Is gulf seafood safe?

Gulf seafood could hurt people years from now. A new report from the environmental group the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) alleges that because of the oil spill, eating seafood from the Gulf can increase the risk of cancer for children and the unborn babies of pregnant women.

“What the chemicals in oil do is they damage chromosomes, interact with DNA, cause cell mutations (and) can increase the risk or cause various cancers,” said Dr. Gina Solomon, Senior Scientist with the NRDC. She added, “the specific issues seen in the babies exposed to these kinds of oil contaminants are DNA damage, low birth weight and growth defects, in utero.”

The Food and Drug Administration vehemently denies the findings of the NRDC report. “The seafood from theGulf of Mexico is safe to consume for all consumers including pregnant women and children,” says Robert Dickey, Director of the FDA’s Gulf Coast Seafood Laboratory.
Dickey maintains that the NRDC’s conclusions were based on faulty calculations, adding, “the amount of seafood that somebody would have to eat would be the equivalent to sixty-three pounds of shrimp, or five pounds of oyster, or nine pounds of fin fish every day for five years before they would exceed levels to be concerned of. That’s how low the residues are in the seafood.”

New Documentary Says Oil Spill Crisis Isn't Over

The catastrophic oil spill caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon petroleum rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 was a disaster of epic proportions, and according to the new documentary “The Big Fix,” the havoc it wreaked is far from over. 

Forbes.com

Scientist: impact of the BP oil spill on humans

New Orleans --  A scientist at the University of New Orleans says she has new information about the impact of the BP oil spill on humans. “We're talking about a diverse group of chemicals, polcyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, that interact with each other,” said Dr. Patricia Williams. “They are powerful carcinogens and powerful reproductive toxins.” Williams says the impact of these toxins is starting to be felt by two groups of humans who came in close contact with the oil. She says those who collected tar balls, and those who were on the ships near oil burn-offs, are having problems having children.

U.S. Regulators Promise Oversight Of Offshore Drilling Contractors

Nearly 18 months after a disastrous oil spill killed wildlife and endangered the futures of fishermen and resort businesses along the Gulf of Mexico, the federal government announces it will regulate not only the operators of offshore oil rigs, but the contractors who own and work on them, as well.

Gulf oil spill could cause lasting damage to fish

Fish living in Gulf of Mexico marshes exposed to last year’s oil spill have undergone cellular changes that could lead to developmental and reproductive problems, a group of researchers reported Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Washington Post

Sept 26, 2011

Halliburton claims BP Hid info that might have prevented spill

The big boys are fighting:

Oil field services giant Halliburton says BP hid key information about the Macondo well that could have helped prevent the deadly April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and the ensuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a pair of lawsuits filed Friday, Halliburton accuses BP of fraud and defamation, saying BP provided inaccurate information about the location of oil and gas producing zones in the well before the cementing job Halliburton performed.

By TOM FOWLER, HOUSTON CHRONICLE 

September 3, 2011

Toxicologist: Oil spill far more toxic than admitted

“We see that in 16-year olds in the Gulf,” she said. And Forte was not the only person she may have given much needed answers to. Nearly 50 people gathered to talk about headaches, nausea, burning eyes, memory loss and rashes. There were young and old, African-Americans and whites, rural residents and city dwellers, all with one thing in common — they live by the Kalamazoo River and were exposed to last year’s Enbridge Energy Partners Lakehead Pipeline 6B.

For Ott, it was a litany list of symptoms and voices of frustration she has heard from Alaska to South Korea to the Gulf Coast and now in Calhoun county. And Calhoun, she says, represents exposures to both tar sands and lighter oils, each with its own chemical make ups and attendant toxins.

Is oil leaking in the Gulf from the BP spill site?

Reports of oil surfacing near the site of the Deepwater Horizon explosion are raising questions about its source and whether it is related to last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico – one of the worst environmental disasters in US history. 

The Christian-Science Monitor

Mark Guarino, Staff writer / September 1, 2011

Check it out: oil rising above Macondo well.

Ingredients in dispersants are linked to cancer

Five of the 57 ingredients in dispersants approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for use on oil spills are linked to cancer, finds a new research report based on data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by environmental groups on the Gulf of Mexico. 

Gulf residents continue to suffer health effects related to the disaster clean-up. "The illnesses we observed were quite unique and different from anything that I had ever witnessed before," said Dr. Michael Robichaux, a physician in Raceland, Louisiana.

"Although there were scores of complaints early on, the main problems at this time are a loss of memory, seizure type problems, severe abdominal pain, fatigue, irritability and other neurological and endocrine manifestations," he said.

Environment News Service

Deepwater Horizon Well Is Leaking Again

From our "For What It's Worth Dept.":
Scientific analysis has confirmed that oil bubbling up above BP’s sealed Deepwater Horizon well in recent days is a chemical match for the hundreds of millions of gallons of oil that spewed into the Gulf last summer. 

www.globalresearch.ca 

Se also this article in yesterday's New York Times.

Gulf Activists Protest as Cleanup Slows

Susan Buchanan, Huffington Post

BP's gushing well was capped in mid-July of last year but that was hardly the end of the spill saga for Gulf Coast residents. Earlier this month, a non-violent protest -- organized around the theme of "The Oil's Still Here and So Are We" -- was held in front of the downtown building that houses BP's New Orleans offices.

Is the gulf coming back?

