.We’ve just returned from spending the day down in Barataria, located about an hour drive south of New Orleans. The community of fishermen is swimming in oil. Within minutes of arriving, our eyes begin to burn and we begin to feel dizzy from airborne chemicals from the oil and dispersant.[...]
The dispersants [used on the oil] are Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527, both of which BP has used and continues to use (more than 1,400,000 gallons to date and counting) [and both banned in the UK] to disperse crude oil on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico and near the wellhead 5,000 feet below the surface where the volcano of oil gushes toxicity into the Gulf. The pathways of exposure are inhalation, ingestion, skin, and eye contact. Health impacts include headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains, dizziness, chest pains and tightness, irritation of eyes, nose, throat and lungs, difficulty breathing, respiratory system damage, skin irrigation and sensitization, hypertension, central nervous system depression, neurotoxic effects, genetic damage and mutations, cardiac arrhythmia, and cardiovascular damage, among several others.
[...]
Marine toxicologist Dr. Susan Shaw has written: “Corexit is particularly toxic. It contains petroleum solvents and a chemical that, when ingested, ruptures red blood cells and causes internal bleeding. It is also bioaccumulative, meaning its concentration intensifies as it moves up the food chain.”
[...]
Dr. Shaw said this of the toxic soup that is the combination of oil and dispersants: “Shrimpers [were] throwing their nets into water… [then] water from the nets splashed on [one’s] skin. …[He experienced a] headache that lasted 3 weeks…heart palpitations…muscle spasms…bleeding from the rectum…And that’s what Corexit does, it ruptures red blood cells, causes internal bleeding, and liver and kidney damage. …This stuff is so toxic combined… not the oil or dispersants alone. …Very, very toxic and goes right through skin.”
[...]
“Just days ago Barataria Bay was full of oil,” Tracy [Kuhns] informs while sweeping an arm out towards the south, where the large Bay sits, toxified, “Then they hit it with dispersants and the oil goes to the bottom. But then during the day, it heats up and the oil bubbles up to the surface.”
[...]
“Bad air moves in off the bay anytime the wind is from the south or southeast,” Tracy adds, “And we’re trying to get BP to have air monitors on the boats of the fishermen who are helping clean up, but they won’t do it.”
[...]
“90 percent of the species in the Gulf of Mexico spend some part of their lives in the Louisiana estuaries,” she adds, “BP is killing our hope of getting these restocked for the future.”
[...]
“Every time we ride out in the bay your chest tightens for days…I still have it. And if you can smell it, you’ve already been overexposed. And the fish, their gills are as affected by this as our lungs are. But BP and the government keep saying they don’t want to scare the public with this stuff, so they are trying to keep it quiet.”
[...]
BP is having response workers in Mississippi and Alabama go through metal detectors so they can’t even take their cell phones out with them when they go and do their response work.
[...]
"We all know what’s going on. What planet do they live on in Washington D.C.? Not this one. They need to come here and breathe this shit everyday, and swim in this soup and tell us it’s just fine. All the kids around here have rashes, asthma problems, ear infections, and the majority of our fishermen are out there working in this stuff 24/7 because it’s now the only job in town, and they’re all getting sick.”
[...]
“We’re seeing crabs crawling out of the water. We’ve never seen this before. Ever. Why are crabs trying to escape from the water?”
[...]
Gene takes one look at my face, and says, “It’s not natural for crabs to come out of the water like this. They never want to come out of the water if they can help it. They are trying to escape.”
[...]
My eyes still burn and my chest is tight, long after we exited the toxic soup of air and water that is south of New Orleans. Toxic chemicals from dispersed oil and the dispersant itself now permeate all the air, leaves, water, and wildlife of the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and parts of Florida and Texas. You are breathing this same air as you read this.
The only question is, how many parts per million of toxics are now in your lungs as well?
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