Virulence: Gulf Oil Spill

The end effect of the Gulf Oil Spill disaster will not be known for many years. Some of the effects will be immediate and obvious, while others are far more mercurial and illusive. As with all disasters, a large contingent of people will be employed to distract and counter both the breadth and depth of the oil spill’s full impact. Many of these people will be scientists and perhaps even health experts who are willing to be paid to manufacture deception and degrade the integrity of their expertise. The media, as they so expertly do, will collectively create a bog of informational stench that serves only to confuse and add to the deception itself.

The folks living and working along the impacted shorelines had complaints and worries about the air they were breathing. But at the same time, EPA officials showed me the complex equipment they were using to monitor the air and indicated their measurements showed that everything was “normal.”
- Health Data Gaps in the Gulf: Communities Need More Information on Threats

How the Gulf Oil Spill affects breathing is an example of how pervasive the effects of the disaster can be. What precisely is it that people in the Gulf area are breathing in, and what are the implications of this for their long-term health?

There are lots of chemicals in crude oil and dispersants, and some are more toxic than others. Worse still, the health effects of some of the chemicals are untested and unknown. Some of the chemicals in oil are toxic at levels far below levels detectable by the human nose… their [The EPA] monitoring is missing a class of chemicals that can evaporate from the weathered oil (semi-volatile compounds or SVOCs) and lead to both odor complaints and long-term health effects like cancer.
- Oil Odors: If You Smell It, Is It Toxic?

The EPA seems to be insisting that what people are breathing in is within “normal” limits. What precisely is the “normal” limit for toxic chemicals?

EPA has observed odor-causing pollutants associated with oil on the shore in the gulf region at low levels. Some of these chemicals may cause short-lived effects like headache, eye, nose and throat irritation, or nausea. Some people may be able to smell several of these chemicals at levels well below those that would cause short-term health problems.
- Air Monitoring on Gulf Coastline

Note the following characteristics of the EPA’s description:

1. The reference to “odor-causing pollutants” with no use of the word toxic;
2. The indication of “low levels” – low levels with respect to what? If a toxic chemical is present in low levels does that make it safe or unworthy of attention?
3. “Short-lived effects” – this would be humorous if not for the context – there is no implication of long-term effects – not because there won’t be;
4. No mention fo chemicals present that cannot be detected by the nose;
5. The statement is really a denial that has no factual basis – it is a fabrication under the guise of scientific research.

The EPA’s Air Monitoring Data Reports intend to track the presence of various air-borne chemicals in teh Gulf area. One class of chemicals is called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which include benzene, ethyl benzene, toluene, and xylene. These are chemicals that are present in oil and acknowledged by teh EPA as cancer-causing agents. Looking at one of the reports for Florida, we are presented with data that is impenetrable by the majority of observers. The chart shows .1ppm of Volatile Organic Compounds in the air, and we are told that this represents a “normal” level?

If these levels are truly “normal” and “safe” then we should be asking the EPA scientists creating this data to submit to voluntary inhalation of these chemicals for the duration of the Gulf Oil Spill clean-up.

Since the emergence of illness associated with toxicity from the Gulf Oil Spill will only reveal itself over several years, combined with the difficulty in linking it to the inevitable increase in diseases such as cancer, ascertaining the actual effects on human health will be murky at best. We are not only swimming in the catastrophe, we are literally breathing it in.

I live in the Gulf Coast region and we have been smelling oil every day, all day. The heat just adds to the pungency. I am concerned for my children’s health. We stay inside all day. The EPA keeps saying that the air quality is within the normal range for this time of year, but walking outside tells a different story. I need to know how to protect my family. Any further information would be very much appreciated. Thank you for looking out for the Gulf Coast communities.
- Comment in Health Data Gaps in the Gulf: Communities Need More Information on Threats