Author’s note: The oil and the dispersants alone are toxic, but the combination may be worse. No wonder BP won’t allow clean up workers to speak to the press, or allow the press anywhere near the clean up operations.
Excerpt:
According to scientists and researchers, the wide use of dispersant chemicals on the oil in the Gulf may amount to a toxic science experiment because because so little is known about the health effects of oil mixed with dispersants.
What is known about the chemicals is frightening.
The Oil
The oil itself is highly toxic. Dr. Gina Soloman’s blog for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), describes the acute health effects of exposure to oil as including headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, irritation of the eyes and throat and difficulty breathing. In addition, the off-shore burning of oil, one of the strategies being used to reduce the massive spill, could harm human health. Anywhere that oil can be smelled is a place where oil particles are being inhaled and that poses health hazards.
There are long-term health concerns as well. Even after the spill has been staunched, fish and shellfish may carry the contaminants in their bodies for decades. “Contaminants in oil can persist for years and accumulate in the food chain,” Dr. Solomon writes, “causing elevated cancer risks or neurological risks from exposure to heavy metals such as mercury.” In addition to long-term cancer risks, some of these chemicals have been linked to miscarriages and birth defects.
The Dispersants
Corexit 9500 and 9257 have been injected in the underwater gusher by BP and dropped from the air to disperse the oil. They have been used by BP in unprecedented quantities. As of June 7, already over 1.08 million gallons have been used in the Gulf.
According to Molly Rauch, MPH, writing for Physicians for Social Responsibility:
The dispersants do not make the oil go away, but they break it up into tiny blobs so that it is not as harmful to wildlife and so that it is more accessible to being broken down by bacteria. At least that’s the thinking behind what is turning out to be a massive, uncontrolled experiment in the use of these chemicals….These chemicals are poisons, used only in a grim calculation that their effects on the ecosystem can’t be worse than the effects of the unchecked oil spill. (Emphasis added).
Although two of the known hazardous chemical ingrediants of a dispersant are 2-Butoxyethanol and Propylene Glycol, others are unknown and listed as “proprietary” on the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) published by Nalco, the manufacturer. Charlie Pajor, a senior manager at the Illinois-based company told the New York Times: “It’s like any other product. We developed them and we’re protecting our trade secret.”
The MSDS’s list both acute and chronic potential health effects on humans including, central nervous system effects, nausea, vomiting, anesthetic or narcotic effects, injury to red blood cells (hemolysis), kidney and liver damage, and may defat and dry the skin, leading to discomfort and dermatitis.
Toxicologists, however, are now saying that Corexit is much more harmful to human health and marine life than we’ve been told.
The Toxic Soup
While both the oil and dispersants alone are toxic, the two substances combined may be even more toxic. The chemical compounds in each do not negate each other or disappear, rather they combine into what can be called a toxic soup.
On July 9, Dr. Shaw stated on CNN:
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 that 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. (See video here).
Similarly, marine biologist and toxicologist Dr. Chris Pincetich, who has an extensive background in testing the affects of chemicals on fish, says that Corexit disrupts cell membranes in all living organisms, including humans. He also explains that EPA testing of chemicals is woefully inadequate. (See video here).
Considering that all of the ingredients of Corexit are not known, that EPA toxicity testing is inadequate, and that no one knows what the health effects on humans are when exposed to oil combined with dispersants, what this amounts to is a huge toxic science experiment with all of the marine life in the Gulf and Gulf residents as the test subjects.
Read more, get links and videos here: Madison Independent Examiner – Gulf residents, marine life: Specimens for a toxic science experiment.