Illnesses linked to BP oil disaster

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/12/20101230105158700342.html

Despite BP having capped its well in the Gulf of Mexico in July, the health-related after-effects of the disaster subsist.

Gulf Coast residents and BP cleanup workers have linked the source of certain illnesses to chemicals present in BP's oil and the toxic dispersants used to sink it - illnesses that appear to be both spreading and worsening.

Dr. Rodney Soto, a medical doctor in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, has been testing and treating patients with high levels of oil-related chemicals in their blood stream. These are commonly referred to as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's). Anthropogenic VOC's from BP's oil disaster are toxic and have negative chronic health effects.

Dr. Soto is finding disconcertingly consistent and high levels of toxic chemicals in every one of the patients he is testing.

"I'm regularly finding between five and seven VOCs in my patients," Dr. Soto told Al Jazeera. "These patients include people not directly involved in the oil clean-up, as well as residents that do not live right on the coast. These are clearly related to the oil disaster."

Chronic health effects

Lloyd Pearcey, from Bonsecour, Alabama, worked on a BP clean-up team as a foreman for four months.

During that time, he collected oil-soaked boom and drove a bulldozer "filled with the tar balls and tar mats we collected. Other times we stood in the water in Tyvek suits putting out shore boom with oil all over us. The fumes got to you."

"I just got my results from the blood tests," Pearcey told Al Jazeera, "I have the chemicals of the oil and dispersants in my blood."

Pearcey had experienced many of the now common symptoms of acute exposure to BP's chemicals.

Dr. Soto is testing his patients, and said he has ample documentation attesting to the levels of toxins people are being exposed to.

Dr. Soto classifies two types of symptom groups: acute exposure that includes skin and respiratory problems; and a second, larger group of people with no symptoms, but who still have toxicity. He believes the pathways of exposure occur through air, skin, and contaminated seafood.

One of the more extreme cases he treated was a woman who developed acute respiratory problems after a visit to the beach.

"This is a young woman in good health, with good nutritional intake, no health issues, hates to take any medication, and ate only organic foods," he explained, "But shortly after going to the beach, where she was likely exposed to toxins, she developed respiratory illness and developed cancer within weeks. I think this was due to direct exposure to chemicals in the dispersants and VOCs."

According to the US Government, BP's oil disaster released at least 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP has used at least 1.9 million gallons of toxic dispersants, that are banned in at least 19 countries, to sink the oil.

Many of the chemicals present in the oil and dispersants are known to cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, kidney damage, altered renal functions, irritation of the digestive tract, lung damage, burning pain in the nose and throat, coughing, pulmonary edema, cancer, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, difficulty breathing, delayed reaction time, memory difficulties, stomach discomfort, liver and kidney damage, unconsciousness, tiredness/lethargy, irritation of the upper respiratory tract, and hematological disorders.

While there are many examples of acute exposures like Pearcey and Dr. Soto's patient who developed cancer, his concern is that most residents who are being exposed will only show symptoms later.

"This latter group develops symptoms over years," he told Al Jazeera. "I'm concerned with the illnesses like cancer and brain degeneration for the future. This is very important because a lot of the population down here may not have symptoms. But people are unaware they are ingesting chemicals that are certainly toxic to humans and have significant effect on the brain and hormonal systems."

Dr. Soto is most concerned about the long-term effect of the toxins, because they have "tremendous implications in the human immune system, hormonal function, and brain function."

The toxic compounds in the oil and dispersants are "liposoluble," meaning they have a "high affinity for fat," according to Dr. Soto.

"The human brain is 70 percent fat," Dr. Soto added, "And these will similarly effect the immune cells, intestinal tract, breast, thyroid, prostate, glands, organs, and systems. This is also why this is so significant for children."

His particular concern for children involves toxins which cause "development of the depressed immune system and a resurgence of cancer."

Dr. Soto believes that for residents along the area of the Gulf Coast affected by BP's toxic chemicals, the solution is either to relocate or to engage in an intensive, long-term detoxification regime that includes intravenous detoxification programs.

All clear?

