Illnesses linked to BP Oil Disaster: Widespread Sickness due to Toxic Chemicals

by Dahr Jamail

Global Research
January 5, 2011

Doctor attributes widespread sickness to toxic chemicals from the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.

Independent scientists have confirmed that Gulf marine life is heavily contaminated by the dispersed oil and oil sheen in the water.

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."

Gulf Oil Spill: Day 155, MORE on the TOXICITY OF Chemical Dispersant COREXIT

Dispersants Can Make Chemicals from Oil Airborne ... Exposing Coastal Residents to Toxins

Washington's blog HERE...
Wednesday, September 8, 2010

PhD toxicologist Chris Pincetich says that - even with a very good pilot spraying Corexit - the dispersant drifts onto land:

(Dr. Pincetich also says that the dispersant evaporates and then moves around).
The air force sprayed Corexit from C-130 military cargo planes.
And Corexit is apparently still - to this day - being sprayed in the Gulf.

But drift is not the only manner in which dispersants sprayed in the Gulf can expose coastal residents to toxins.
It is well-known that microscopic droplets can easily become airborne.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month:

"Oil from the ruptured well, broken down by sprays of chemical dispersants and held at depth by water pressure, has formed microscopic droplets ...."

Two mechanical engineers from the University of Miami demonstrated in 2001:

"When oil is spilled at sea, aerosols containing oil or chemical dispersants (when they are used to combat the oil spill) can be formed ... This may result in oil aerosol exposure to response workers or the nearby public."

***

In the case of oil spills in the sea, oil aerosols can be generated from wind-wave interactions, wave/ship interactions, and some other attendant natural or mechanical cleanup operations, just like usual marine aerosols. Those aerosols can contain volatile and toxic components. Another important factor is the use of chemical dispersants. The dispersing agents are used to break up the oil slicks into tiny droplets to provide bite-sized bits for oil-eating bacteria. The dispersants break down the interfacial  (interface) tension between the water and the oil, causing the dispersant to enter the water column. During the initial stage of the dispersant application (maybe as short as minutes), it is possible for the dispersant and/or the oil dispersant droplet to become aerosolized.

They assume that the amount of material aerosolized might be doubled under 15 mile per hour winds.
In other words, the use of dispersants in the Gulf may have caused toxic chemicals within the crude oil (and the dispersant itself) to become airborne. With even a slight onshore breeze, this could be enough to expose coastal residents to toxic chemicals.

In addition to causing toxic chemicals to become airborne, the use of dispersants in the Gulf has also been counter-productive because:

• The use of dispersants prevented clean up of the oil by skimming, by far the easiest method of removing oil from the water
• The crude oil which does not become aerosolized sinks under the surface of the ocean, and can delay the recovery of the ecosystem by years or even decades
• PhD toxicologist Ricki Ott says that dispersants make the toxins in crude oil more bioavailable to sealife, and scientists have found that applying Corexit to Gulf crude oil releases 35 times more toxic chemicals into the water column than would be released with crude alone
• The overwhelming majority of studies find that dispersants slow the growth of oil-eating microbes
• Dispersants cause Gulf fish to absorb more toxins and then make it harder for the fish to get rid of the pollutants once exposed
• Dispersants may bioaccumulate in seafood

Blood tests show elevated levels of toxic hydrocarbons in Gulf residents

Given that the use of Corexit dispersant in the Gulf has so many negative affects, why was it used in such massive quantities?

In the video above, Dr. Pincetich explains that it was used because applying Corexit in the Gulf was simply cheaper for BP than actually cleaning up the oil. In other words, it cost less in the short-run for BP to buy a bunch of Corexit and dump it into the Gulf to break up and hide the oil than to pay people to clean up the oil.

And a senior EPA analyst says that government agencies have acted as "sock puppets" for BP regarding the use of dispersants.

And by using dispersants to break up and hide the giant oil slicks, BP and the government can pretend that it is "mission accomplished" ... even though the use of Corexit may in reality ensure that the recovery of the Gulf, its seafood industry and its residents is delayed by many years.

____________
 
  Corexit is Killing the Gulf Part I


____________

Corexit is Actually Eating through Hulls of Boats in Gulf of Mexico


____________

BP Spraying Corexit at Night on Populated Areas in the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf Oil Update: Day 119

BP to proceed with relief well after tests

By Chris Baltimore

Fri Aug 13, 2010 5:23pm EDT

HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc will proceed with a relief well to kill its blown-out Gulf of Mexico well, the top U.S. spill official said on Friday.

"Everybody is in agreement that we need to proceed with the relief well," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said. "The question is how to do it."

The decision to continue with the relief well came as Alabama announced it was suing BP for the "catastrophic harm" that the spill had caused the state.

Earlier this week Allen had raised the possibility that the relief well might not be necessary because the cement poured into the top of the blown Macondo well last week -- the so-called "static kill" -- might have permanently killed it.

But after running pressure tests, BP and U.S. officials agree that the relief well is needed to plug the well 13,000 feet beneath the seabed, Allen said. The relief well is only about 45 feet from reaching the Macondo well.

"The relief well will be finished," Allen said. "We will kill the well."

The Macondo well, a mile down in the Gulf of Mexico, blew out April 20 and began spewing oil in what has become the worst offshore oilspill in history.

The well was provisionally capped on July 15 after spewing an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf, soiling marshlands, fisheries and tourist beaches along several hundreds of miles (kilometers) of the Gulf Coast.

The British energy giant has lost more than a third of its market value since the explosion and has set aside $32.2 billion to deal with clean-up costs.

BP faces hundreds of civil lawsuits from injured rig workers, fishermen, investors and property owners seeking to recoup losses. Alabama added to that pile by with its suit against BP and other companies for what Attorney General Troy King said was "catastrophic harm.

"We are suing them for the amount it will take to make Alabama whole," King said.

"WANTON FAILURE"

The suit, which did not set a damage figure, accuses the defendants of "negligent or wanton failure to adhere to recognized industry standards of care."

The spill has hurt fishing and tourism around the Gulf and has affected other sectors such as housing. People and businesses that have sustained losses can make claims against the BP compensation fund administered by Kenneth Feinberg, named by the White House as an independent overseer.

But King said Feinberg was undermining efforts by Gulf state attorneys general to make it possible for spill victims to claim damages from the fund while retaining the right to sue BP at a future date.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who has faced criticism for being slow to act in the face of the world's worst offshore oil spill, will vacation in Panama City, Florida, this weekend and make a public statement on the recovery effort on Saturday.

In Louisiana, the state hit hardest by the spill, U.S. and BP officials met with parish presidents and Gov. Bobby Jindal to discuss long-term recovery plans.

The U.S. government will enact an ocean monitoring system to detect underwater plumes of oil that could be harming undersea ecosystems, Allen said.

Meanwhile, top-level BP and U.S. officials including Energy Secretary Steven Chu and incoming BP chief executive Bob Dudley on Friday discussed how to proceed with the final well plug, Allen said.

Pressure tests completed late on Thursday showed that the well is effectively sealed, with "no communication with the reservoir," Allen said.

But engineers are worried that increased pressure from the "bottom kill" could damage the existing temporary cement plug and perhaps cause about 1,000 barrels of oil trapped in the well shaft to flow into the ocean, Allen said. Engineers are developing procedures to allay such concerns, he said.

After Allen gives the order to continue with the relief well, it will take about 96 hours to drill into the Macondo well shaft and perhaps days beyond that to complete the job, he said.

