(Other than Refineries)
This fact sheet provides information on potential chemical exposures from industrial operations and facilities other than refineries. For information on exposures from refineries please click here.
- Petroleum products contain chemicals that are on the Proposition 65 list because they can cause cancer and/or birth defects or other reproductive harm.
- Proposition 65 requires businesses to determine if they must provide a warning about exposure to listed chemicals.
Petroleum products are made from crude oil, coal, and natural gas. They include gasoline, diesel fuel, and lubricants (for automobiles, airplanes, trains, snowmobiles, cooking stoves, generators, and furnaces), and are used to make chemicals, plastics, and synthetic materials.
Petroleum products are found in and around oil and natural gas fields, chemical plants, and natural gas power plants. They are also found in and around transport and storage operations, such as pipelines, marine terminals, tank trucks, and other facilities and equipment.
These industrial operations and facilities can emit petroleum products during regular on-site operations from equipment and trucks and other motor vehicles. Releases can also occur as the result of accidental spills, explosions, fires, and leaks.
Various chemicals in petroleum products present in and around industrial operations and facilities other than refinieries can cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Examples of chemicals in petroleum products and the health effects they cause are included below. Any individual industrial operation or facility may not necessarily be causing exposures to all of these chemicals:
- Benzene can cause leukemia. Exposure during pregnancy may affect the development of the child. Benzene exposure may also harm the male reproductive system.
- Benzo(a)pyrene can cause lung cancer.
- Ethylbenzene may increase the risk of cancer.
- Exhaust from diesel engines can cause lung cancer.
- Exposure to gasoline vapors may increase the risk of cancer.
- Formaldehyde (gas) can cause leukemia and cancers of the nose, throat, and sinuses.
- Naphthalene and other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure may increase the risk of cancer.
- Nickel can cause cancers of the lung, nasal cavity, and paranasal sinuses.
- During pregnancy, some chemicals from petroleum products can pass from mother to baby.
- Contact your county or city health department, local air quality management district, or air pollution control district if you have any questions or concerns regarding industrial operations and facilities in your community.
- If you see a Proposition 65 warning provided by an industrial operation and facility, you may wish to contact the facility to find out more about the basis for the warning and the chemicals that prompted it.
General Fact Sheets and Resources
- US Energy Information Administration (EIA)
- California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA)
California Air Resources Board (CARB) - US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
Proposition 65
- California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA)
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)- Proposition 65: Background
- Proposition 65: The List of Chemicals
- Proposition 65: Fact Sheets
