ENV-99-183 Ambient and Human Sources of Hydrogen Sulfide: An Explosive Topic

Description:

Hydrogen sulfide has been a chemical of concern for many years, but over the last several years interest has greatly increased. Both state and federal agencies have been under constant pressure from various labor and environmental groups to lower community and worker exposure limits. In addition, numerous lawsuits have been filed alleging a range of health effects from low level H2S exposure, including asthma, nausea, headaches, and insomnia. Most recently, there has been a significant lobbying effort to get H2S recognized by the US-EPA as a hazardous air pollutant. However, much evidence exists to show that hydrogen sulfide is not a human toxin at low concentrations, evidence that has often been overlooked in the recent debate. The primary sources used to show brain damage resulting from chronic exposure to low concentrations of hydrogen sulfide are very weak epidemiological studies based on very poor exposure data (Kilburn, 1998). Field measurements, as well as other scientific data, suggest that biogenic and other natural sources of hydrogen sulfide far exceed industrial contributions.