5 Potential Gasoline Health Risks & What To Do If You Experience Them

• Science

Gasoline is one of the most important and widely-used chemicals that human beings interact with on a daily basis. Most people know it as the liquid sloshing around their vehicle's gas tanks. They don't really see or think about until they need to buy more at a gas station. For others, such as mechanics, oil refinery workers, gas station employees, loading dock workers, and landscapers, gasoline is not only part of their lives, it's part of their jobs. Since the chemical is so ubiquitous, it's important to know that spending too much time around it has the potential to cause adverse health effects. 

Most people don't interact with gasoline enough to cause any problems, and it's considered safe enough to keep in your garage as long as it's in an approved container. However, much like other common household chemicals like WD-40, there is the potential to suffer some ill effects from gasoline if it's handled improperly or if you're around it more often. Most of the bad stuff comes from repeated contact, so most people shouldn't worry too much. 

With that said, there are some things you may want to keep an eye on since gasoline is like any other chemical in that too much of it can cause you harm, especially if you're one of the folks who works to make the stuff.

Skin Irritation

The most common thing you run into with gasoline is skin irritation. Gasoline is a mild irritant, and that means leaving it on your skin for too long can cause problems. According to the CDC, the reason for this is the hydrocarbon chemicals present in gasoline, including toluene, benzene, and zylenes. If you look up each of those, you'll learn that each individually can be a skin irritant, and gasoline often has all three. 

How badly gasoline hurts the skin depends on how much gets splashed on you and how long it's allowed to sit there. Small splashes that are quickly rinsed off may cause redness and mild skin irritation, but if the gas is cleaned off quickly enough, you'll likely experience no symptoms. Should more gasoline splash onto you and it's not immediately removed, that mild irritation may upgrade to cracking, blistering, or peeling skin along with a pus-like discharge. Should a larger amount get on you and it's not rinsed off for a long time, then gas will actually burn you, causing first or even second-degree burns. This level of irritation is unlikely because it requires you to be wet with gas for a long time, but that's the maximum damage. 

Should you get gas on your skin, your best bet is to rinse it off under cool water for two to three minutes, followed by a wash with mild soap. If worsening symptoms occur, see a doctor. 

Eye Damage

As with most chemicals, you shouldn't get gasoline in your eyes. It's not something that happens often, but any liquid can splash and any splash can hit you in the face. Thus, if you are doing stuff with gasoline, it's probably a good idea to wear eye protection, or at least be very careful where you point your head. Hydrocarbons are once again to blame for this one, and the line of thinking is logical. If it's irritating to your skin, it's also irritating to your eyes, so make sure to have some safety glasses around just in case. 

Unlike skin contact, which can range from nothing to second-degree burns, gasoline in your eyes can do more damage, more quickly. Even a small splash can cause immediate eye irritation, resulting in red eyes, blurry vision, and pain. Longer exposure can cause corneal injuries and temporary blindness that will typically heal on its own once the gas is removed from the eye. Gasoline vapors can also cause eye irritation at concentrations around 200 parts per million. Higher concentrations can cause corneal, retinal, and ciliary damage to the eyes, but this is virtually never seen in well-ventilated areas.

Treatment for gasoline in your eye is the same as any other caustic substance. You should flush your eyes with warm water for at least 10 minutes, and then you should go see a doctor. Those who wear contacts are encouraged not to try to remove them until after irrigating their eyes with water.

Gastrointestinal Issues

In the popular TV show "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," there's a scene in Season 4, Episode 2 where the gang solves the gas crisis. During the episode, Charlie drinks gasoline. In the episode, he ends up being just fine despite the amount he drinks. However, and we can't stress this enough, you should never try that at home. Gasoline is caustic to skin and eyes, which means it's not good for your gastrointestinal tract either. Doing so results in gasoline poisoning, and that's definitely not a good thing.

Gasoline can mess up your GI tract from the moment it pass your lips. Symptoms can start with throat irritation, esophageal burns, and swelling. Once it hits the stomach, it can cause any number of symptoms, including abdominal pain, vomiting, vertigo, drowsiness, weakness, confusion, loss of consciousness, convulsions, internal organ damage, and even death. Should it make it far enough, it'll also cause blood in your stool (and potentially your vomit too). If you vomit up the gasoline, you may also contract chemical pneumonitis, which causes even more symptoms. You have to swallow quite a lot of gas to feel the worst symptoms, but everyone's body reacts differently, so the amount much will range from person to person.

About the only way someone may swallow gasoline is by siphoning, which is one of the many reasons why such behavior is frowned upon. Should you swallow gasoline, the proper treatment is to give the person water or milk and call poison control immediately for additional help. 

Lung and Organ Problems

Nearly every person has been exposed to the scent of gasoline at some point, whether it's at the pump, operating lawn equipment, or in any garage where there's a gas can. Before you get super worried, vapors in a well-ventilated environment pose virtually no health risk, and since most gasoline exposure takes place outside, it's about as well-ventilated as it gets. Just make sure to open your garage door before refueling your lawn mower, and you'll be fine. 

Problems can arise in sensitive groups, like those with lung conditions, where even well-vented gas fumes may cause some irritation. If you're in a poorly ventilated area, the problems can start piling up rather quickly. Gasoline fumes cause you to become intoxicated and are, unfortunately, a form of substance abuse. Intoxication can cause euphoria along with a laundry list of other symptoms, including headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion, lack of coordination, blurred vision, weakness, and breathing difficulties. At the high end, it can also cause heart arrhythmia and other organ damage. In poorly-ventilated areas, high concentrations of gas fumes can cause asphyxiation, leading to a medical emergency that may result in death. 

The best treatment is prevention, so you should always be working in a well-ventilated area when messing with gasoline. Moving to fresh air will alleviate mild symptoms over time, but severe symptoms will require immediate medical attention. Also, don't huff gasoline. It's bad for you. 

Potentially Carcinogenic

Gasoline is considered a Group 2B carcinogen, which can mean different things based on interpretation. According to the CDC, a 2B carcinogen is "possibly carcinogenic to humans." The health agency goes on to state that "the classification is based on inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and limited evidence for carcinogenicity in experimental animals." In short, studies have shown that there isn't a definitive link between gasoline and cancer yet, but the number of experimental animals that may have contracted cancer from gasoline is not zero. More studies are needed for a firmer answer.

Gasoline joins 324 other chemicals in Group 2B that you might be familiar with. They include aspartame, aloe vera (specifically when ingested), naphthalene (another hydrocarbon found in mothballs), chloroform, and, oddly enough, some forms of traditional Asian pickled vegetables. The connection between these products and cancer is currently mild, but there are scientific studies available that suggest that they may contribute to a higher risk of cancer. In short, they may or may not cause cancer, but we wouldn't ingest it every day, just in case. 

For now, it's not something you should worry about. Should science eventually conclude that gasoline definitely causes cancer, it'll make worldwide news, and you'll definitely hear about it from somewhere. In the meantime, keep in mind that there are some studies which suggest that gasoline may contribute to cancer, so you should treat it with the respect of any other potentially harmful chemical.