State health departments in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama had issued swimming advisories while BP's well continued to gush oil into the Gulf of Mexico last summer. Since then, however, all three states have declared their beaches, waters, and seafood safe from oil disaster related toxins.

Florida never issued any advisories, despite many residents reporting illnesses they attribute to the oil disaster.

US federal government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with President Barack Obama himself, have declared the Gulf of Mexico, its waters, beaches, and seafood, safe and open to the public.

In addition, most doctors in the effected coastal areas are not treating people as though they are suffering acute exposure to toxic chemicals.

While Al Jazeera has heard of incidences where doctors having received threats, and while many fear litigation for talking openly about patient illnesses being attributed to BP's oil disaster, most doctors are simply not trained to deal appropriately with acute chemical toxicity on a mass scale.

Dr. Mary Jo Ghory a general and pediatric surgeon, and a member of the American College of Surgeons, told Al Jazeera she believes most doctors along the Gulf Coast are unlikely to connect the illnesses they treat to BP’s chemicals, because of a lack of adequate training.

"Toxicology is not usually a course, and there is not much discussion of the toxic effects of chemical exposure," Dr. Ghory said. "When confronted with an array of confusing and widely varying symptoms related to chemical exposure, it is difficult for each individual physician to sort things out, especially without a definite profile of what to expect."

Dr. Soto says he is in a very unique - but isolated - position, as he is one of the only medical doctors he knows in the region who is treating people accordingly.

Like Dr. Ghory, Dr. Soto believes this is largely due to lack of training.


The Exxon Valdez legacy

Merle Savage was a cleanup worker for the Exxon Valdez oil disaster in Alaska in 1989, and she is still suffering health effects from chemicals in the oil and dispersants.

"The first few weeks I was on the beach spraying hot water onto the oil covered rocks," Savage explained to Al Jazeera. She was soon promoted to a foreman working on the support barges where workers returned each evening.

"So when they started spraying the dispersant, the crews that came back in from spraying it returned with it all over their suits and boats. They were sprayed off with water, and the steam that came off them was dispersant chemicals and we all breathed this in."

"The symptoms mimicked the flu, and everyone was coughing," Savage added, "Then it came on and stayed. I went to the doctor during some time off the cleanup, and at that time I was congested with bronchial problems. Then it became a stomach disorder. My whole system since then has been jeopardized."

After finishing her work on the oil disaster clean up, she returned to her home in Anchorage, where her problems worsened.

Savage moved out of Alaska, thinking that would improve her health. Yet after moving, a liver biopsy showed cirrhosis of the liver.

"I have always been physically active and very healthy," she explained, "I don't drink or smoke, and I eat health food."

Savage, now 72-years-old, completed a chemical detoxification program three years ago, and is now feeling better.

"There was 21 years of watching my body break down like that, and nothing I could do helped, until I learned I was chemically toxified, and could treat that appropriately," she said.

Reacting accordingly

Independent scientists and activist groups have been carrying out their own blood testing of Gulf Coast residents.

Recent results released in a report involve a 46-year-old male who lives 100 miles from the coast. The man, who asked to remain anonymous, was not a BP cleanup worker, yet tested as having higher levels of chemicals from BP's oil in his blood than the actual cleanup workers.

Dr. Wilma Subra, a chemist and Mcarthur Fellow, analysed his blood and found the highest levels of ethylbenzene than anyone tested to date. Ethylbenzene is a form of benzene present in the body when it begins to break down; it is also present in BP's crude oil.

Styrene, a chemical produced in industrial quantities from ethylbenzene was also found, along with Hexane. M,p-Xylene, a clear, colorless, flammable liquid that is refined from crude oil and is used as a solvent, was also present in the man's blood.

"I've never even seen a tar ball," the man, from Louisiana, told Al Jazeera, "I tried to stay away from all of it. So for me to have the high levels I have, tells me that everyone must have it."

Gregg Hall lived in Pensacola, Florida, and also had his blood tested by Dr. Subra.

"I have a cough that won't go away, my feet have been numb for months, I have headaches and nausea all the time," Hall said.

Hall recently moved to Idaho, and is among a growing number of Gulf Coast residents who feel that they are victims of an environmental catastrophe that has received inadequate response from the federal government.

