

Benzene and worker cancers: 'An American tragedy' - samclemens
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/12/04/16320/benzene-and-worker-cancers-american-tragedy

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adaml_623
The scary thing is how this type of behaviour has been happening for decades
(maybe centuries) and implies that the scientific literature on a whole range
of subjects simply cannot be trusted 100%.

If there is or was an economic, political or idealogical motive for skewing or
misreporting something then it is quite probably there distorting the
historical record.

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chmaynard
My father was an organic chemist and worked at the DuPont Experimental Station
from 1947 to 1977. He was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 1977 and
died after several months of chemotherapy. Our family suspected that exposure
to benzene in his research lab at DuPont contributed to his illness, but we
had no proof. I remember hearing stories about how, in the early years, lab
workers commonly used benzene as a general cleaning solvent.

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coldcode
I witnessed the cavalier attitude towards benzene and its relatives when I was
in grad school (chemistry). But had I learned already during my bachelors how
carcinogenic they were and stayed as safe as I could. I gave up and became a
programmer instead (for many reasons including when software blows up you
don't usually die). This was a long time ago but I doubt much has changed.

