Oil Disaster in Gulf of Mexico
- Thread starter alien
- Start date
Should make the BP executives don some overalls and help with the cleanup effort since they are sitting on their hands doing nothing about it.
@Cultured Bogan said:
They need to stop the leak too. They say it could be leaking 162,000 barrels of oil a day. I don't think "leak" is the right word. It's the beginning of hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico too so hurricanes will could cause airbourne oil droplets to go further inland which isn't good.
Something I just read:
**Health consequences**
As of May 29, ten oil spill clean-up workers had been admitted to West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, Louisiana. All but two had been hospitalized suffering from symptoms emergency room doctors diagnosed as dehydration. At a press briefing about the May 26 medical evacuation of seven crewmembers from Vessels of Opportunity working in the Breton Sound area, Coast Guard Captain Meredith Austin, Unified Command Deputy Incident Commander in Houma, LA, said that air monitoring done in advance of beginning work showed no volatile organic compounds above limits of concern. No respiratory protection was issued, said Austin “because air ratings were taken and there were no values found to be at an unsafe level, prior to us sending them in there.”[239] **Crude oil contains a mixture of volatile hydrocarbon compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that typically include benzene, toluene, and xylene, which are known carcinogens. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) have caused tumors in laboratory animals when they breathed these substances. Symptoms of exposure to these petroleum compounds include dizziness, headaches, nausea, and rapid heart beat.** Kerosene (a component of the dispersants being used in the Gulf) exposure causes similar symptoms.[240]
**On June 15 Marylee Orr, Executive Director for Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN),[241] said on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann that people along the Gulf Coast are getting very sick, with symptoms of dizziness, vomiting, nausea, headaches, and chest pains, not only from the first responders to the crisis, but residents living along the coast as well.** LEAN's director reported that BP has threatened to fire their workers if they use respirators distributed by LEAN, though health and safety officials have not required their use, as they may exacerbate risks of heat exhaustion.[242][243] By June 21, 143 oil spill exposure-related cases had been reported to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) since the crisis began; 108 of those cases involved workers in the oil spill clean-up efforts, while thirty-five were reported by the general public.[244]
The Institute of Medicine of the U. S. National Academies held a workshop June 22 and 23 to assess known health effects of this and previous oil spills and to coordinate epidemiological monitoring and ongoing medical research. Louisiana state health officer Jimmy Guidry stated that need as: “This is more than a spill. This is ongoing leakage of a chemical, and adding chemicals to stop the chemicals. We're feeling like we're in a research lab."[245][246] On the second day of the meeting the suicide of William Allen Kruse, a charter boat captain working as a BP clean-up worker,[247] intensified previous expert commentary on the current and likely long-term mental health effects of the ongoing crisis. David Abramson, director of research for Columbia's National Center for Disaster Preparedness, noted the increased risk of mental disorders and stress-related health problems.[248][249]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
**Health consequences**
As of May 29, ten oil spill clean-up workers had been admitted to West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, Louisiana. All but two had been hospitalized suffering from symptoms emergency room doctors diagnosed as dehydration. At a press briefing about the May 26 medical evacuation of seven crewmembers from Vessels of Opportunity working in the Breton Sound area, Coast Guard Captain Meredith Austin, Unified Command Deputy Incident Commander in Houma, LA, said that air monitoring done in advance of beginning work showed no volatile organic compounds above limits of concern. No respiratory protection was issued, said Austin “because air ratings were taken and there were no values found to be at an unsafe level, prior to us sending them in there.”[239] **Crude oil contains a mixture of volatile hydrocarbon compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that typically include benzene, toluene, and xylene, which are known carcinogens. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) have caused tumors in laboratory animals when they breathed these substances. Symptoms of exposure to these petroleum compounds include dizziness, headaches, nausea, and rapid heart beat.** Kerosene (a component of the dispersants being used in the Gulf) exposure causes similar symptoms.[240]
**On June 15 Marylee Orr, Executive Director for Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN),[241] said on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann that people along the Gulf Coast are getting very sick, with symptoms of dizziness, vomiting, nausea, headaches, and chest pains, not only from the first responders to the crisis, but residents living along the coast as well.** LEAN's director reported that BP has threatened to fire their workers if they use respirators distributed by LEAN, though health and safety officials have not required their use, as they may exacerbate risks of heat exhaustion.[242][243] By June 21, 143 oil spill exposure-related cases had been reported to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) since the crisis began; 108 of those cases involved workers in the oil spill clean-up efforts, while thirty-five were reported by the general public.[244]
The Institute of Medicine of the U. S. National Academies held a workshop June 22 and 23 to assess known health effects of this and previous oil spills and to coordinate epidemiological monitoring and ongoing medical research. Louisiana state health officer Jimmy Guidry stated that need as: “This is more than a spill. This is ongoing leakage of a chemical, and adding chemicals to stop the chemicals. We're feeling like we're in a research lab."[245][246] On the second day of the meeting the suicide of William Allen Kruse, a charter boat captain working as a BP clean-up worker,[247] intensified previous expert commentary on the current and likely long-term mental health effects of the ongoing crisis. David Abramson, director of research for Columbia's National Center for Disaster Preparedness, noted the increased risk of mental disorders and stress-related health problems.[248][249]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
@MGB said:
They have been conducted controlled burns on the water, but one would hazard a guess there's more to it then setting the whole gulf alight and letting it burn away.