____________

Gulf seafood gets intense safety testing

By LAURAN NEERGAARD
The Associated Press
Monday, August 16, 2010; 4:33 AM

WASHINGTON -- Seafood from the Gulf of Mexico is being put under the microscope like no other kind on the market, with fish, shrimp and other catches ground up to hunt for minute traces of oil - far more reassuring than that sniff test that made all the headlines.

And while the dispersant that was dumped into the massive oil spill has consumers nervous, health regulators contend there's no evidence it builds up in seafood - although they're working to create a test for it, just in case.

More Gulf waters are reopening to commercial hauls as tests show little hazard from oil, and Louisiana's fall shrimp season kicks off Monday. Yet it's too soon to know what safety testing will satisfy a public so skeptical of government reassurances that even local fishermen voice concern.

Basic biology is key: Some species clear oil contamination out of their bodies far more rapidly than others. Fish are the fastest, oysters and crabs the slowest, and shrimp somewhere in between.

"I probably would put oysters at the top of the concern list and I don't think there's a close second," said marine scientist George Crozier, who directs the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama.

The oil contaminants of most health concern - potential cancer-causing substances called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs - show up in other everyday foods, too, such as grilled meat. Low levels also are in seafood sold from other waters.

Where Gulf seafood harvesting has been reopened, "the levels that we see are pretty typical of what we see in other areas, Puget Sound or Alaska," said Walton Dickhoff, who oversees testing at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.

Here are some questions and answers about Gulf seafood safety:

Q: What are PAHs? MORE...

____________

Gulf Seafood Testing:

Gulf Oil Update: Day 103

Time Teams With BP and Government in Concerted Effort to Disperse Concerns About Gulf Pollution

By: Jim White
Firedoglake.com
Friday July 30, 2010 7:57 am




Yesterday, Time magazine published a disgusting screed telling us all to calm down about the hundreds of millions of gallons of crude oil BP has released into the Gulf of Mexico and then even sent the author to push his drivel on Hardball. In starting the corporate media’s push-back against the level of damage arising from BP’s irresponsibility, Time has joined a team that previously consisted of BP, Thad Allen, EPA and NOAA.

Note that immediately after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig, BP started spraying massive quantities of the toxic dispersant Corexit. EPA made a half-hearted attempt to get BP to change its choice of dispersant to a less toxic one and/or to dramatically decrease the amount being released, but BP’s response was to game the terms of the EPA order and change absolutely nothing. EPA simply accepted BP’s decision and said nothing further about dispersants. On Countdown this week, Hugh Kaufman of EPA made the revelation that a political decision was made within the government to allow BP to take the lead on the use of dispersants, despite concerns on the part of EPA toxicologists.

The use of dispersants led to huge underwater plumes of small oil droplets. NOAA then jumped into the act to suppress as long as possible any admission that these plumes might be connected to the leak and the use of dispersants. Just last week, we finally got confirmation from the University of South Florida that the oil in the underwater plumes is indeed from the BP leak. Ironically, in the TV news piece out of Tampa (where USF is located) announcing the confirmation of the source of the oil plumes, that news is tacked briefly onto the beginning of an interview with Senator George LeMieux where LeMieux drones on about the need to continue drilling in the Gulf:




Also last week, a third of the area that had been closed to fishing was re-opened. Yesterday, some portions of Louisiana waters also were re-opened. These re-openings, while welcome news to the fishermen who have been idled by BP’s spill, come after extensive testing of the waters and the fish in those waters. However, the lingering question remains whether the tests that were carried out were properly designed. The problem is that crude oil has over 40,000 different chemicals in it. Let’s hope that the tests that were carried out chose wisely from among that huge number of compounds, because it is impossible to detect something for which no test is run.

Note also how Thad Allen has allowed BP to game the appearance of the leaks on the cap that is now blocking most of the flow from the well and from the "seeps" in the well area. Click on one of the pages showing the multiple feeds from the ROV’s in the well area, and you will see that BP is no longer allowing any feeds that convey information to be broadcast. We no longer get a view of the base of the blowout preventer where it rises from the floor of the Gulf, so we don’t know whether gas or oil is escaping around the outside of the well casing. We also aren’t seeing feeds from any of the seeps surrounding the well, so we don’t know if the flow from them is changing over time. Thad Allen is standing by idly and missing a chance at the collection of vital data while BP is hiding what they don’t want us to see.

One more shortcoming by Thad Allen is his refusal to force BP and the government to provide a more accurate flow rate on the leak when it was flowing. By allowing BP to continue to lowball the estimate, the fines BP eventually will pay will be lower, possibly by billions of dollars.

Heckuva job, Thaddie.

____________


Massive Amounts of Underwater Oil Droplets Which Organisms Eat Does Not Equal Victory in the Gulf

By: David Dayen
Firedoglake.com
Friday July 30, 2010 11:08 am

Michael Grunwald took a run at carrying forward this idea that the BP oil disaster is actually, you know, not so bad, a perspective contrasted by his own colleague at Time, Bryan Walsh:

I think it’s far too early to declare the oil spill a bust. It’s true that the coastlines don’t seem to have experienced the damage they might have—though as Mother Jones’s Mac McClelland points out, there’s definitely still oil in the waters and the beaches. (One of the challenges of covering this spill has been geography—as Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen has said, it’s like fighting hundreds or thousands of smaller spills, each of which can hit hundreds of miles of coastlines. It’s the fog of environmental war—just because one island hasn’t been hit by oil doesn’t mean another might not be, and vice versa.) [...]

But look beyond the coastline. The truth is we know very little about what the release of tens of millions of gallons of oil underwater will do to the marine ecosystems of the Gulf. Add in the application of some 2 million gallons of chemical dispersants, which have never been used—and were never meant to be used—in such vast quantities. We know that there are oil plumes under the water—but we don’t know what they might be doing to marine life. And there are great fears that the Gulf’s rich fisheries might take years to recover. The spill hit during the nursery season, and might have damaged oysters, shrimp and other species when they were young and vulnerable. 20 years after the Exxon Valdez spill, fisheries in Prince William Sound haven’t fully recovered, and nearly every fisherman you meet on the Gulf coast worries the same thing will happen to the waters they once plied.

Indeed, the real problem now might be that the oil, along with dispersants, have absorbed into the marine life. The whole PR strategy for BP has been to keep the oil off the shore, so people like Michael Grunwald would bail them out with articles about how the disaster isn’t all that bad. But just because we can’t see the insides of the organisms in the food chain, that doesn’t mean their intake of oil and other chemicals isn’t devastating for the ecosystem:

Scientists have found signs of an oil-and-dispersant mix under the shells of tiny blue crab larvae in the Gulf of Mexico, the first clear indication that the unprecedented use of dispersants in the BP oil spill has broken up the oil into toxic droplets so tiny that they can easily enter the foodchain.

Marine biologists started finding orange blobs under the translucent shells of crab larvae in May, and have continued to find them “in almost all” of the larvae they collect, all the way from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to Pensacola, Fla. — more than 300 miles of coastline — said Harriet Perry, a biologist with the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.

And now, a team of researchers from Tulane University using infrared spectrometry to determine the chemical makeup of the blobs has detected the signature for Corexit, the dispersant BP used so widely in the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Toxic droplets that can affect the ocean life in the Gulf for generations – that’s not my idea of a dodged bullet. So the idea that BP can “scale back” their operations now is outrageous. They can scale back the dumping of toxic chemicals into the Gulf, to be sure, but it’s way too early to take the cleanup crews out of the water. The situation is still bleak.