Dr. Soto, whose list of patients related to the BP oil disaster continues to grow, feels similarly.

"It's criminal for the government to tell people to eat the contaminated seafood, and that it's alright for people go to our toxic beaches and swim in the contaminated water," Dr. Soto concluded, "This crisis has to be taken seriously by the government and health care community."

BP takes tests before 'bottom kill'

US government's BP oil spill incident commander Thad Allen

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138731&sectionid=3510203

The US has ordered BP to run a series of tests before completing a relief well to permanently seal the runaway Gulf of Mexico Horizon oil well with a "bottom kill."

The delayed drilling of the relief well's last 30 meters and the final capping procedure are to finish in a few days once the operation gets the green light from the US government's oil spill commander Thad Allen.

After a series of setbacks, BP was able to stop the gush of oil into the sea on July 15 with a temporary cap. The ruptured well was blocked with cement on August 5 and tests were conducted on the integrity of the plug.

In a Saturday statement, Allen said that considering "the results of the post cement pressure test, and in response to BP's request to consider foregoing the relief well," the "bottom kill" operation could go ahead.

"The Government Scientific Technical Team has determined that the benefits of the bottom kill procedure outweigh the risks," AFP quoted the retired US Coast Guard admiral as saying.

However, before the drilling of the relief well can resume, Allen asked BP to present plans for a "pressure relief system ... including any necessary containment option," in case excessive pressure might accumulate at the well head.

He also demanded a series of pressure tests "to assess the stability of the well" when the current damaged well stack is replaced with a new one.

Before the stack is removed, Allen said he wants BP to prove that the annulus between the well pipe and the outer well bore is either leak resistant, or provide a proper risk assessment of a possible leak.

About 1,000 barrels of oil are believed to be trapped in the well's annulus and it is possible that some of the cement pumped in from above effectively closed the annulus from the surface. A decision was made nonetheless for the bottom kill operation to continue and cement be pumped all the way to the well's source under the Gulf of Mexico.

The well ruptured when the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig sank on April 22 following a massive explosion that killed 11 workers, letting 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico -- the biggest maritime oil spill disaster of all time.

US report undermines BP spill effects

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=137512§ionid=3510203


Many scientists and Gulf of Mexico Coastal residents have raised doubt about a US government report suggesting the oil spill disaster is largely contained.

The Obama administration's Wednesday report claimed that most of the estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil leaked into the gulf was either 'accounted for' or effectively gone in a highly diluted form, suggesting that future damage from the oil spill would not be as great as it has been feared, The New York Times reported.

The report was not well received by those directly affected by the spill on the Gulf Coast, where many regarded it as new evidence that the Obama administration was getting ready to abandon them as the Bush administration did after Hurricane Katrina.

Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, confirmed that the relatively small amount of oil remaining on the water's surface does not erase concerns about the long-term impact on marine life.

"I think the common view of most of the scientists inside and outside government is that the effects of this spill will likely linger for decades," said Lubchenco.

Gov. Bobby Jindal said the report should not be used as justification to turn back the federal response.

"Even based on the federal government's own estimates, there are still over 1 million barrels of oil in the Gulf," the governor said in a written statement. "We must remain vigilant about the oil that remains a threat to our coast."

Much of the skepticism about the report was linked to inaccurate federal estimates of the spill's magnitude that had to be repeatedly revised upwards, going from 1,000 barrels a day to between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels per day.

The release of the report coincided with BP's final efforts to permanently seal the well, which stopped leaking oil July 15 after being sealed with a temporary cap.

Some researchers attacked the report's findings and methodology, calling it premature at best and sloppy at worst. They noted that a plenty of research was still under way to shed light on some of the main scientific issues raised in the report.

“A lot of this is based on modeling and extrapolation and very generous assumptions,” said Samantha Joye, a marine scientist at the University of Georgia who has led some of the most important research on the Deepwater Horizon spill. “If an academic scientist put something like this out there, it would get torpedoed into a billion pieces.”

