We've all seen the BP oil commercials showing happy people frolicking in the Gulf, businesses back to pre-spill levels and other signs of recovery. What they don't show are the contamination levels that never really went away and the reappearance of tar balls that were pushed up on shore by Hurricane Issac.
It's been almost a month since Issac slowly made it's way through the region and fishing still hasn't resumed. A 12 mile stretch of coast from Caminada Pass to Pass Fourchon has been shuttered to all activities because clean up crews are still trying to remove tar balls from the beach. Experts have said this could be happen time to time for the next 100 years. I'll bet that is exactly what people in the region want to hear: that their grandchildren will be dealing with this crap after they are long dead.
We all remember politicians, particularly Republicans grandstanding about cleaning up the beach while simultaneously throwing Obama to the wolves for having the audacity to temporally shutter the off shore oil industry. Much like every resource oriented industry in the country like coal mining, oil exploration and fracking, the oversight by government is seriously lacking and leading to problems just like this. If we didn't have the GOP throwing a tantrum every time someone wants to drink clean water or breathe clean air, this world might be a much safer place. Local fishing, while affected, has been assured that seafood is safe to eat and sell. In non-affected areas, people have been told swimming is also safe. Recent research suggests it might not be.
Julie Creppel lives on the Louisiana coast with her six kids. Before the disaster, they were healthy, happy kids. Since the spill, they have suffered a host of ailments. Her two year old gets rashes, two daughters get regular migraines, one daughter has severe heart palpitations, and all suffer from regular congestion and occasional constipation. Yuck.
If she was alone in this complaint, I might write her off as a crackpot or someone seeking legal action. Sadly though, she is not and the MSM ignores this story with a veracity that seems almost criminal. Dozens of other families throughout the region are experiencing the exact same symptoms and BP and the government has responded by saying: "We need more studies." Meanwhile, people are suffering and more might be getting sick and not even know it.
BP has been stalling on paying anyone claiming to be sick using the old adage of "prove we made you sick," nonsense that has killed cancer patients off with only the tobacco industry found liable in a any way, shape or form. Our air is getting worse, our water less clean and our food less safe to eat as Republicans are hell bent on increasing arsenic levels in all to keep those pesky regulations from earning them another nickle. Everytime we know what is actually going on, the government says we need to study it more, big business hires dickwads to challenge the results and nothing every gets done. Meanwhile, we and our kids are dying.
Experts who studied the effects on the dispersant used and oil present came up with shocking findings that the chemicals were found everywhere: is soil, wetlands, wildlife. Exposure to these chemicals by inhalation, ingestion, and skin and eye contact can cause symptoms that include headaches, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pains, chest pains, respiratory system damage, skin sensitisation, hypertension, central nervous system depression, neurotoxic effects, genetic mutations, cardiac arrhythmia, and cardiovascular damage. The chemicals can also cause birth defects, mutations and cancer. I don't remember that being on the nightly news lately.
Just not living or visiting the area may not be enough to protect you. As stated above, the chemicals found in the dispersant is also now being detected in the seafood. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been discovered in all major seafood in the area, a known carcinogen. In fact, levels of PAHs in shrimp were found to exceed the FDA’s allowable levels for pregnant women in up to 53% of Gulf shrimp sampled. As PAHs cause birth defects, this is especially troubling. This means that someone in another part of the country could be eating contaminated food and not even know it. The government is not there to protect you anymore, but the industries they serve. Remember that the next time you order a big plate of fried shrimp and pray it didn't come from the Gulf of Mexico.
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