____________


Where things stand
The Gulf Oil Blog
By Samantha Joye, University of Georgia, Professor of Marine Sciences
| Published: June 20, 2010 9:54pm

The gulfblog is back. Sorry it took me so long to do this update. The past couple of weeks have been the busiest and most demanding of my career. Everyone in the lab has been working feverishly to complete the analyses of samples collected on the Pelican and Walton Smith cruises. Those data sets are almost complete and I am now working to complete two manuscripts that I hope will be submitted by the end of June.

Below I answer some of the questions that came in to the blog over the past two weeks. At the end, I talk about what our next research steps will be.

Questions posed to the Gulfblog

(1) Could you briefly define both, or distinguish between, DOM and CDOM?

Colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) is a fraction of dissolved organic matter (DOM) that is “optically active” or “optically measurable”. Put simply, CDOM absorbs light. Oil is a type of CDOM. The light CDOM absorbs ranges from blue to ultraviolet so CDOM makes water appear greenish to yellow-green to brown (the color changes with increasing CDOM concentration).

(2) If you could gather dispersant concentration data from multiple water samples in the gulf, what question(s) would you try to answer with that information.

I can easily envision several ways to use dispersant concentration data. First, it would be useful to know how widespread – and at what concentration – the dispersants are present. Some forms of COREXIT contain dangerous components (e.g. 2-Butoxyethanol) and COREXIT is more toxic to some organisms than crude oil. COREXIT can be long-lived in the environment so we need to know the concentrations present around the Gulf – not just in the areas where it was applied; it will move around with the ocean currents.

I have added the material safety data sheets (MSDS) for COREXIT 9500 and 9527 to the resources page of the blog. Read these for yourself to learn more about these products.

Other questions—how do these dispersants impact microbial populations and microbial activity; are dispersants bioaccumulated, in other words, are they passed up to higher trophic levels?; are the dispersants toxic to key Gulf fishery species (shrimp, blue crap, tuna) and if so are some phases (larval, juvenile or adult) more sensitive than others. MORE...

US Biowarfare and Bioterrorism: Dr. Francis A. Boyle Says US is Capable of Waging Offensive War with Bioweapons

Dengue Fever Outbreak Leads Back to CIA & Army Experiments

by Hank P. Albarelli Jr., Zoe Martell
Voltairenet.org
17 July 2010

The recent outbreak of dengue fever is being portrayed by the media as a fortuitous reemergence of the disease in Florida and elsewhere in the United States after 75 years. Yet Hank Albarelli’s probe reveals that the US Army and CIA have been experimenting with dengue fever for years with the aim of weaponizing insects to be released against unwitting populations, as was previously done in Florida and elsewhere. Moreoever, Albarelli draws attention to the eerie similarity between dengue fever symptoms and those linked to the toxic emanations in the Gulf of Mexico and warns of the looming disaster that could unfold from the overlap.


Florida Keys Mosquito Control aerial spraying

With little fanfare on July 13, Florida officials released the findings of a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study conducted recently in the Key West area revealing that about 10 percent, or 1,000 people, of the coastal town’s population are infected with the dengue fever virus.

While the July 13 release made little mention of it, the CDC study was provoked by an earlier 2009 report that a woman in New York State, who had returned from a Florida Keyes visit, had contracted dengue fever. Within a few weeks of this initial report, two additional cases were discovered in people who had returned from Key West. Over the next 3 months of 2009 an additional 26 cases were identified, all tied to visits to the town.

Because of these reported cases, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District conducted greatly increased aerial spraying to control mosquitoes. Following the spraying a small amount of other cases were reported, including that of a 41-year old Key West man who found blood in his urine and had severely aching joints. Following these additional reports, the CDC launched its study of antibodies in Key West residents and found that 5 percent of the town’s residents have been exposed to the dengue virus. Said CDC dengue expert, Dr. Christopher J. Gregory, “The best estimate from the survey is that about 5 percent of [residents] was infected in 2009 with dengue.” Gregory also stated, “We have known for a while it is a possible risk, but this outbreak shows it is more than possible: It is something that did happen and could happen again.”

Despite the low-key nature of the Florida release, the Homeland Security Administration immediately issued a “terror alert” concerning the findings, and Monroe County, within which Key West is located, also issued its own Health Advisory warning “effective immediately.”

Said Bob Eadie of the Monroe County Health Department, “Dengue is rare in Florida, but not unknown. It’s just one of several mosquito-borne illnesses monitored by the department and why we continually remind the public to take precautions against bites.” Eadie added, “Many people may be infected and not develop any symptoms. Our department and the CDC will have to do some detective work after interviewing and drawing blood from residents who appear to be perfectly fine but may have the virus.”

Dengue fever is a virus-based disease spread by the bites of mosquitoes. It can be caused by any one of four separate but related viruses carried by infected mosquitoes, most commonly the mosquito Aedes aegypti, found in tropic and subtropic areas. It is commonly found in Southeast Asia, South and Central America, Indonesia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Over the past several decades it has been consistently reported that dengue fever has been eradicated in North America. Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a far more severe form of the dengue virus. If untreated it can be fatal. The chief symptoms of dengue fever are a high fever, severe headache, strong pain behind the eyes, joint, muscle and bone pain, easy bruising, rash, and mild bleeding from the nose and gums. There is no cure or vaccine for dengue fever. One can only treat the symptoms in such ways as getting plenty of rest, drink plenty of water, take pain relievers with acetaminophen, and promptly consult a skilled physician.

Hidden History of Dengue

It appears highly unlikely that any “detective work” performed by the CDC and Florida health officials will unearth any evidence of dengue fever being imported into Florida, but the evidence certainly exists. Prior to the recent Key West findings and still today, the CDC has consistently reported that there have been no outbreaks of dengue fever in Florida since 1934, and none in the continental U.S. since 1946. Remarkably, this report is incorrect.

Unknown to most Americans is that dengue fever has been the intense focus of U.S. army and CIA biological warfare researchers for over fifty years. As early as the 1950s, the army’s Fort Detrick in partnership with the CIA launched a multi-million dollar research program under which dengue fever and several additional exotic diseases were studied for use in offensive biological warfare attacks.

Indeed, as several CIA documents, as well as the findings of a 1975 Congressional committee reveal that 3 sites in Florida, Key West, Panama City, and Avon Park, as well as 2 other locations in central Florida, were used for experiments with mosquito borne dengue fever and other biological substances.


Aedes-aegypti mosquito

The experiments in Avon Park, about 170 miles from Miami, were covertly conducted in a low-income African American neighborhood that contained several newly constructed public housing projects. CIA documents related to Project MK/NAOMI clearly indicate that the mosquitoes used in Avon Park were the Aedes aegypti type.

Interestingly, at the same time experiments were conducted in Florida there were at least two cases of dengue fever reported among civilian researchers at Fort Detrick in Maryland. Avon Park residents still living in the area say that the experiments resulted in “at least 6 or 7 deaths". One elderly resident told this journalist, “Nobody knew about what had gone on here for years, maybe over 20 years, but in looking back it explained why a bunch of healthy people got sick quick and died at the time of those experiments.”

