Toxic Driveways

[flip_it_fast]

Hmm this is something that I didn't know and thought I should share.



Some materials used to repair driveways can be very toxic and are known to cause cancer.

The summer heat and the winter ice can damage your paved driveway. It can cause cracks that need repaired and sealed. But you have to be careful of what you use.

Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey found that coal-tar pavement sealant, typically used east of the Continental Divide, contains 1,000 times more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are byproducts of fuel burning, than its asphalt-based counterpart used throughout the West. What's more, these known cancer-causing compounds might be tracked indoors.
After sweeping up samples of pavement dust from across the U.S., a USGS team discovered much higher levels of PAHs in the dust from pavement coated with coal-tar sealant than from pavement coated with asphalt-based sealant or no sealant at all.

I have a gravel driveway but I am sure many of you have paved driveways. You should find out what materials were used. It's scary to think that you could be carrying the cancer causing stuff right into your house from your shoes!

[homealone]

That is something scary. A few people I do know have paved driveways and this is something that they really need to know about because one person ( a good friend of mine) was just diagnosed with cancer and now I am thinking she might need to have her drive way taken care of some how.

In your research did it say what can be done to take care of this problem so that they don't have to worry about it anymore??

I know the cancer she has she caught in the very early stage and they are expected to treat it easily and defeat it. So hopefully that is all true.

Thanks for listing this problem because you may have saved many lives!!! Thankfully most people I know have gravel drive ways so they are safe from this problem in a way. I would imagine if people are carrying these toxins around on their shoes even those who don't have paved drive ways could be infecting the homes of friends and family's.