English Abstract A number of recent publications concerning the human
risk assessment of benzene was evaluated in order to check if the
toxicological limit value derived in the Integrated Criteria Document on
benzene (RIVM, 1987) needed to be revised. In the Integrated Criteria
Document a non threshold extrapolation method was used, because of the
carcinogenic and genotoxic properties of bezene. Using epidemiological
data, it was calculated that a concentration of 0,12 mug.m-3 corresponds to
a risk of one additional case of leukemia in one million persons exposed for
lifetime. The Health Council of the Netherlands subsequently advised to
increase this value by two orders of magnitude, because linear non threshold
extrapolation would be an overestimation of the actual risk. On the basis
of recent studies there is, however, no reason to deviate from the risk
assessment approach adopted in the Integrated Criteria Document or to
increase the previous derived toxicological limit value.