A 1978 Pentagon publication, entitled Biological Warfare: Secret Testing & Volunteers, reveals that the Army’s Chemical Corps and Special Operations and Projects Divisions at Fort Detrick conducted “tests” similar to the Avon Park experiments in Key West, but the bulk of the documentation concerning this highly classified and covert work is still held by the Pentagon as “secret.” One former Fort Detrick researcher says that the army “performed a number of experiments in the area of the Keys” but that “not all concerned dengue virus.”

In the spring and summer of 1981, Cuba experienced a severe hemorrhagic dengue fever epidemic. Between May and October 1981, the island nation had 158 dengue-related deaths with about 75,000 reported infection cases. Prior to this outbreak, Cuba had reported only a very small number of cases in 1944 and 1977. At the same time as the 1981 outbreak, covert biological warfare attacks on Cuba’s residents and crops were believed to have been conducted against the island by CIA contractors and military airplane flyovers. Particularly harmful to the nation was a severe outbreak of swine flu that Fidel Castro attributed to the CIA.

In 1985 and 1986, authorities in Nicaragua accused the CIA of creating a massive outbreak of dengue fever that infected thousands in that country. CIA officials denied any involvement, but army researchers admitted that intensive work with arthropod vectors for offensive biowarfare objectives had been conducted at Fort Detrick in the early 1980s, having first started in the early 1950s. Fort Detrick researchers reported that huge colonies of mosquitoes infected with not only dengue virus but also yellow fever were maintained at the Frederick, Maryland installation, as well as hordes of flies carrying cholera and anthrax, and thousands of ticks filled with Colorado fever and relapsing fever.

A review of declassified Army Chemical Corps documents reveal that the army may have also been engaged in dengue fever research as early as the late 1940s. Several redacted Camp Detrick and Edgewood Arsenal reports indicate that experiments were conducted on state and federal prisoners who were unwittingly exposed to dengue fever, as well as other viruses, some possibly lethal. Freedom of Information requests filed months ago for details on these early experiments remain unanswered.

Dengue Fever & BP Spill Complications

The timing of this outbreak of Dengue fever presents two additional problems; the symptoms of Dengue fever are very similar to that of exposures to chemicals such as those contained in crude oil and the dispersants currently being used in the contaminated areas of the Gulf of Mexico, potentially making it difficult to diagnose the source of a sufferer’s symptoms. Worse yet, there looms the possibility that Corexit and other toxins present in the Gulf area may weaken the immune system, thus setting the stage for more severe forms of the disease in people who are, or have previously been, exposed to the virus.

It is still unclear to what degree residents of the Gulf area, at large, have been or will be exposed to such chemicals in the long term, but there is mounting evidence that fishermen, cleanup workers, and others who spend significant time in contact with the Gulf waters are beginning to display symptoms consistent with chemically induced neurotoxicity. If Dengue fever also spreads within the Gulf community, affecting a significant number of people, it will be increasingly difficult to differentiate the cause of symptoms in those who develop them; even in persons who test positive for Dengue exposure, the additional possibility remains that chemical toxicity is present as well.

The presentation of Dengue fever varies considerably from case to case. Numerous medical studies have identified asymptomatic infections, or infections that consist of only mild flu-like symptoms that would likely not result in the sufferer seeking medical attention.

When more troubling symptoms are present, they vary considerably in severity. According to the CDC, milder cases of Dengue fever are identified by a high fever accompanied by at least two of the following symptoms: severe headache, severe eye pain (behind eyes), joint pain, muscle and/or bone pain, rash, a mild bleeding manifestation such as bleeding gums, nose bleeds, or easy bruising, and low white cell count. In more severe cases, Dengue can cause severe abdominal pain or persistent vomiting, red blotches or patches on the skin, more severe bleeding of nose or gums, vomiting of blood, black tarry excrement (indicative of the presence of blood in the stool,) drowsiness, irritability, cold or clammy skin, pallor, and difficulty breathing. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene has reported cases of Dengue fever that resulted in neurological manifestations, as well.

Dengue fever can also cause a much more serious, hemorrhagic form of the disease, the presentation of which the CDC describes as follows: “[A] fever that lasts from 2 to 7 days, with general signs and symptoms consistent with dengue fever. When the fever declines, warning signs may develop. This marks the beginning of a 24 to 48 hour period when the smallest blood vessels (capillaries) become excessively permeable (“leaky”), allowing the fluid component to escape from the blood vessels into the peritoneum (causing ascites) and pleural cavity (leading to pleural effusions). This may lead to failure of the circulatory system and shock, and possibly death without prompt, appropriate treatment. In addition, the patient with DHF has a low platelet count and hemorrhagic manifestations, tendency to bruise easily or have other types of skin hemorrhages, bleeding nose or gums, and possibly internal bleeding.”

As if this were not troubling enough, let us compare the above symptom picture to the symptoms associated with exposure to the dispersants Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527. The exact risks of exposure to these chemicals have yet to be determined; in fact, the manufacturers’ material safety data sheet (MSDS) for Corexit 9500 states: “No toxicity studies have been conducted on this product.” The MSDS further states that one should not come in contact with the product or breathe its vapors, and that adequate protective skin protection and breathing apparatuses should be worn when handling or working with the compound. Any hints of safe usage within the MSDS on these chemicals should be viewed from the following perspective: the MSDS data assumes limited exposure (for example, while applying the chemical) and the use of adequate protective gear. These statistics do not apply, therefore, to unprotected people who may be subject to long term, consistent exposure.

Many toxicologists have raised grave concerns, however, about the risks that these dispersants may pose to residents of the Gulf of Mexico area. Dr. Susan Shaw, a marine toxicologist, talked about her recent experience with shrimpers who had been working in the Gulf waters. In an interview on CNN, she addressed the situation of a shrimper who had thrown his net into water, causing the water to splash onto his unprotected skin. She reported that he developed a “headache that lasted 3 weeks, heart palpitations, muscle spasms, bleeding from the rectum…” and continued, “and that’s what this Corexit does, it ruptures red blood cells, causes internal bleeding, and liver and kidney damage. …” She asserts that the combination of oil from the well, combined with Corexit dispersant, increases the toxicity of both substances. In combination, she believes that they are skin permeable, and that they aerosolize to produce a breathing hazard as well. The toxins can enter the body through the respiratory tract, but are unlikely to remain localized in the lungs, instead spreading throughout one’s entire body system.

Numerous reports have come in from both residents of the Gulf area and journalists visiting the area that many people who are exposed to the water are beginning to experience health problems. Among the most commonly reported symptoms are burning eyes, skin rashes, lightheadedness, dizziness, difficulty breathing, transient numbness and shooting pains, persistent coughing, sore throats, muscle and bone aches, weakness, and severe fatigue. More troubling reports, such as those of the shrimpers mentioned above, have included bleeding from the nose and from the rectum, as well as permanent numbness in extremities, and complete loss of the sense of smell. It is generally accepted in the medical literature that although the initial, acute presentation of toxic exposure is generally the most severe, symptoms may linger indefinitely or even result in permanent damage to the body.

Herein lies the dilemma: If a Gulf resident becomes ill, to what do we attribute his or her symptoms? In addition to the dispersants themselves, Gulf residents are potentially suffering from exposure to benzene, and other toxic chemicals that are naturally present in crude oil, as well as several potentially toxic gases being released from the well. In combination with the dispersant, the exact toxicity risk of these chemicals remains unknown.

