Inhaled benzene - fear of cancer
Good day,
Two weeks ago, when I got into my car, I noticed a smell of gasoline inside. My mother confirmed that she also smelled it, so I didn't imagine it. Later, my father also checked: he smelled it too, but he believed it wasn't gasoline, but something else.
Well, I decided not to drive the car, took my mother's car instead, and we took my car to the workshop. They thoroughly checked it and supposedly everything was fine. They said it couldn't smell like gasoline because everything was in good condition. When I got the car back, the smell was gone, but I also felt like they had ventilated it or sprayed something inside. Anyway, I drove my car again on Thursday for about an hour.
Today, I drove again, but this time I thought the smell of gasoline was back. Not constantly, but it occasionally came through lightly. I drove with all the windows open to ventilate the car well, but again I drove for an hour.
Now my question is: I read that long-term inhalation of gasoline or benzene is extremely harmful to health and can even cause cancer (e.g. leukemia). Now I am terrified that I have inhaled so much benzene through my two drives with the windows open that I will get cancer.
So I wanted to ask: is inhaling in this way for a total of 2 hours enough to cause cancer? Or am I worrying unnecessarily? I try to reassure myself constantly by remembering that the mechanics said it couldn't smell like gasoline, but I clearly smelled it and so did my mother. And now I am panicking that I made a huge mistake by driving the car today.
What do you think I should do?
