer causing toxin (carcinogen - take time to observe the smell of heated plastic in your car).

In addition to causing cancer, Benzene poisons your bones, causes anemia and reduces white blood cells. Prolonged exposure will cause Leukemia, increasing the risk of cancer. Can also cause miscarriage.

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 and liver.. What's worse, it is extremely difficult for your body to expel this toxic stuff.

So friends, please open the windows and door of your car - give time for interior to air out -dispel the deadly stuff - before you enter.

Thought: 'When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation
to share it with others.'

This is what snopes.com says. It is not the air conditioning in the car but the Benzene producing agents that cause cancer.

Check it out:
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/benzene.asp

I leave my A/C on all the time, so when parked in the garage the A/C goes on immediately. The car isn't hot so I don't usually roll down the windows. I always put down windows to let heat out after ot's parked in the sun.

John,
It certainly makes sense that Benzene will leach out of plastic when heated from the sun coming in through the roof and windows heat the car up. Benzene is a very toxic substance that you can get from inhaling gasoline vapors while filling your car tank up, from plastic foam containers and most other plastic items. It is known to cause many health problems including the ones listed by John. It is a nasty chemical and tough to detox. I would recommend Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA), 1,800 to 2,800 mg a day for a month, then 900 mg a day, and Milk Thistle 1,000 mg a day to help the liver try and get rid of the stuff. Also as John said, do not turn your A/C on immediately rather, roll your windows down while you first drive to try to "air out" the car.

Thanks John, for the good information. I'll see if I can find any articles or studies on Benzene.

John,
I found this on the web . I did not include all the chemical info that no one would understand, but did include USES and HEALTH EFFECTS. I hope this answers your questions.

Uses

Benzene is used mainly as an intermediate to make other chemicals. About 80% of benzene is consumed in the production of three chemicals, ethylbenzene, cumene, and cyclohexane. Its most widely produced derivative is ethylbenzene, precursor to styrene, which is used to make polymers and plastics. Cumene is converted phenol for resins and adhesives. Cyclohexane is used in the manufacture of Nylon. Smaller amounts of benzene are used to make some types of rubbers, lubricants, dyes, detergents, drugs, explosives, and pesticides.

In both the US and Europe, 50% of benzene is used in the production of ethylbenzene/styrene, 20% is used in the production of cumene, and about 15% of benzene is used in the production of cyclohexane (eventually to nylon).[citation needed]

Health effects
A bottle of benzene. The warnings show benzene is a toxic and flammable liquid.

Benzene increases the risk of cancer and other illnesses. Benzene is a notorious cause of bone marrow failure. Substantial quantities of epidemiologic, clinical, and laboratory data link benzene to aplastic anemia, acute leukemia, and bone marrow abnormalities.[43][44] The specific hematologic malignancies that benzene is associated with include: acute myeloid leukemia (AML), aplastic anemia, myleodysplastic syndrome (MDS), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).[45]

The American Petroleum Institute (API) stated in 1948 that "it is generally considered that the only absolutely safe concentration for benzene is zero."[46] The US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) classifies benzene as a human carcinogen. Long-term exposure to excessive levels of benzene in the air causes leukemia, a potentially fatal cancer of the blood-forming organs, in susceptible individuals. In particular, Acute myeloid leukemia or acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia (AML & ANLL) is not disputed to be caused by benzene.[47] IARC rated benzene as "known to be carcinogenic to humans" (Group 1).

Human exposure to benzene is a global health problem.[vague] Benzene targets liver, kidney, lung, heart and the brain and can cause DNA strand breaks, chromosomal damage, etc. Benzene causes cancer in both animals and humans. Benzene has been shown to cause cancer in both sexes of multiple species of laboratory animals exposed via various routes.[48][49]

Some women who inhaled high levels of benzene for many months had irregular menstrual periods and a decrease in the size of their ovaries. Benzene exposure has been linked directly to the neural birth defects spina bifida and anencephaly.[50] Men exposed to high levels of benzene are more likely to have an abnormal amount of chromosomes in their sperm, which impacts fertility and fetal development.[51]

Dr. Snopes has this to say:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/benzene.asp

What about the dangers of flushing your toilet with the seat up and the fine poopie / pee spray wafting and settling on your toothbrush?

Benzene... You could put in in your gas tank if you wanted, but it is not a structual part of any car. There are "plasticizers" such as dibutylphtalate which contain the benzene ring (as do many things, even parts of your own body) that are used mainly in vinyl to make it flexible. Phtalates are not something I would want to breath or eat, but they are not pure benzene either.

Simple solution: Buy an old car with a cracked dashboard. It is cracked because the phtalates have already evaporated out of the plastic.

Intercasa wrote:What about the dangers of flushing your toilet with the seat up and the fine poopie / pee spray wafting and settling on your toothbrush?

Now were talking real danger Spencer. Highly toxic. Oral parasites can live in the presence of oxygen for 20 minutes on a dry surface, on a wet surface with lots of little hiding places, considerably longer. It's kind of a nasty way to get periodontal disease, is all I'm saying. Kissing is a much more pleasant way. Yes it is contagious.

Let's not even get into the E. coli end of things. Yuck.

As for cars, my 18 year old beater has long since given up the ghost in terms of dangers due to toxic chemicals.