Benzene concentrations
What is measured
Benzene is a volatile organic compound (VOC) that is common in the air. It primarily comes from using motor vehicles: from exhaust emissions, fuel-system evaporative emissions, and petrol evaporation during fuelling. It also comes from home-heating emissions. Natural sources include volcanoes and forest fires.
We report on data from six monitoring sites, all of which are located in Hamilton.
Why it is important
Benzene is a known human carcinogen and has been shown to cause leukaemia. It has also been associated with neurological, reproductive, and respiratory effects.
Key findings
Between 2003 and 2016, annual average benzene concentrations decreased at all six Hamilton monitoring sites.
- Large decreases in benzene concentrations from 2003 to 2007 likely resulted from changes in the amount of benzene permitted in fuel and vehicle technology improvements (Smith, 2006).
- Between 2003 and 2016, two (Bridge Street/Grey Street, Claudelands Road/Victoria Street) of six sites ‘likely’ exceeded the Ministry for the Environment’s ambient air quality guidelines (AAQG) for annual average benzene. All exceedances were in 2003, 2004, 2005.
- Bridge Street/Grey Street recorded the highest concentration (5.8 micrograms per cubic metre) in 2003.
Figure 1
Where this data comes from
Waikato Regional Council
View data tables
Related indicator
Related links
- Environmental reporting on air
- Our air 2018
- Environment Aotearoa 2015
- Air domain report 2014
- Ambient air quality guidelines
About the data
Benzene is a human carcinogen (World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe Copenhagen, 2000) that has been shown to cause leukaemia (Smith, 2010), and is associated with developmental, immune, neurological, reproductive, and respiratory problems (Bahadar, Mostafalou, & Abdollahi, 2014). Acute exposure can affect the liver and respiration (Bahadar et al, 2014).
Motor vehicles are benzene’s primary emission source (Guerreiro, Foltescu, & de Leeuw, 2014; Weisel, 2010) although burning wood or coal for home heating, and volcanoes and forest fires also emit benzene.
Benzene data were collected using passive samplers where the pollutant diffuses into a tube where it is then captured on a medium and measured. Because passive monitors do not have the required degree of accuracy, benzene concentrations measured using this method cannot be compared directly with the Ambient Air Quality Guideline (Ministry for the Environment, 2002), and we report only ‘likely’ exceedances.
The annual average guideline was initially 10 μg/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre), but changed to 3.6 μg/m3 from 2010. The guideline recommends a minimum level of protection against health risks from exposure to benzene. Adverse health effects can occur at lower concentrations.
All trends were assessed at the 95 percent confidence level.
Data quality
The accuracy of the data source is of medium quality.
Benzene concentrations are a partial measure of the ‘Air quality and concentrations of air pollutants’ topic.
Stats NZ and the Ministry for the Environment must report on topics related to the five environmental domains: air, atmosphere and climate, fresh water, land, and marine. These topics identify key issues within each domain.
Topics for environmental reporting describes the topics for each domain.
Data quality information has more information about the criteria we use to assess data quality.
References
Bahadar, H, Mostafalou, S, & Abdollahi, M (2014). Current understandings and perspectives on non-cancer health effects of benzene: A global concern. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 276(2), 83–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.taap.2014.02.012
Guerreiro, CBB, Foltescu, V, & de Leeuw, F (2014). Air quality status and trends in Europe. Atmospheric Environment (Vol. 98). Elsevier Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.09.017
Ministry for the Environment (2002). Ambient Air Quality Guidelines.
Smith, J (2006). Air quality monitoring 2006 (Vol. TR 2006/52). Retrieved from www.waikatoregion.govt.nz.
Smith, MT (2010). Advances in understanding benzene health effects and susceptibility. Annual Review of Public Health, 31(1), 133–148. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.012809.103646
Weisel, CP (2010). Benzene exposure: An overview of monitoring methods and their findings. Chem Biol Interact, 184(0), 58–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbi.2009.12.030.Benzene
World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe Copenhagen (2000). Air quality guidelines for Europe: Second edition (PDF, 288p). Retrieved from www.euro.who.int.
Archived pages
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