Add now, to the picture, the risk of having contracted Dengue fever, and the puzzle becomes more difficult to piece together. The CDC’s 2009 survey contained samples from only 240 households, and determined that about 5% of the residents had antibodies to the Dengue virus, indicating either current infection or a prior exposure. This relatively small sample may not be indicative of the Florida population as a whole, and may not be a valid indicator of the overall number of exposed people in the surrounding areas.

The medical literature indicates that Dengue virus, like many other viruses, may remain in the body in a latent form; during latency, the virus is unlikely to cause symptoms. A second infection with Dengue, however, can lead to a much more severe presentation of the disease, and a greater likelihood of it progressing to its hemorrhagic (and potentially fatal) form. Likewise, the literature indicates that a severe assault to the immune system presents a risk of virus reactivation and resultant disease.

Dr. Shaw’s assessment of the dangers of Corexit dispersant, particularly in combination with the other contaminants resulting from the damaged BP oil well, includes the potential for severe damage to the immune system. Such immune system suppression or damage, it seems, could then reactivate Dengue fever in residents who carry the latent virus, perhaps even resulting in a more severe form of the disease’s presentation.

Assuming the above quoted assessments of the current situation in Florida are accurate, the presence of the Dengue virus in Florida at this time makes for a nightmarish picture. Not only is there a tremendous symptom overlap between Dengue virus and toxin exposure, up to and including the potential for a hemorrhagic presentation of both, but there looms on the horizon a new and frightening possibility: The combined presence of this disease and a toxic environment might have the potential to combine, making an already tragic situation incrementally worse.

____________


Dr. Francis A. Boyle and the Anthrax Attacks

The now long-forgotten anthrax attacks on Senators Daschle and Leahy were a vitally-important early battle in the soon-to-be-global War on Terror. Dr. Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois has now, quite bravely, stated the obvious; so wait for David Corn, Alexander Cockburn and the denizens of Lenin's Tomb to call him a 'conspiracy nut' - or else, more likely, to ignore him very carefully. Such is the "antiwar" "left" in December 2006.

From Qlipoth HERE...

Anthrax attack on US Congress made by scientists and covered up by FBI, expert says

Sherwood Ross
Middle East Times
December 11, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The terrorists who perpetrated the 2001 anthrax attack on Congress likely were US government scientists at the army's Ft. Detrick, MD., bioterrorism lab having access to "moonsuits" that enabled them to safely process and manufacture super-weapons-grade anthrax, an eminent authority on the subject says.

Although only a "handful" of scientists had the ability to perpetrate the crime, the culprit among them may never be identified as the FBI ordered the destruction of the anthrax culture collection at Ames, IA., from which the Ft. Detrick lab got its pathogens, the authority said.

This action makes it impossible "to pin-point precisely where, when, and from whom these bio-agents had originated," said Dr. Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois at Champaign.

Boyle, who drafted the US Biological Weapons Convention of 1989 enacted by Congress, said destruction of the Ames anthrax "appears to be a cover-up orchestrated by the FBI."

If impartial scientists could have performed genetic reconstruction of the anthrax found in letters mailed to Senators Daschle (D-S.D.) and Patrick Leahy, (D -Vt.), "the trail of genetic evidence would have led directly back to a secret but officially-sponsored US government biowarfare program that was illegal and criminal" in violation of biological weapons conventions and US laws, Boyle said.

"I believe the FBI knows exactly who was behind these terrorist anthrax attacks upon the United States Congress in the Fall of 2001, and that the culprits were US government-related scientists involved in a criminal US government biowarfare program," Boyle said.

The anthrax attacks killed five people, including two postal workers, injured 17 others, and shut down the operations of the US Congress.

Boyle, a leading American authority on international law, said after the attacks he contacted senior FBI official Marion "Spike" Bowman, who handles counter-terrorism issues, and provided him with the names of the scientists working with anthrax. Boyle told Bowman the Ft. Detrick scientists were not to be trusted.

In addition to then destroying the anthrax, the FBI "retained every independent life-scientist it could locate as part of its fictitious investigation, and then swore them all to secrecy so that they cannot publicly comment on the investigation or give their expert opinion," Boyle said.

Boyle pointed out that Bowman is the same FBI agent "who played a pivotal role in suppressing evidence which in turn prevented the issuance of a search warrant for the computer of Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th Al Qaeda hijacker on 11 September 2001, which might otherwise have led to foreknowledge and therefore prevention of those terrorist attacks in the first place."

A self-confessed Al Qaeda operative, Moussaoui was detained on immigration three weeks before 9/11 when a Minnesota flight school reported he was acting suspiciously.

Boyle asked if Bowman received an FBI award in December 2002, for "exceptional performance" because of his capacity "to forestall investigations, because of where they may lead?" He went on to inquire, "Could the real culprits behind the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, and the immediately following terrorist anthrax attacks upon Congress ultimately prove to be the same people?"

Because of its "bogus investigation," Boyle said, "the greatest political crime in the history of the United States of America since its founding on 4 July, 1776 - the anthrax attacks on Congress, which served not only to deliver a terrorist threat on its members, but actually to close it down for a period - may remain officially
unresolved forever."

"Could it truly be coincidental," he continued, "that two of the primary intended victims of the terrorist anthrax attacks - Senators Daschle and Leahy - were holding up the speedy passage of the pre-planned USA Patriot Act ... an act which provided the federal government with unprecedented powers in relation to US citizens and institutions?"

Leahy is incoming Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and may have a personal interest in holding hearings to learn who tried to kill him. He recently said President George W. Bush should be "terrified" that he will be the new Chair.

Boyle's views are contained in his book Biowarfare and Terrorism, published by Clarity Press, Inc., of Atlanta, GA. His previously published titles include, Foundations of World Order, The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence, and Destroying World Order. Dr. Boyle holds a Doctor of Law Magna Cum Laude and a Ph.D. in political science, both from Harvard.

In a foreword to the book, Dr. Jonathan King, Professor of Molecular Biology at M.I.T. and a founder of the Council for Responsible Genetics, said the government's "growing bioterror programs [described by Professor Boyle] represent a significant emerging danger to our own population."

A harsh critic of Pentagon biowarfare activities, Boyle pointed out in inflation-adjusted dollars the US spends more on them today than it did on the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb in World War II. He has accused the Bush administration of diverting the bio-tech industry "towards biowarfare purposes" and of making corrupting payoffs to Academia to turn university scientists to the pursuit of biowarfare work.

____________


Dr. Francis A. Boyle: This is a must listen!



Dr. Francis A. Boyle:

"Perhaps if we find out who was behind the Anthrax Attacks we will also find out who was actually behind 9/11"

"Senator's Daschle and Leahy were holding up passage of the USA Patriot Act when they were sent the Anthrax laced letters"

"The main stream news media was essentially told 'you better not cover this (The Anthrax Attacks) or your life will be in jeopardy'"

"Since 9/11 the US has spent >$60 billion on biowarfare in contradistinction to US and international law (the international bioweapon's convention and US Biological Weapons Convention of 1989)

"Solicitor General Elena Kagan is a "lackey" for Larry Sommer's. She hired a war criminal while at Harvard. Both support the Bush "War on Terror"

"Behind Obama is David Rockefeller's Trilateral Commission/CFR"

"A large number of Microbiologist's (>20) have mysteriously died since the year before the Anthrax attacks and Senator Paul Wellstone 'disappeared too'"

"It could be the twilight of the Republic"


See Sybel Edmonds site for more Dr. Francis A. Boyle
HERE...

