The health effects of last spring's Deepwater Horizon oil spill will likely exceed the government and oil industry's expectations and present problems for Gulf residents living and working in close proximity to the spill for years to come. At a forum held February 5th in New Orleans, biochemist Wilma Subra of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network presented results from toxicity tests preformed on Gulf marine life, soil, and humans. Subra's human subjects included men and women of various ages exposed to different levels of crude oil following the April 2010 spill. Blood test results performed on test subjects showed elevated levels of chemicals typically found in crude oil and dispersant including benzene, ethylbenzene, and Xylene. All of the participants exposed to crude oil displayed some physical symptoms as a result of the exposure. According to Subra, acute symptoms associated with exposure to crude oil include skin irritation, nausea, headaches and vomiting while liver and kidney damage, cardiac abnormalities, chronic respiratory problems, and cancer caused by the chemical Benzene are some of the long-term health effects of oil exposure. Alarming levels of chemicals were also found in the Gulf seafood Supra tested as well as soil samples taken in four Gulf Coast states.
Subra, a Louisianan herself, offered criticism of the government and oil industry's response to the public health implications of the oil spill stating that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration endorsed safety requirements and gear provided to BP cleanup workers were inadequate, the methodology used by the Food and Drug Administration to test Gulf seafood for contaminants was flawed, and a large scale study financed jointly by the National Institutes of Health and BP to track the long-term health effects of the spill does not include much of the Gulf Coast's population or provide health care to participants.
Subra's discussion and study results came on the heels of last month's National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill where many Gulf Coast residents gathered in New Orleans to voice health concerns and hear an overview of the Commission's 400-page final report to President Barack Obama. Although the Commission recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency establish a more thorough protocol to monitor health effects of major oil spills, many cleanup workers, fishermen, and residents felt the recommendation would not help ease their current health maladies and medical expenses. One Commission member excited the crowd's fury by responding to a local fisherman's comment by stating that BP's use of chemical dispersants to break up the oil was a "trade-off" between possible exposure to dangerous chemicals and the need to contain the oil spill.
Although health issues were the main focus of the January National Oil Spill Commission gathering, commission member Dr. Donald Boesch cited a lack of scientific evidence of the spill's effect on human health as a limitation in drafting the report to the President.
"We were charged with being evidence-driven, and the fact is we've asked for and sought out evidence that the oil spill is the proximate cause of these health problems, and we just haven't found it," Boesch said.
The report does state that regardless of whether or not there is supporting evidence linking the oil spill to health issues, the government's response to health concerns has been inadequate.
Cleanup workers and Gulf Coast residents experiencing health problems potentially linked to the oil spill can file personal-injury claims. If you are an injured worker, the types of claims and deadlines for making any claims may hinge on the type of work you did at the time of the cleanup. Of course, your BP Oil Spill Lawyer must establish the causal relationship between the injury and the BP Oil Spill.
