Colorless liquid that smells like gasoline

You can smell ethylbenzene in the air at 2 parts of ethylbenzene per million parts of air (2 ppm). It evaporates at room temperature and burns easily.

Ethylbenzene is found naturally in oil. Large amounts of ethylbenzene are produced in the United States; most of it is used to make styrene. Ethylbenzene is also used in fuels.

Consumer products containing ethylbenzene include:

• gasoline
• paints and inks
• pesticides
• carpet glues
• varnishes and paints
• tobacco products
• automobile products

Most commonly found in air

Ethylbenzene moves easily into the air from water and soil. Ethylbenzene in soil can also contaminate groundwater.

Rapidly broken down in air

Air: Ethylbenzene in air is broken down in less than 3 days with the aid of sunlight.

Water: In surface water such as rivers and harbors, ethylbenzene breaks down by reacting with other compounds naturally present in water.

Soil: In the soil, ethylbenzene is broken down by soil bacteria.

Air

If you live in a city or near many factories or heavily traveled highways, you may be exposed to ethylbenzene in the air. Releases of ethylbenzene into the air occur from burning oil, gas, and coal and from industries using ethylbenzene.

The median levels of ethylbenzene in air are:

• 0.62 ppb in city and suburban locations
• 0.01 ppb in rural locations
• 1 ppb in indoor air

Ethylbenzene is infrequently detected in private and public groundwater wells used for drinking water. Higher levels of ethylbenzene may be found in private residential wells near landfills, waste sites, or leaking underground fuel storage tanks.

People with ethylbenzene-contaminated tap water could be exposed by drinking the water or eating foods prepared with it. Exposure could also result from breathing in ethylbenzene while showering, bathing, or cooking with contaminated water.

Soil

Background levels in soils have not been reported. Ethylbenzene may get into the soil by gasoline or other fuel spills and poor disposal of industrial and household wastes.

Workplace air

Gas and oil workers may be exposed to ethylbenzene either through skin contact or by breathing ethylbenzene vapors. Varnish workers, spray painters, and people involved in gluing operations may also be exposed to high levels of ethylbenzene. Exposure may also occur in factories that use ethyl-benzene to produce other chemicals.

You might be exposed to ethylbenzene by using any of the following products:

• gasoline
• carpet glues
• varnishes and paints
• tobacco products
• automobile products

Rapidly enters your body

When you breathe air containing ethylbenzene, it enters your body rapidly and almost completely through your lungs. Ethylbenzene in food or water may also rapidly and almost completely enter your body through the digestive tract. It may enter through your skin when you come into contact with liquids containing ethylbenzene.

Typically leaves your body within 2 days

Once in your body, ethylbenzene is broken down into other chemicals. Most of these other chemicals leave your body in the urine within 2 days.

Small amounts can also leave through the lungs and in feces.

Short-term exposure in air

Humans: Exposure to high levels of ethylbenzene in the air for short periods can cause eye and throat irritation. Exposure to higher levels can result in vertigo and dizziness.

Animals: Exposure to very high levels (about 2 million times the usual level in urban air) can cause death.

Long-term exposure in air

Hearing: Exposure to relatively low concentrations of ethylbenzene for several days to weeks resulted in potentially irreversible damage to the inner ear and hearing of animals.

Kidney: Exposures to relatively low concentrations of ethylbenzene for several months to years caused kidney damage in animals.

Reproduction: There is no clear evidence that ethylbenzene affects fertility.

Cancer: An increase in kidney tumors in rats and lung and liver tumors in mice were found after they were exposed to ethylbenzene in air for 2 years. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (an expert group that is part of the World Health Organization) has determined that long-term exposure to ethylbenzene may cause cancer in humans.

Long-term exposure by ingestion

Hearing: Rats exposed to large amounts of ethylbenzene by mouth had severe damage to the inner ear.

Short-term eye and skin contact

Irritation: Liquid ethyl-benzene caused eye damage and skin irritation in rabbits.

Children are likely to have similar effects as adults

No information is available about the effects of exposure to ethylbenzene on children. It is likely that children would show the same health effects as adults. We do not know whether children will have effects at the same exposure levels as adults.

Birth defects

We do not know whether ethylbenzene causes birth defects in people. Minor birth defects and low birth weights have occurred in newborn animals whose mothers were exposed to air contaminated with ethylbenzene during pregnancy.

Exposure from breast milk

We do not know whether ethylbenzene can accumulate in breast milk.

Limit children's exposure to consumer products containing ethylbenzene

Use adequate ventilation to minimize exposure to ethylbenzene vapors from consumer products such as

• gasoline
• pesticides
• varnishes and paints
• newly installed carpeting
• automobile products

Sometimes older children sniff household chemicals in an attempt to get high. Your children may be exposed to ethylbenzene by inhaling products containing it, such as paints, varnishes, or gasoline. Talk with your children about the dangers of sniffing chemicals.

Store household chemicals out of reach of young children

Always store household chemicals in their original labeled containers out of reach of young children to prevent accidental poisonings. Never store household chemicals in containers children would find attractive to eat or drink from, such as old soda bottles.

Gasoline should be stored in a gasoline can with a locked cap.

Follow directions on label

Always follow directions on household products (for example, use only with ventilation).

Limit exposure to tobacco smoke

Ethylbenzene is a component of tobacco smoke. Avoid smoking in enclosed spaces like inside the home or car in order to limit exposure to children and other family members.

Can be measured in blood and breath

Ethylbenzene can be measured in blood and in the breath of people exposed to ethylbenzene.

This should be done within a few hours after exposure occurs because ethylbenzene's breakdown products (metabolites) leave the body very quickly.

Metabolites can be measured in urine

The presence of ethylbenzene's metabolites in urine might indicate that you were exposed to ethylbenzene; however, these breakdown products can also form when you are exposed to other substances, such as styrene.

The detection of these metabolites in your urine cannot be used to predict the kind of health effects that might develop from that exposure.

You should have this test done within a few hours after exposure occurs because these metabolites leave the body very quickly.

Levels in drinking water set by EPA

The EPA has determined that exposure to ethylbenzene in drinking water at concentrations of 30 mg/L for one day or 3 mg/L for 10 days is not expected to cause any harmful effects in a child.

The EPA has determined that lifetime exposure to 0.7 mg/L ethylbenzene is not expected to cause any harmful effects.

Levels in surface water set by EPA

If you eat fish and drink water from a body of water, the water should contain no more than 0.53 mg/L ethylbenzene.

Levels in workplace air set by OSHA

OSHA set a legal limit of 100 ppm ethylbenzene in air averaged over an 8‑hour work day.