By Michael C. Bolton  al.com

As I watched the ghastly photos and videos of the unfolding Deepwater Horizon oil spill last year, I told anyone who would listen that the Gulf of Mexico would never recover in our lifetimes.

I assumed that there would never again be fishing as we know it. I also assumed that the rich bounty that the Gulf produces would not be edible for decades.

Some scientist I am, huh?

There is more and more evidence that Mother Nature is a dang good cleaning lady. The recovery of the Gulf of Mexico has been nothing less than dramatic.

Oil-spill cleanup yields treasures

CAMINADA HEADLAND, La. - Cleanup after the BP oil spill has turned up dozens of sites where archaeologists are finding human and animal bones, pottery, and primitive weapons left behind by prehistoric Indian settlements - a trove of new clues about the Gulf Coast's mound dwellers more than 1,300 years ago.

Company seeking permission to build new pipeline underestimates worst case spill

The company that is seeking permission to build a new crude oil pipeline between Canada and the U.S. Gulf Coast has wildly underestimated the damage that could occur in a worst case spill scenario, a University of Nebraska researcher warned this week.

Even a small, undetected leak from an underground rupture of the pipeline in the Nebraska Sandhills could pollute almost 5 billion gallons of groundwater with benzene at concentrations exceeding safe drinking water levels,” University of Nebraska researcher John Stansbury said.

BP Oil Still Washing Ashore One Year After Spill

The pollution consists of “a light sheen and tar balls of all shapes and sizes,” Zink said in an interview yesterday. “For roughly the first year, it was heavy, moderate to light oiling.”

The latest survey in Louisiana by the agency found 5 milesof beaches and 8 miles of marsh heavily oiled, according toresults provided by Zink. The July survey covered almost 4,300miles of shoreline in the four states.

Oil spill aftermath: 'Drill, baby, drill' era may be gone forever

The Gulf oil spill was capped a year ago Friday, but offshore drilling is still far off its pre-spill pace. With a new regulatory agency putting a greater emphasis on safety, the industry might have to adjust to a new normal. The centerpiece of those reforms was abolishing the federal agency that previously oversaw offshore drilling and replacing it with a new one, BOEMRE. And to those in the oil industry, BOEMRE's regulations – seen as too cumbersome and lined with uncertainty – are the problem.

BP Wants to Stop Paying Claims

NEW ORLEANS — BP is arguing that victims of last year’s Gulf oil spill should not be paid any more claims for future losses because the areas affected by the spill have recovered and the economy is improving and claims that at some times it has paid victims more than is allowed under the federal Oil Pollution Act.

“Multiple lines of evidence demonstrate that, to the extent that portions of the Gulf economy were impacted by the spill, recovery had occurred by the end of 2010, and that positive economic performance continues into 2011, with 2011 economic metrics exceeding pre-spill performance,” the BP document said.
The Associated Press July 8, 2011

Spill documentary 'The Big Fix' screens in Cannes

CANNES, France (AP) — A provocative documentary screened Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival argues that the human and environmental devastation of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been covered up by authorities eager to return to business as usual.

"The Big Fix," by husband-and-wife American directors Josh and Rebecca Tickell, features interviews with Louisiana fishing families whose livelihoods and health have been hit by the spill, then expands into a sweeping critique of American capitalism.

Big Oil struggles with image problem over Gulf spill and high gas prices

As the global offshore oil and gas industry meets in Houston this week, leaders say they are aware the reputation of their business is still bruised after the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill and that motorists and politicians are fuming over $4 gasoline prices. But they cautioned Washington against overreaching with new regulation and taxes, stressing the enormity of the challenge ahead in meeting the world's surging energy needs.

"We cannot afford to have emotions control business and policy decisions," Zuhair Hussain, vice president of Saudi Aramco's drilling and workover unit, said during a panel discussion Tuesday at the 2011 Offshore Technology Conference.

 

BP Fined $25 million for 2006 Alaska spills

The British oil company at the center of last year's Gulf of Mexico spill will pay a $25 million penalty for the largest oil spill ever on Alaska's North Slope and spend an additional $60 million upgrading its oversight of corroded pipelines in Alaska.

What if the Oil Spill Never happened?

Oil'd from Chris Harmon on Vimeo.

Dead dolphin calves found in Mississippi, Alabama

GULFPORT, Mississippi -- A worrisome number of dead baby dolphins has been discovered on Mississippi and Alabama beaches this month, said scientists who study the species. Solangi said, "In the 20 years of data that I've kept and the 30 years of my history, I have not seen these calves dying in these numbers in these two months of January and February." There are 3,000 to 5,000 dolphins in the waters off Mississippi and Alabama, he said. "They are at the top of the food chain," Solangi said. "They are the biological indicator of the environment. If they are healthy, the environment is healthy."

Dolphins Dying In Oil Soaked Gulf

Baby dolphins are washing up dead along the oil-soaked US Gulf Coast at more than 10 times the normal rate in the first birthing season since the BP disaster, researchers said. Some 17 baby dolphin corpses have been found along the shorelines of Alabama and Mississippi in the past two weeks, The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies said.

Scientist finds Gulf bottom oily, dead

WASHINGTON – Oil from the BP spill remains stuck on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, according to a top scientist's video and slides that she says demonstrate the oil isn't degrading as hoped and has decimated life on parts of the sea floor. That report is at odds with a recent report by the BP spill compensation czar that said nearly all will be well by 2012.