Go HERE... to order a copy of Dr. Francis A. Boyle's book and the details about United States history of Bioweapons research and use.

Gulf Oil Update: Day 82

Tom Hartman interviews John Wathen (photographer and activist) known as the "Hurricane Creekkeeper"



____________


Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Nunguesser Calls Out Coast Gaurd
Thank God for Billy Nunguesser!




Nunguesser: "It seems like there's a conspiracy between BP and the US Coast Guard!"

Posted by Hurricane Creekkeeper (John Wathen) at 5:11 PM

____________


U.S. Air Force sprays Corexit From Plane.



At 3:30 into the video the pilot says... "How do you pick a spot? It's everywhere.
May 15, 2010

The toxicity of Corexit EC9527A is quite high, here is an extract from the Corexit EC9527A Materials Safety Data Sheet:
SAFETY DATA SHEET
PRODUCT
COREXIT(R) EC9527A

APPLICATION: OIL SPILL DISPERSANT
NFPA 704M/HMIS RATING
HEALTH: 2/ 2 FLAMMABILITY: 1/ 1 INSTABILITY: 0/ 0 OTHER:
0 = Insignificant 1 = Slight 2 = Moderate 3 = High 4 = Extreme

2. COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS
Our hazard evaluation has identified the following chemical substance(s) as hazardous. Consult Section 15 for the nature of the hazard(s).

Hazardous Substance(s) CAS NO % (w/w)
2-Butoxyethanol 111-76-2 30.0- 60.0
Organic sulfonic acid salt Proprietary 10.0- 30.0
Propylene Glycol 57-55-6 1.0- 5.0

3. HAZARDS IDENTIFICATION
**EMERGENCY OVERVIEW**
WARNING

Eye and skin irritant. Repeated or excessive exposure to butoxyethanol may cause injury to red blood cells, (hemolysis), kidney or the liver. Harmful by inhalation, in contact with skin and if swallowed.
Do not get in eyes, on skin, on clothing. Do not take internally. Use with adequate ventilation. Wear suitable protective clothing. Keep container tightly closed. Flush affected area with water. Keep away from heat. Keep away from sources of ignition -No smoking.
May evolve oxides of carbon (COx) under fire conditions.

PRIMARY ROUTES OF EXPOSURE:
Eye, Skin

SKIN CONTACT:
Can cause moderate irritation. Harmful if absorbed through skin.

INGESTION:
May be harmful if swallowed. May cause liver and kidney effects and/or damage. There may be irritation to the gastro-intestinal tract.

INHALATION:
Harmful by inhalation. Repeated or prolonged exposure may irritate the respiratory tract.

SYMPTOMS OF EXPOSURE:

Acute:
Excessive exposure may cause central nervous system effects, nausea, vomiting, anesthetic or narcotic effects.

Chronic:
Repeated or excessive exposure to butoxyethanol may cause injury to red blood cells (hemolysis), kidney or the liver.

AGGRAVATION OF EXISTING CONDITIONS:
Skin contact may aggravate an existing dermatitis condition.

HUMAN HEALTH HAZARDS -CHRONIC:
Contains ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (butoxyethanol). Prolonged and/or repeated exposure through inhalation or extensive skin contact with EGBE may result in damage to the blood and kidneys.The Unified Command reported that as of May 6, 2010 Modular Aerial Spray System (MASS) aircraft have flown numerous dispersant missions-dispensing the same dispersant chemical being used by BP and the federal responders. These systems are capable of covering up to 250 acres per flight.

The Unified Command also reported that, as of May 6, 2010, 253,000 gallons of dispersant have been deployed and more than 317,000 gallons are available

If you see anything fishy happening on your waterways don't hesitate to call the Lower Mississippi Riverkeerp hotline at 1-866-MSRIVER


Editor's NOTE:

It would appear that the spraying of oil dispersant's in the Gulf water and air should be terminated immediately as there is ample evidence to suggest that it is:

1) Killing marine life throughout the entire water column
2) Disguising the amount of oil and gas that has actually flowed into the Gulf
3) Beginning to become a health hazard for clean-up and recovery workers
4) Reducing the amount of money which BP should have to pay in damages
5) Decreasing the effectiveness of oil skimming operations.
6) No longer effective since much of the coast has already been contaminated with oil

--Dr. J. P. Hubert

____________


Caught Restricting the Press and Public Again, BP Clarifies Policy on Access Limits
bpoilslick.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, July 7, 2010

« Where Oh Where Have All the Wildlife Gone?



A John Wathen Video

by Glynn Wilson
GULF SHORES, Ala. — More reports surfaced today of contractors for British Petroleum and local police taking it upon themselves to limit access to oiled sites on the Gulf coast by media and citizens with cameras.

John Wathen, an activist photographer and videographer, was harassed at the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge Tuesday, and told he was not allowed on the beach with a camera where workers were moving oil with heavy machinery.

He has audio recordings to prove it as part of a video (see above). When asked about the policy, a person who answered the phone at the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge said the policy was not to restrict access by the media or to prevent anyone from taking pictures. Authorities are preventing people from driving down Pine Beach Road to Gator Lake so you have to park and walk the mile to the beach.

In response to numerous reports of media access being limited across the Gulf in violation of Obama administration policy and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Megan Moloney, a spokesperson for BP Deepwater Horizon Response National Incident Commander Adm. Thad Allen, issued a statement clarifying the policy on media access and the establishment of so-called “safety zones,” such as the 65-foot zone outside boom surrounding pelican rookeries.

“Since the beginning of the response to the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, federal agencies have worked to provide timely and factual information to the public, make personnel available to the media, and provide access to areas and operations the press could not reach on their own,” Moloney says. “At the same time, we have directed BP and its contractors to not restrict public access unless safety or security is jeopardized while recognizing that private individuals hired by contractors cannot be compelled to speak to the press.”

The administration claims this “openness” has led to hundreds of daily press briefings and conference calls by federal officials, “who have conducted thousands of interviews, and posted thousands of documents and images of, not only this historic response, but also the tragic impacts of this continuing oil leak. In addition, response assets have provided press access to field operations nearly 700 times during the last two months including those areas hardest hit by this tragedy.”

Most of the images after the first two weeks put out by the Deepwater Response via e-mail, however, can only be described as “green washing,” showing pretty blue water and clean orange boom and happy federal workers on the job.

If it wasn’t for the Louisiana bureau of the Associated Press, a hand-full of broadcast reporters, and other independent journalists and activists challenging the media access fight at every level, the public would know little of the horrible, permanent travesty at work in the Gulf of Mexico.

“While a handful of sporadic instances have occurred where members of the media were turned away from certain areas by private entities, local law enforcement or non-leadership personnel, the constant stream of images on television and the robust amount of information available is testament to the fact these instances are the exception, not the rule,” Moloney said.

Last week Coast Guard Captains of the Port in the region put in place “limited, small waterside safety zones,” he said, around protective boom and those vessels actively responding to this spill, which caused an outcry and the creation of a Facebook group of photographers who plan to challenge the limit.

“This was required due to recent instances of protective boom being vandalized or broken by non-response vessels getting too close,” Malony said. “These 20-meter zones are only slightly longer than the distance from a baseball pitcher’s mound to home plate.

“This distance is insignificant when gathering images,” he claimed. “In fact, these zones, which do not target the press, can and have been opened for reporters as required.”