The Wednesday report claimed that only 26 percent of the oil had come ashore or was still in the water in a form that would break down quickly in the warm waters of the gulf.

That 26 percent, however, is equivalent to more than 53 million gallons of oil, five times the size of the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

BP reported that 2,300 barrels of mud forced down the well overnight, in an operation called a "static kill," had pushed the crude back down to its source for the first time since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded off Louisiana on April 20. The explosion killed 11 workers and began the spill that sent tar balls washing onto beaches and oil oozing into delicate coastal marshes.

'BP trying to gag scientists'

A man holds a plastic bag with seawater and
oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill south of
Freemason Island, Louisiana May 7, 2010


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=135907§ionid=3510203


British energy giant BP is trying to silence scientists and academics involved in the oil titan's spill response in the Gulf of Mexico, the American Association of Professors says.

The British company, which faces more than 300 lawsuits for the April disaster that lead gallons of oil to gush into the Gulf, has reportedly offered scientists a contracts preventing them from publishing all research done for BP.

Speaking to the BBC, Cary Nelson, the head of the association on Thursday said BP is trying to "buy" the best to help its defense against litigation after the spill.

"This is really one huge corporation trying to buy faculty silence in a comprehensive way," Nelson added.

According to a copy of the document obtained by the BBC, scientists are forbidden from publishing any data for at least three years, unless the Obama administration approves BP's restoration plan for the whole of the Gulf.

"Faculty members under contract to BP, would be unable to testify against the company in court and would be available to testify on the company's behalf," Nelson also wrote in an article article in the Inside Higher Ed daily.

BP, which has pledged transparency and openness throughout the oil disaster, reportedly has also approached the head of marine sciences at the University of South Alabama in a bid to hire the entire department.

"We laid the ground rules -- that any research we did, we would have to take total control of the data, transparency and the freedom to make those data available to other scientists and subject to peer review," Bob Shipp, the department head said.

"They left and we never heard back from them," He added

The Press-Register on Friday reported that scientists have been offered $250 an hour for their services to the oil giant.

"Scientists from Louisiana State University, the University of Southern Mississippi and Texas A&M have accepted offers," Alabama's oldest newspaper added.

BP temporarily halts oil flow

Thad Allen, overseeing US response, said the cap
may only be used to shut the well in emergencies [AFP]


Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/07/201071516524296809.html

BP engineers have temporarily halted the gush of crude into the Gulf of Mexico from their oil well, as the company runs pressure tests on the rupture wellhead and a capping device.

The British company on Thursday shut down vessels siphoning oil and closed all valves on the 75-tonne metal cap placed over the well earlier in the week, completely stopping the leak for the first time since it began in April.

"I'm very excited to see no oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico," Kent Wells, senior vice president of BP, said, adding that it was an "ecouraging sign".

A statement from the oil giant had earlier said the well integrity test being carried out "will last at least six hours and could last up to 48 hours".

President Barack Obama, who has seen his US public approval ratings drop as the crisis dragged on, called it a "positive sign" but noted that the latest effort was still in the testing phase.

Experts say between 35,000-60,000 barrels of oil have been pouring into the Gulf of Mexico daily for about 13 weeks, leaving millions of gallons sloshing around in the waters, threatening vulnerable wildlife and fouling the shores of five Gulf states.

A leak in a hose connected to one of the valves in the capping device, which had delayed the test and was repaired earlier on Thursday, had been only the latest setback for the British company.

Interim solution

Since a rig drilling the BP oil well exploded on April 20, numerous efforts to contain the spill have failed, and the oil company has seen its share prices plummet.

Thad Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral overseeing the US government's response to the spill, said the cap could succeed in stemming the leak, but remained an interim solution.

"The intention of the capping stack was never to close in the well per se," he told reporters in New Orleans. "The best reason to be able to shut in the well right now ... is it allows us to abandon the site if there is a hurricane."

"We can certainly consider shutting in the well - that is a possibility and of course we would like to do that."

BP's plan is to funnel the leaking oil through pipes connected to the cap up to collection ships on the surface of the water.

However, the only proven way to permanently kill the leak lies in the drilling of relief wells to intercept the ruptured one.

