What are "petroleum volatile organic compounds" (VOCs)?

What are "petroleum volatile organic compounds" (VOCs)?

Terry Tamminen (Author & Environmental Policy Advisor) gives expert video advice on: Is there a correlation between smog and human disease? and more...

Volatile organic compounds or VOCs are the fumes that you can smell from gasoline or petroleum products. So when you're pumping gasoline into your car, that very recognizable acrid odor are things like benzene and toluene, and xylene, called the BTX compounds. These are all volatile organic compounds.They're also found in things like paint so after you've painted your house, and you can smell that fresh paint smell, those are actually VOCs which are fairly harmful to your health.