Hexane
description
Transcript of Hexane
![Page 1: Hexane](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022082603/54960de3b47959624e8b463a/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Greg Doyon
HEXANE? IN MY VEGGIE BURGER?
![Page 2: Hexane](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022082603/54960de3b47959624e8b463a/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
OUTLINE
Hexane
Hexane Exposure Routes
Health Effects
RfC and SF
Why is Hexane in my veggie burger?
Verdict
![Page 3: Hexane](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022082603/54960de3b47959624e8b463a/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
WHAT IS HEXANE?
Peripheral Neurotoxin – Dying Back
Hydrocarbon; C6H14
Colorless and odorless Liquid
Used in formation of glues for shoes, leather products, and roofing. Occupational settings are dangerous for chronic exposure.
Used in extracting oils from seeds
Obtained by refining crude oil
![Page 4: Hexane](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022082603/54960de3b47959624e8b463a/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
HEXANE EXPOSURE PATHWAYS
Inhalation – Hexane in gasoline can be inhaled at Gas Stations while filling up your car. Sniffing glue, inks, degreasing equipment. Most common exposure route. Most common exposure location is the occupational setting.
Dermal – Spilling gasoline on yourself. Glues or degreaser getting on skin.
Ingestion – Eating or drinking something contaminated with hexane.
![Page 5: Hexane](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022082603/54960de3b47959624e8b463a/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
HEXANE TOXICITY HEALTH EFFECTS
Acute:
Inhalation: Mild CNS depression. CNS effects include dizziness, slight nausea, and headache. High, sniffing glues.
Dermatitis and irritation of the eyes and throat
Chronic:
Sensorimotor polyneuropathy in humans, with numbness in the extremities, muscular weakness, blurred vision, headache, and fatigue observed
Rat and Rabbit studies: Neurotoxin Effects, inflammation and erosiveness in respiratory epithelium.
![Page 6: Hexane](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022082603/54960de3b47959624e8b463a/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
HEXANE TOXICITY HEALTH EFFECTS
Current Estimated RfC: .7 mg/m3
No SF as EPA has classified it in Group D: Unclassifiable based on lack of data.
![Page 7: Hexane](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022082603/54960de3b47959624e8b463a/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
HEXANE INHALATION STUDY
Progressive sensorimotor neuropathy developed in two patients exposed to chronic inhalation of hexane glue sniffing.
Nerve biopsies showed loss of axons; remaining axons were either normal or showed accumulation of filaments
The muscle biopsy revealed neurogenic atrophy. Intramuscular nerve twigs and end-plates, studied in one patient, showed loss of axons and nerve terminals. (1)
![Page 8: Hexane](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022082603/54960de3b47959624e8b463a/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
SOY PROCESSORS
Soy processors use hexane to divide fat and protein.
Soy beans are cracked, heated, and rolled into flakes which are then soaked in hexane to extract the oil.
Oil and defatted flakes are each steamed to evaporate the hexane.
Hexane isn’t completely removed and can remain in oil which turns into vegetable oil. Defatted soy flakes are further processed into a variety of foods, including veggie burgers.
![Page 9: Hexane](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022082603/54960de3b47959624e8b463a/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
SHOULD I STOP EATING VEGGIE BURGERS?
Scientists fed about 500 mg of hexane to lab rats for 90 days and found no adverse effects.
If veggie burgers were to lose none of the volatile hexane during cooking, it would take more than “353,000 veggie burgers a day to reach that level, adjusted for human body weight.”
“At 2,000 mg of the solvent over the 90-day period, the rats started to show some neurological problems. That's about 1.4 million veggie burgers per person, per day.” (2)
Conclusion: You’re Safe, no need to worry.
![Page 10: Hexane](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022082603/54960de3b47959624e8b463a/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
REFERENCES
(1) http://www.neurology.org/content/26/3/238.short
(2) http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2010/04/is_your_veggie_burger_killing_you.html