The first of two such wells started in May is expected to intercept it by the end of July and plug it with drilling mud and cement by mid-August.

BP delays cap test amid worsening spill

BP so far has failed to completely stop the spill

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=134683§ionid=3510203


Embattled energy giant BP has delayed a crucial test that is to bring them one step closer to capping the blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

After 86 days of oil continuing to gush out from the ruptured well into the gulf, BP was scheduled to test a new cap designed to stop the flow on late Tuesday.

However, the oil company announced that additional analysis of the 'well testing procedure' should be performed prior to commencement of the long-awaited well integrity test, which consequently will be delayed.

The well testing procedure is to determine whether the well can take the pressure caused by capping the ruptured wellhead.

The energy giant, which has faced mounting criticism over the environmental catastrophe it has caused, claims that the new cap has a better seal than the last one.

New estimates by the International Energy Agency (IEA) about the BP oil spill suggest that -- so far -- at least 2.3-4.5 million barrels of crude have poured into the Gulf of Mexico since the April event, which triggered the worst ecological disaster in US history.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill began after an April 20 explosion at the BP-run Deepwater Horizon rig which shattered the well and also left 11 people dead.

Gulf spill jeopardizes ecosystems

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=134545§ionid=3510212


Almost 86 days into the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, experts say the crisis is likely to cost BP far more, once damage to the ecosystem is factored in.

The oil which has been pouring unchecked into the sea since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion is an outstanding example of destroying and neglecting natural habitats.

Baby birds, turtles and fishes are among the many endangered species in the region which have been fouled with the oil, rescuers say.

"There are plenty of oiled babies out there," AP quoted Rebecca Dmytryk of the International Bird Rescue Research Center, one of the groups working to clean oiled animals.

BP has put forward a figure of 20 billion dollars for cleanup and compensation; however experts believe that putting a price tag on the value of affected ecosystems, largely ignored, changes the estimates of the losses to a great degree.

"We cannot manage what we do not measure, and we are not measuring either the value of nature's benefits or the costs of their loss," said Pavan Sukhdev, lead author of the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for Business report.

Sukhdev believes that if the US government had required a "holistic economic assessment" before drilling was allowed, the potential liability might have pushed BP to take more stringent safety measures.

"But what about the cost to the economy of lost utility -- eco-tourism loss, fisheries stocks that represent future losses to industry, the inability to fish in the area," Sukhdev concluded.

BP oil spill triggers mental problems

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=134383§ionid=3510210


Apart from various health concerns linked to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the incident is also blamed for the increased rate of mental health problems in the area.

The oil spill disaster is now more than two months old and has forced authorities to close swathes of Gulf waters to fishing, making the majority of the Gulf residents jobless.

The resulted job loss has not only caused financial crisis but also imposed lots of stress-related illnesses and mental health problems including anxiety, depression and anger to the residents.

The stress is believed to be worse than that reported following the 2005 Hurricane Katrina as it is impossible to predict when waters will reopen.

"The mental health impact here ... (and) the level of uncertainty is taking a toll on people and that's a huge, huge concern," said Kindra Arnesen, a Gulf Coast native.

Officials, on the other hand, have no strong evidence confirming the real impact of the catastrophe on the mental health of the residents.

"We hear it over and over again," said Wilma Subra, an environmental scientist of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, adding that "It is the stress because of the possibility of not being able to earn a living and pay their bills."

"We're basing it on what we're seeing out in the field. We're sending counselors and representatives out to the marinas and boat docks, where there are large clusters of people with high levels of frustration," said John Ziegler, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

State officials from Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi have, therefore, asked BP PLC for millions of dollars to help pay for the expanded mental health monitoring and services needed for the residents affected by the "ongoing challenge."

BP officials have not provided any immediate response about the money. They, however, have announced that the company is studying "which non-profits might be useful in a plan to address mental health needs related to the spill."

Millions of gallons of oil have poured into the Mexican Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig exploded on April 20, Killing 11 workers and blowing out the well. A newly revealed BP document indicates that around 100,000 barrels of oil per day are gushed out of the well into the Gulf of Mexico.