Nevermind that a photographer for the New Orleans Times Picayune said it would take a telescope to get closeup images from that distance, taking into account how far the boom is from land in places.

Media Could Face Criminal Penalties for Entering Oil Cleanup Safety Zone? For full article go HERE... For additional background See THIS...

“It is unfortunate that the safety zones are needed at all, but the responsibility of officials is to wage the most effective and safest response possible while best supporting factual and open reporting,” Malony says. “That will continue until BP caps its leaking well and the cleanup is complete.”

If it is ever capped, that is, and if the cleanup is done right.
Meanwhile, Plaquemines Paris President Billy Nunguesser has been outspoken in his support of having the media tell the story.

____________


Papantonio: BP Escrow Fund is a Sham

July 9th, 2010
Ringoffireradio.com

Mike Papantonio appears on The Randi Rhodes Show (with guest host Nicole Sandler), to discuss some of the most recent developments in the BP oil spill, including the new revelations that reporters could be fined as much as $40,000 and face a Class D felony for getting too close to oil workers.

Part 1



Papantonio:

"There is somewhat of a 'police state' starting to form up over the BP oil spill."

Reporters are being kept away from things that BP and the Obama administration don't want the public to see.

Part 2



Papantonio:

"This isn't just a BP story, this is about corporate America being in total control of the discion making process of our government."

"There is no BP money in escrow." Nothing is securitized. It's only a talking point. It is a lie." If BP went bankrupt tomorrow there would be no money.

"The 'frikin' government is taking over everything that is dear to us!"

Call your neighbor and say: we must talk about what's happening in America."

____________


Papantonio: BP - Salazar Should be Fired



____________


BP OIL SPILL VOLCANIC TSUNAMI AND POISON GAS ALERT



Dr.Bill Deagle

"There are 3 possible disconcerting scenario's 1) huge poisonous gaseous release(s) which could contaminate the gulf water and surrounding coast, 2) the precipitation of violent tropical storms and hurricanes and 3) as sea water gets into the oil reservoir with gradual equalization of pressures, the oil reservoir could become like a 'steam kettle' precipitating a dropping and rising of the sea floor and a resulting steam-related (volcanic) Tsunami."

Editor's NOTE:

I have been unable to independently verify the claims of Dr. Deagle so far.

--Dr. J. P. Hubert

Gulf Oil Update: Day 79

Gulf of Mexico Oil Catastrophe Worst in History
& What to Do Instead

Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri interviews Ohio scientist Mike Castle on what can be done instead

An estimated 3.4 million gallons are spewing out daily with no end in sight while toxic oil and dispersants are killing all ocean life Gulf disaster far worse than official account

It seems unbelievable that after almost six weeks of concentrated effort from the most technologically sophisticated staff and scientists of BP (ex British Petroleum, relaunched Beyond Petroleum!) that the catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico from Deepwater Horizon’s off-shore oil rig explosion is still spreading out of control. It has devastated the entire Gulf of Mexico, Florida, and entered the Atlantic Ocean, traveling along the coast, up to New Jersey and New York. This is no “spill”; it is already far worse than the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker accident. Some scientists estimated that 3.4 million gallons are coming out of 3 plumes daily [1]. To-date this means 156.4 million gallons of crude oil, and counting; no wonder it is being called an underwater oil volcano.

That’s not all. There are new reports that another crude oil plume, 22 miles long by 6 miles wide, has been found going in another direction (West) [2], “3,300 feet [below the surface], with the greatest concentration of hydrocarbons at about 1300 feet suggesting the highest level of environmental pollution from the BP disaster may be located out of sight in the Gulf’s deep waters.” It was discovered by David Hollander, associate professor of chemical oceanography, University of South Florida, the lead investigator of a research mission sent to the Gulf of Mexico [2, 3]. They “fear it is the result of BP’s unprecedented use of chemical dispersants applied underwater at the well site.” Professor Hollander said this raises 2] “more fears that oil combined with dispersant toxicity may lead to a dangerous situation for fish larvae and other creatures that filter ocean water for food.”

Despite 11 deaths from the initial rig explosion and the gravity of the ecological disaster, the worst of its kind in US history, not one person has been fired or held accountable. The cozy, on-going revolving door policy between corporations and government officials means that safety, precaution, and accountability are not part of the picture [4, 5].

Toxic dispersants wreck worse ecological havoc

BP also continues to spray highly toxic “dispersants” that are wrecking additional ecological havoc, exacerbating an already critical situation [6]. One dispersant is the chemical solvent known as Corexit 9500, banned in Europe. It is spreading the crude oil and chemical toxicity over a far wider area, and traveling on the Gulf and ocean currents. The impact and extent of the devastation underwater is far worse, but unseen by satellite tracking. The ecological catastrophe is highly likely to become transAtlantic. A short ABC-TV news item showing the underwater spread of the crude oil and dispersants on their regular national program “Good Morning America” 25May 2010 should be seen by everyone and shared widely [7].

The photographs posted by the Boston Globe on 24 May are also heart wrenching [8]. There is no doubt that our entire ocean food chain has been poisoned. It will take time to document the full extent of the environmental and health impacts perpetrated by gross negligence and a total disregard of the Precautionary Principle [9]. And, all those who are involved in any kind of miniscule and, so far, inept and extremely dangerous “clean up” are already becoming ill. This includes hired paid workers and volunteers from environmental organizations, who have not been informed by BP or anyone else of the environmental health hazards they face. And nothing is getting even remotely fixed while the epic environmental tragedy keeps unfolding. Birds, fishes, turtles, dolphins, whales and other sea creatures, the entire ecosystem is facing a far worsening crisis with every passing day. Toxic crude oil has hit land in Louisiana. In one area, Plaquemines Parish, there are video reports that all life in the ocean is dead [10]. Dead turtles and dolphins are already washing up onto the Gulf shore; but the real extent is not being reported by mainstream news. Apparently BP is forbidding news crews access to the off-shore site; it is making the rules, not the US Coast Guard. BP has also refused to use less toxic dispersants [11]. With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, The New York Times has reported numerous conflicts of interest [12].

An urgent report “It’s raining oil in Florida” [13], on 25 May, noted raindrops of black crude oil carried on bands of storm clouds from the Gulf of Mexico. Until late on Tuesday 25 May, there was a live feed of the underwater crude oil spew. This live, streaming video was cut off, after a new eruption/explosion began. The last report was posted on Youtube [14].

“Nightmare of incompetence and greed” and what not to do

Dr. R. Michael Castle, one of the top independent polymer chemists in the US, has been following “this nightmare of incompetence and greed” as he told me, since the oil rig explosion last month on April 20. Castle is also the author of “The Methodic Demise of Natural Earth,” an essay on what is happening to our planet’s environment with the out-of-control and illegal spraying of highly toxic aerosol Chemtrails over the past twelve years [15]. He is further the author of the 2003 Unified Atmospheric Protection Act (now tied up in Congressional committee) [16].

With his extensive polymer chemistry background, Dr. Castle clearly understands the enormous ecological chemical devastation that is continuing unabated. The following are my conversations with him on 25 and 29 May 2010.

“What can be done?” he said. “Firstly, don’t set off any nuke! [This is still under consideration [17]. ] Do not do that. This is sheer madness. In no way will this fix anything. It will do irreparable and long-term massive harm.” Radiation damage would devastate the immediate area and the rest of our planet. [Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors are still monitored 65 years after the US military dropped atomic bombs on civilians.]

