APA has currently initiated work to address the following topics during 2003/2005:

Information on emissions from aromatics production facilities
Although information on the nature of emissions to the environment from production facilities was collected by APA in the 1990s,this has not been updated subsequently.APA is now gathering information from all its member companies that will enable a full assessment to be made on the nature of human and environmental exposures. The exercise is being undertaken by an independent institution, the Royal Haskoning laboratories in the Netherlands who are experienced in these fields and have advised the Commission and governments on this task.

Pooled analysis of human data on benzene
Benzene causes certain types of leukaemia in humans and good data exists to show that exposure levels in excess of current workplace and environmental levels constitute a risk. The information on the nature of the risk (if any) at current exposures is, however, lacking. Recently, a study was published by the Australian Institute of Petroleum which sought to describe the nature of risks at low exposures. But whilst this study has many strengths, it has been recognised to also have several limitations. The petroleum industry, through CONCAWE evaluated how the information within the Australian study might be pooled with two other similar studies in order to help provide an indication of the nature of risks from current exposures. APA is committed to assisting the petroleum industry in its objectives by co-funding this work.
The report, commissioned from the Institute of Occupational Medicine, Edinburgh and the University of Utrecht shows that it is feasible to pool the three epidemiological studies, from Canada, the U.K. and in Australia.

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