OIL SPILL — HUMAN HEALTH MATTERS
Scientists find oil in Gulf food chain. >>> and >>>
(both articles published 11/8/10)
"If oil residues are building up in the food chain, they will be more concentrated in the creatures at the top. Humans sit at the top of the food chain ... "
-- from the 11/7/10 Discovery News article "Oil Entering Gulf Food Chain" by Tim Wall
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"Despite the protests of many fishermen concerned about oil on the bottom, the fishing grounds are nearly all open. ...
..." Government assurances that the waters are safe for fishing just don't wash with many of them. Scientistific (sic) reports that the marsh is recovering and the oil damage may not be as bad as once thought are met with skepticism by the fishing community here. ..."
"I've seen numerous samples of shrimp people have saved with a black substance in their gills. ..." [An NRDC photo of a shrimp with blackened gills is shown in the article]
"When the government says the oil is gone or dispersed and the seafood is safe--even going into the local schools to convince children--it doesn't go over very well with some people here. They have heard too many stories of oil turning up in crabs and shrimp, too many instances where shrimp boats have churned up sheen behind their nets as they've dragged the bottom.
"'If anyone wants to eat the shrimp here then that's their decision,' says Kindra Arnesen, wife of a fisherman in Venice and a representative of the Louisiana Coastal Heritage Society. 'But I'm not feeding it to my kids until I know it's safe. And I don't have much faith the government knows what's safe and what isn't.'"
...
-- from the 10/20/10 Huffiington Post report "Six Months Later, an Oil Disaster Spreads Across the Gulf" by Rocky Kistner, Media Associate, NRDC
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10/17/10: (Dr. Gina Solomon; NRDC) ★★★★
"This weekend NRDC was privileged to speak on a panel for the Gulf Coast Fund with four Gulf Coast leaders who are looking forward after the BP oil disaster. Their main message to the audience was: it may not be in the news anymore, but it’s not over.
"Tracy Kuhns, a shrimper from Barataria Bay, Louisiana talked about the thick layer of oil on the bottom of the bay – a layer that keeps getting churned up by waves and tides and recontaminating the shrimping grounds." ...
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All of the speakers told of ongoing respiratory problems, worker health concerns, and serious reservations about the safety of the seafood.
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"It’s ironic. The Alabama Chamber of Commerce just celebrated their “Annual National Shrimp Festival”, ... . "Just last week, the Federal government reopened 2,927 square miles of the Gulf to fishing and shrimping, just South of the Mississippi Delta. The Feds confirmed that the area was safe for shrimping by performing a 'sniff test' for oil odors [My impression is this test actually consists of sniffing with human noses. -- Ed. SS] five shrimp samples. They confirmed the sniff test with three composite samples of shrimp sent for chemical testing from an approximately 1,000 square mile area. No information was provided to the public on the size or location of the shrimping grounds or why so few chemical analyses were performed. This does not seem sufficient to assess the safety of the seafood coming out of the Gulf right now.
NRDC and dozens of Gulf Coast groups continue to raise concerns, request documents, and ask for explanations from the Federal government, but most of the information is still not available, and the reopenings continue. It’s worrisome, especially since we keep hearing from local fishermen that areas that were reopened are sometimes showing signs of visible oil. Once the areas are reopened, there doesn’t seem to be a protocol for returning to re-sample those areas to make sure they haven’t been recontaminated.
-- from an NRDC article by Dr. Gina Solomon "Six Months, ... Health,& Seafood Safety Concerns ... "
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... "Every day now, former workers, Gulf coast residents, and visitors share similar stories with me of respiratory problems, central nervous system problems, chemical sensitivities, or bad skin rashes after exposure to air or water in the Gulf ..."
... "Also this past weekend on a beach near Dauphin Island, Alabama, a family was alarmed to find themselves covered in thick gooey oil after swimming in what looked to be clear water." ...
... "The [Coalition of Commercial Fishing Families] has asked NOAA to close all Gulf fisheries until updated protocol and standards are available to test seafood product." ...
-- from the 8/24/10 article "[Dr.] Riki Ott: Seafood safety and politics don't mix" in "Offshore Oil Drilling"
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(8/3/10) NOTE from site editor (S. Spangler: former Air Force Senior Health Physics Officer and medical school physiology teacher): THE PRESENCE OF VERY CLEAR, CLEAN-LOOKING GULF WATER DOES NOT MEAN IT IS SAFE: there may well be highly toxic, life-long health-effecting poisons in it. For the sake of your family, do not allow them (or yourself) to swim or even wade in it. Wear some sort of shoes even when walking on the beach.
