Oil spill releasing toxic chemical

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=134113§ionid=3510203



New data show more than twenty percent of oil spill responders in the Gulf of Mexico are exposed to a hazardous chemical.

"The Valdez-linked chemical 2-butoxyethanol was detected at levels up to 10 parts per million (ppm) in more than 20 percent of offshore responders and 15 percent of those near shore," new test results released by BP have shown, The New York Times reported on Friday.

However, the ceiling set by the United States' National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for the chemical, which created chronic health problems for those who worked on ExxonMobil's Valdez oil clean-up effort in 1989, is five parts per million.

The Valdez oil spill occurred in Alaska's Prince William Sound when the oil tanker Exxon Valdez hit a reef and spilled an estimated 250,000 barrels of crude oil into the sea. Nearly 7,000 of the 11,000 cleanup workers became sick after the incident, some of whom are still suffering health problems 21 years later.

As the new data were released, public health advocates pointed out that BP is "playing with these numbers."

"It suggests to me that there is still, clearly, a serious air-quality concern… [Gulf] air quality, if anything, seems to be deteriorating," Gina Solomon, the senior scientist of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said about 2-butoxyethanol detection.

Meanwhile, efforts are underway to place a new containment cap over the gushing oil well, raising the prospect that 60,000 to 80,000 barrels of oil could be collected daily as early as Monday.

The operation is the latest attempt to contain the spill, which was caused by an oil rig explosion on April 20.