What You Need to Know About Xylene Contamination / Environmental Lawyer / The Collins Law Firm

Описание: www.collinslaw.com
This is what you need to know about a chemical called xylene. Xylene is in the petroleum family, so you find it in paints, coatings, gasoline products and solvents used to clean parts in factories.

How does xylene create an environmental problem? Typically, in the plants where xylene was used, years ago, xylene was dumped out onto the ground or buried in the ground on the factory property. Then it was allowed to bleed down through the soil and ultimately, end up in the groundwater. Sometimes you also see xylene contamination in the groundwater near landfills where xylene was dumped.

The problem begins when xylene contaminates the groundwater, which can then get into people's homes in one of two ways. If a family has a private well that draws from the groundwater, the family can be exposed to xylene in their drinking water or the shower water. Another exposure pathway is through a process called vapor intrusion. Xylene is a volatile organic compound, which means that xylene in the groundwater can turn into a gas, rise up through the soil and enter the air inside homes through tiny cracks in the foundation.

Now, let's talk about the health effects of xylene. Xylene can disrupt the functioning of our central nervous system. But can it cause cancer? As of today, scientists do not have enough evidence to determine if xylene is linked to any cancers, but we should proceed with caution, and treat xylene as a dangerous chemical.

If you would like to know more about xylene, please The Collins Law Firm blog on xylene at: http://www.collinslaw.com/blog/2017/0..., or call attorney Shawn Collins at 630-527-1595.