Hugh Kaufman, senior policy analyst for the EPA: "Well, we've seen anecdotal information of mammals in the water, like dolphins, bleeding from their orifices; some of the workers who have done the spill cleanup are having the same problem. The dispersants and oil mixtures are supposed to atomize materials like oil. Well, if that gets into your system, that atomizes your cells, and ..."
-- from a 7/28/10 report on "Countdown with Keith Olberman"
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7/12/10: (date item was added here)
"Air Quality Data for Gulf Workers: More Worrisome Findings"
-- title of 7/8/10 blog post by Gina Solomon, MD, of the NRDC
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" ... 'her arms and legs were burning, even after the shower. The following morning ... (there were) ... small blood blisters. ... By the fourth day, the areas had got larger and swollen.' She went to see a doctor but the sores remain and they have begun to scar her arms and legs."
-- from a 7/7/10 Huffington Post article by Dr. Riki Ott, "BP, Governments downplay Public Health Risk and Dispersants (PHOTOS)"
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6/17/10 (date item was added here):
"I am down here specifically to try to prevent it from becoming a human health tragedy, which is the next step. …
"… People need respirators [VOC respirators]. … These are incredibly toxic chemicals, the oil in and of itself. The Louisiana crude has a lot higher proportion of light ends, the amount of oil that evaporates into the air and dissolves into the water column. … and it's not just the workers out on the cleanup. In the communities, … people are getting the same symptoms as the workers, … .
… "What people need to think is respirators. [people living onshore in communities, as well as the cleanup workers]…..
… "The information has not been communicated yet to the people. … People need to understand that these cold and flu-like symptoms … could be chemical poisoning. This requires specialty doctors … And the hospitals should be warning people … people could wind up like they did [with the] Exxon Valdez. I am still dealing with workers who are 100 percent disabled now". …
-- Riki Ott, Ph.D., marine toxicologist, author of two books concerning the Exxon Valdez oil spill, from the 6/4/10 Rachel Maddow television segment "Toxicity beyond the globs"
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(Note: I'm not sure exactly how, but I was somehow able to move the pointer around on the Rachel Maddow site on the "video segment playback screen" and bring up a menu bar at the bottom of that screen which provided, among other things, a selection of "transcript." Got that? -- ed).
... "He comes home at night coughing and barely able to breathe and his skin is irritated from contact with the oil.
Will exposure to the toxic chemicals in the oil and/or in the dispersants damage his sperm or your eggs, perhaps making it difficult to conceive? Could the chemicals damage the embryo you already carry, cause a miscarriage or birth defects? Is your newborn baby or young child at particular risk? Should pregnant women and children living near the Gulf take special precautions? And what if you don't even live anywhere near the gulf, could your reproductive health be impacted as well? ...
According to Dr. Riki Ott, a marine biologist who has worked extensively to study and raise awareness about the impact of oil spills on both the environment and people, ... 'Pregnant women and children should not be anywhere near this,' she said in a phone interview. ...
... 'The reality is we know almost nothing about the potential harm from the long-term use of any of these chemicals [dispersants] on the marine environment in the Gulf of Mexico, and even less about their potential to enter the food chain and ultimately harm humans,' [-- Rep. Edward Markey] ...
-- from the 6/7/10 article by Lucinda Marshall of TruthOut.org "Can the BP Spill Cause Miscarriages and Birth Defects?"
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"Everywhere you go these days on the Gulf Coast, people are complaining about the smell of oil."...
... "Some of the chemicals in oil are toxic at levels far below levels detectable by the human nose. For example, benzene is harmful at levels 1000-times below what people can smell."...
"We live on the AL gulf coast - about 20-25 miles north of the gulf, and about 8 miles east of Mobile Bay. ... Yesterday around 5pm (when the wind was still) I noticed the smell outside ... as a mother, I'm naturally very concerned for my 4 year old daughter, husband & myself." ...
