Health effects of hydrogen sulfide
Contents
Introduction
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a poisonous, flammable, colorless gas with a characteristic odor of rotten eggs. Other names for hydrogen sulfide include hydrosulfuric acid, sewer gas, hydrogen sulphide, and stink damp. People usually can smell hydrogen sulfide at low concentrations in air, ranging from 0.0005 to 0.3 parts per million (ppm) (0.0005-0.3 parts of hydrogen sulfide in 1 million parts of air); however, at high concentrations, a person might lose their ability to smell it. This can make hydrogen sulfide very dangerous. Hydrogen sulfide occurs both naturally and from human-made processes. It is in the gases from volcanoes, sulfur springs, undersea vents, swamps, and stagnant bodies of water and in crude petroleum and natural gas. Hydrogen sulfide also is associated with municipal sewers and sewage treatment plants, swine containment and manure-handling operations, and pulp and paper operations. Industrial sources of hydrogen sulfide include petroleum refineries, natural gas plants, petrochemical plants, coke oven plants, food processing plants, and tanneries. Bacteria found in your mouth and gastrointestinal tract produce hydrogen sulfide from bacteria decomposing in materials that contain vegetable or animal proteins. Hydrogen sulfide is one of the principal components in the natural -->sulfur cycle.
Pathways for hydrogen sulfide in the environment
Hydrogen sulfide is released primarily as a gas and spreads in the air. However, in some instances, it may be released in the liquid waste of an industrial facility or as the result of a natural event. When hydrogen sulfide is released as a gas, it remains in the atmosphere for an average of 18 hours. During this time, hydrogen sulfide can change into sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid. Hydrogen sulfide is soluble in water, and is a weak acid in water.
Exposure to hydrogen sulfide
Your body makes small amounts of hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide is produced by the natural bacteria in your mouth and is a component of bad breath (halitosis). Breakdown of sulfur-containing proteins by bacteria in the human intestinal tract also produces hydrogen sulfide. The levels of hydrogen sulfide in air and water are typically low. The amount of hydrogen sulfide in the air in the United States is 0.11-0.33 parts per billion (ppb) (one thousandth of a ppm). In undeveloped areas of the United States, concentrations have been reported at 0.02-0.07 ppb. The amount of hydrogen sulfide in surface water is low because hydrogen sulfide readily evaporates from water. Groundwater concentrations of hydrogen sulfide generally are less than 1 ppm; however, measured sulfur concentrations in surface and waste waters have ranged from slightly less than 1 to 5 ppm. Household exposures to hydrogen sulfide can occur through misuse of drain cleaning materials. Hydrogen sulfide can be found in well water and formed in hot water heaters, giving tap water a rotten egg odor. Cigarette smoke and emissions from gasoline vehicles contain hydrogen sulfide. The general population can be exposed to lower levels from accidental or deliberate release of emissions from pulp and paper mills; from natural gas drilling and refining operations; and from areas high geothermal activity, such as hot springs.
People who work in certain industries can be exposed to higher levels of hydrogen sulfide than the general population. These industries include rayon textiles manufacturing, pulp and paper mills, petroleum and natural gas drilling operations, and waste water treatment plants. Workers on farms with manure storage pits or landfills can be exposed to higher levels of hydrogen sulfide than the general population. As a member of the general public, you might be exposed to higher-than-normal levels of hydrogen sulfide if you live near a waste water treatment plant, a gas and oil drilling operation, a farm with manure storage or livestock confinement facilities, or a landfill. Exposure from these sources is mainly from breathing air that contains hydrogen sulfide.
Pathways for hydrogen sulfide in the body
Hydrogen sulfide enters your body primarily through the air you breathe. It also can enter your body through the skin. Hydrogen sulfide is a gas, so you would not likely be exposed to it by ingestion. When you breathe air containing hydrogen sulfide or when hydrogen sulfide comes into contact with skin, it is absorbed into the blood stream and distributed throughout the body. In the body, hydrogen sulfide is primarily converted to sulfate and is excreted in the urine.
