Don't Burn Tires!
A young New Zealand man, Scott Gill, was recently sentenced to community service after burning more than twenty "tyres" (tires) at his birthday party.
Local firefighters put out the flames, but Gill reignited the tires, forcing firefighters to return.
In the courtroom, Judge Colin Doherty said that those present at the party were exposed to benzene levels "120 times the health safety level."
Until I came across this recent article, it hadn't occurred to me to blog about the dangers of tire burning and benzene exposure, because I naively thought recreational tire burning had fallen out of favor with the masses.
So for the record, here's a brief outline of why not to burn tires:
Tires are manufactured from petrochemical feedstocks such as styrene and butadiene, which are both being classified as human carcinogens. Styrene is a benzene derivative and burning tires releases styrene and several benzene compounds.-Dr. Neil Carman, Hazards of Burning Tires
In addition to the above carcinogens, hundreds of other toxic chemicals are aslo released when tires are burned.