-- from the 6/7/10 blog "Oil Odors: If You Smell It, Is It Toxic?" by Gina Solomon, MD, MPH; Senior Scientist: NRDC
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"… people could wind up like they did [with the] Exxon Valdez. I am still dealing with workers who are 100 percent disabled now". …
-- Riki Ott, Ph.D., marine toxicologist, from the 6/4/10 Rachel Maddow Show segment on MSNBC, "Toxicity beyond the globs"
>>> (more excerpts on this site)
>>> (entire Rachel Maddow segment)
5/24/10 (date this item was posted here):
"... Those working on the oil spill and people far from it can be exposed to crude oil chemicals in air." ...
"Crude oil is toxic, and ingredients can damage every system in the body:
respiratory
brain
liver
kidneys
circulatory system
immune system
musculoskeletal system
nervous system, including the brain
reproductive/urogenital system
endocrine system
gastrointestinal system
sensory systems
Damaging or altering these systems causes a wide range of diseases and conditions. In addition, interference with normal growth and development through endocrine disruption and direct damage to fetal tissue is caused by many crude oil ingredients (CDC, 1999). DNA damage can cause cancer and multi-generational birth defects." [emphasis added] ...
-- from "Gulf Oil Spill Health Hazards" by Michael Harbut, MD, MPH, FCCP, and Kathleen Burns, Ph.D.
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5/5/10:
... "Oil contains a mixture of chemicals. The main ingredients are various hydrocarbons, some of which can cause cancer ... . There are also certain volatile hydrocarbons called VOCs (volatile organic compounds) which can cause cancer, and neurologic and reproductive harm. ...
"
"The Louisiana Department of Health is setting up shelters for those impacted by the air emissions. ..."
[and, what's being done in Alabama? -- SS (ed.)]
"Some of the volatile chemicals in oil have been linked to miscarriage, preterm birth and low birth weight, ... . To be cautious, pregnant women may choose to avoid any areas directly along the waterfront and beachfront, even when oil is not visible." [emphasis added]
..."Pets should not be allowed on the beach in any areas where ...
"The dispersant that is primarily being used contains petroleum products, sulfonic acid salts and propylene glycol. ... Chemicals in dispersants share some of the same toxic properties as chemicals in the oil itself. ...
"... We're still dealing with illnesses in the first responders and cleanup workers from the World Trade Center attack in 2001. It is a big mistake to put our first responders and clean up workers at risk again....
"Avoid areas where oil can be seen or smelled. If you see or smell oil, leave the area right away....
"Young children, pregnant women, people with compromised immune systems and individuals with underlying respiratory conditions should avoid the areas near the contaminated water."...
-- from the 5/5/10 article "Gulf Coast Oil Spill: Health Questions" by Gina Solomon, MD, MPH; Senior Scientist: NRDC
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COMMENT: This article is very important reading for anyone living near or along the coastal areas that the spill may effect. -- SS (ed.)
... "During the Exxon Valdez spill, health problems among cleanup workers became so widespread, so fast, that medical doctors, among others, sounded warnings. Dr.Robert Rigg, former Alaska medical director for Standard Alaska (BP), warned, 'It is a known fact that neurologic changes (brain damage), skin disorders (including cancer), liver and kidney damage, cancer of other organ systems, and medical complications-secondary to exposure to working unprotected (or inadequately protected)-can and will occur to workers exposed to crude oil and other petrochemical by-products.'" ...
-- from the 5/1/10 Reuters report "Lessons from the Exxon Valdez spill" by Ricki Ott, Ph.D. (marine toxicologist and author of two books on the Exxon Valdez oil spill)
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... "With an oily stench permeating the air across southeastern Louisiana, ...
... "Residents throughout the New Orleans area on Thursday [apparently 4/29/10] reported an oily odor apparently coming from the spill, which was more than 90 miles from the Crescent City." ...
-- from the 4/29/10 Times-Picayune report "Oil from Gulf spill is reaching Louisiana coastline" by Paul Rioux and Robert Travis Scott
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6/17/10:
To help make decisions about what to do, the above articles by Ms. Marshall and Drs. Harbut, Burns, Ott, and Solomon are all URGENTLY recommended reading for anyone living or working near or along the coastal areas the spill is effecting or threatening to effect. It is also recommended that readers living elsewhere consider making relatives and friends in the coastal area aware of those articles.
Also, it is not clear the government and mainstream media are making the general public well-aware of the health dangers this "spill" poses to humans. -- SS (ed.)
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QUESTION TO ALL INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA:
HOW WELL are you serving your individual readers, viewers, and family (as compared to advertisers and management) on this specific matter (oil spill human health matters)?
-- SS (ed.)