Health effects of hydrogen sulfide
Scientists use many tests to protect the public from harmful effects of toxic chemicals and to find ways to treat people who have been harmed. You should know that one way to learn whether a chemical will harm people is to determine how the body absorbs, uses, and releases the chemical. For some chemicals, animal testing may be necessary. Animal testing may also help identify such health effects as cancer or birth defects. Without laboratory animals, scientists would lose a basic method for getting information needed to make wise decisions that protect public health. Scientists have the responsibility to treat research animals with care and compassion. Scientists must comply with strict animal care guidelines because laws today protect the welfare of research animals.
Additionally, there are vigorous national and international efforts to develop alternatives to animal testing. The efforts focus on both in vitro and in silico approaches and methods. For example, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) created the NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM) in 1998. The role of NICEATM is to serve the needs of high quality, credible science by facilitating development and validation—and regulatory and public acceptance—of innovative, revised test methods that reduce, refine, and replace the use of animals in testing while strengthening protection of human health, animal health and welfare, and the environment. In Europe, similar efforts at developing alternatives to animal based testing are taking place under the aegis of the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM).
Exposure to low concentrations of hydrogen sulfide may cause irritation to the eyes, nose, or throat. It may also cause difficulty in breathing for some asthmatics. Brief exposures to high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (greater than 500 ppm) can cause a loss of consciousness. In most cases, the person appears to regain consciousness without any other effects. However, in many individuals, there may be permanent or long-term effects such as headaches, poor attention span, poor memory, and poor motor function. No health effects have been found in humans exposed to typical environmental concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (0.00011-0.00033 ppm). Deaths due to breathing in large amounts of hydrogen sulfide have been reported in a variety of different work settings, including sewers, animal processing plants, waste dumps, sludge plants, oil and gas well drilling sites, and tanks and cesspools.
Very little information is available about health problems that could occur from drinking or eating something with hydrogen sulfide in it. Scientists have no reports of people poisoned by such exposures. Pigs that ate feed containing hydrogen sulfide experienced diarrhea for a few days and lost weight after about 105 days.
Scientists have little information about what happens when you are exposed to hydrogen sulfide by getting it on your skin, although they know that care must be taken with the compressed liquefied product to avoid frostbite. Hydrogen sulfide will irritate your eyes if you are exposed to the gas. These types of exposures are more common in certain kinds of jobs.
Hydrogen sulfide has not been shown to cause cancer in humans, and its possible ability to cause cancer in animals has not been studied thoroughly. Hydrogen sulfide has not been classified for its ability to cause or not cause cancer. Scientist have some evidence that exposure to hydrogen sulfide can increase miscarriages in people, but the studies where this was reported were complicated by exposures to other chemicals and lack of information about the amount of exposure to hydrogen sulfide.
Health effects in children
Children are likely to be exposed to hydrogen sulfide in the same manner as adults, except for adults at work. However, because hydrogen sulfide is heavier than air and because children are shorter than adults, children sometimes are exposed to more hydrogen sulfide than adults. Health problems in children who have been exposed to hydrogen sulfide have not been studied much. Exposed children probably will experience effects similar to those experienced by exposed adults. Whether children are more sensitive to hydrogen sulfide exposure than adults or whether hydrogen sulfide causes birth defects in people is not known.
Reducing risk of exposure to hydrogen sulfide
If your doctor finds you (or a family member) have been exposed to substantial amounts of hydrogen sulfide, ask whether your children also might have been exposed. Your doctor might need to ask your state health department to investigate.
Families can be exposed to more hydrogen sulfide than the general population if they live near natural or industrial sources of hydrogen sulfide, such as hot springs, manure holding tanks, or pulp and paper mills. However, their exposure levels are unlikely to approach those that sicken people exposed at work.
Medical tests for exposure to hydrogen sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide can be measured in exhaled air, but samples must be taken within 2 hours after exposure to be useful. A more reliable test to determine if you have been exposed to hydrogen sulfide is the measurement of thiosulfate levels in urine. This test must be done within 12 hours of exposure. Both tests require special equipment, which is not routinely available in a doctor's office. Samples can be sent to a special laboratory for the tests. These tests can tell whether you have been exposed to hydrogen sulfide, but they cannot determine exactly how much hydrogen sulfide you have been exposed to or whether harmful effects will occur.
Further Reading
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