“Secondly, for emergency clean-up crews exposed to the crude oil’s benzene vapors, they must be informed about the consequences of working there. Many of them are neither trained properly, nor know what serious health damage can result. [This is another unfolding scenario like what the 9/11 First Responders experienced, when they were told by public officials that it was safe to breathe the toxic air at Ground Zero in New York City.]

Thirdly, according to Dr. Castle, the dispersant “contains ethylene oxide surfactants [that allows for increased spreadability]; and, one of them, 2-butoxy ethanol is a water soluble glycol ether. These are known to coat fish gills [that help absorb oxygen from the water]. Due to this toxic action, the fish then die, because they cannot get available oxygen. This is in addition to all sea life suffering from benzene poisoning.”

For anyone involved in the clean-up, Dr. Castle urges the following:

1. “Stay out of the water. Protect yourself from the hazardous vapors and carcinogenic effects of benzene. Benzene cuts off oxygen to the body (it’s water soluble) and is a known cause of leukemia –blood cancer.

2. “Use organic coconut oil or organic coconut butter. These are safe and natural plant ingredients that are bioactive and will coat the skin and protect it. Rub it on your hands, and face, and neck. It creates a protective film against benzene. Do not rub or wash it off, as it helps reverse the toxins’ many effects on the body.

3. “Also, use a capful of Willard’s XXX Dark and rub it on arms and hands. This will also naturally protect the body. This is made of lignite coal in water and is another natural way to shield the body from toxins. [Dr. Castle has no financial ties with this company/product.]

4. “I repeat: Do not send any emergency hazard clean-up teams to the Gulf who are uninformed and do not realize the extreme damage these poisons can do –short and long term.

5. “AmeriHaz can be safely used to gather up the crude oil that is already causing such ecological damage.”

What to use instead of toxic dispersants

Castle developed “AmeriHaz” in 1996, an inert polymer, to deal in a truly safe manner with cleaning up serious crude oil leaks and out-of-control dispersals of highly dangerous chemicals. “I wanted to create a product that could absorb any devastating ‘spill’ (it’s really the very wrong word for what is happening in the Gulf. A ‘spill’ is something very minor). This is catastrophic in its scope,” he told me. “This is an inert polymer product that will encapsulate this crude oil, so it won’t be picked up systemically in anything else. It literally locks up PAHs [polyaromatic hydrocarbons] that are precursors of benzene.” He has given a demonstration for Ohio’s TV news channel on how it works [18].

Castle also recommends “using crushed, pebble-size lignite coal all along beaches, marshes, and estuaries. This will help detoxify the benzene (that is naturally soluble in water) because it is extremely toxic in crude oil.

These are realistic solutions that can actually begin to remedy the effects of this catastrophe, if those people in charge really do care about saving the Gulf, an area still in trauma from the post-Hurricane Katrina debacle where there was really no help for those in most need.

Finally, an international boycott of all BP products should be instituted immediately. The untapped power of the consumer pocketbook should be used. When their CEO says this is a “modest” event, the company should not get any more money from already very strapped consumers.

Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri is an environmental writer and the author of the highly acclaimed book, “The Uterine Crisis.” The Ecologist notes: “this book is an inspiration.”

References

1. Gulf of Mexico oil volcano gushes 3.4 million gallons of oil a day. The Real Agenda, accessed 31 May 2010,

http://realagenda.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/gulf-of-mexico-oil-volcano-gushes-3-4-million-gallons-of-oil-a-day

2. “New giant oil plume discovered in Gulf”, Video. Lynne Hermann, GlobalResearch.ca, 28 May 2010, www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&id=19409; This plume has also been found by another investigative team led by Professor James H. Cowan Jr., Louisiana State University: “Third oil leak in Gulf”, Fellowship of Minds, 29 May, 2010, http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2010/05/29/third-oil-leak-in-gulf

3. “Gulf oil spill: real disaster might be lurking beneath the surface”, Mark Sappenfeld, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 May 2010: www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0516/Gulf-oil-spill-real-disaster-might-be-lurking-beneath-the-surface

4. Lendman S. Falsified oil rig inspection & other improprieties. US Inspector General Report, rense.com, 27 May 2010, www.rense.com/general91/fasl.htm

5. Leopold J. Why Isn’t BP Under Criminal Investigation? GlobalResearch.ca, 29 May 2010, www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&id=19415

6. Allen E. Why BP refuses to stop using chemical dispersants. Rense.com, 28 May 2010: www.rense.com/general91/save.htm

7. What BP does not want you to see. 24 May 2010, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/bp-oil-spill-continues-gulf-mexico-frustration-mounts/story?id=10726217; and

http://acp.repoweramerica.org/page/invite/oilspillvideo?source=sprd-fwd&utm_source=crm_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=oilspillvideo20100527&utm_content=link1

8. “Oil reaches Louisiana shore”, The Big Picture, 24 May 2010,

www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/oil_reaches_louisiana_shores.html?camp=localsearch:on:twit:bigpic

9. Perlingieri IS. Worldwide environmental crisis. gone missing: The Precautionary Principle. GlobalResearch.ca, 11 Feb. 2009, www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&id=12268

10. “Twenty-four miles of Plaqeumines Parish is destroyed. everything is dead”, Billy Nungesser, 21 May 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxRWqpc77Ms&feature=player_embedded

11. “BP refuses EPA order to switch to less-toxic oil dispersant”, Margot Roosevelt and Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2010, www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-20100523%2C0%2C907236.story

12. Ian Urbina. “Conflict of interest worries raised in spill rests,” Ian Urbina, New York Times, 20 May 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/science/earth/21conflict.html; See also Stephen Lendman. “BP and the Administration – Lies, Deceit, and Cover up in the Gulf.” 22 May 2010: www.rense.com/general90/bpp.htm

13. “It’s raining oil in Florida”, Eve. Fourwinds10.com,

http://fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/environment/pollution/news.php?q=1274767889

14. “Philippe Cousteau Jr. and Sam Champion take hazmat dive into Gulf’s oily waters.flv” You Tube, 25 May 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Wp4ZkEpO4

15. Dr. R. Michael Castle. “The methodic demise of natural earth”. 26 June 2009: www.newswithviews.com/guest_opinion/guest154.htm

16. The Unified Atmospheric Preservation Act, Revised March 4, 2010, http://anticorruptionsociety.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/the-unified-atmospheric-preservation-act.pdf

17. “energy expert: nuking oil leak ‘only thing we can do’”, Daniel Tancer, the raw story, 29 May 2010, http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0529/energy-expert-nuke-oil-leak/

18. “Central Ohio scientist wants to help Gulf oil spill”, ONNtv.com, 17 May 2010, www.10tv.com/live/content/onnnews/stories/2010/05/17/story-scientist-oil-spill-columbus.html


NEW: Documented Massive Kill of Louisianna Oysters:

Last night on Anderson Cooper 360, Dr. Sanjay Gupta substituted for Anderson. He interviewed an Oysterman who showed pictures of dead oysters. Apparently over 90%+ of the oysters now being retreived in Louisianna are dead due to a combination of fresh water contamination (from redirecting of the Mississippi River) and the toxic effect of the oil itself. The Oysterman indicated that it will take at a minimum of "3" years to grow an oyster crop equivalent to what has already been destroyed even if the oil well could be capped today.

--Dr. J. P. Hubert