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Health Risks from Oil Spill: "Some of the Most Toxic Chemicals that We Know" , "Every Place Can be Ground Zero", CDC Advises "Everyone" to Avoid Oil
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An "epidemiologist" is a scientist who studies
diseases among groups of people.
So the following quote
from Bloomberg caught my eye:
Shira Kramer, an epidemiologist who has conducted
research for the petroleum industry on the health consequences of
exposure to petroleum, said she is concerned that the risks are being
downplayed.
“It’s completely scientifically
dishonest to pooh-pooh the potential here when you are talking about
some of the most toxic chemicals that we know,” said Kramer....
“When you talk about community exposure, you are
talking about exposures in unpredictable ways and to subpopulations that
may be more highly susceptible than others, such as those of
reproductive age, people who are immuno-compromised, children or
fetuses.
‘With the World Trade Center, there
have been unpredictable adverse health effects to the populations that
were exposed and not just the workers,” she said. “In this case, we
have a soup of chemicals from the crude, chemicals from the dispersants
and pollutants that were already in the water. Who can say how they
will interact?”
Crude
oil contains such powerful cancer-causing chemicals benzene,
toluene,
heavy
metals and
arsenic.
In addition, BP has poured millions of gallons of the
highly-toxic
dispersant Corexit into the Gulf. And see this.
Bloomberg
also notes that the Centers for Disease Control has issued health
warnings about the oil:
“Although the oil may contain some chemicals that could
cause harm to an unborn baby under some conditions, the CDC has
reviewed sampling data from the EPA and feels that the levels of these
chemicals are well below the level that could generally cause harm to
pregnant women or their unborn babies,” the CDC said on its website.
While they suggest there is no threat, the CDC
simultaneously advised “everyone,
including pregnant women” to avoid spill-affected areas.
While we must keep the risk in perspective - and
while this does not mean that Gulf coast residents will
suffer mass illness due to the oil spill - we should not underestimate
the risks either. As Bloomberg notes:
“Oil is a complex mixture containing substances like
benzene, heavy metals, arsenic, and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons
-- all known to cause human health problems such as cancer, birth
defects or miscarriages,” said Kenneth Olden, founding dean of New
York’s CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College, who is
monitoring a panel on possible delayed effects. “The potential here is
huge and we have to be diligent about protecting the public health and
these workers.”
For the public at large, the
threat is less clear because of the uncertainty about the degree of
exposure, Lioy said in a telephone interview.
“I don’t think the levels are high enough for concern,” he said. “But
this is an ongoing event. Every day is Day One. Every place can be
Ground Zero.”
Because
hurricanes
could spread the oil inland, it may indeed be true that almost
every place on the Gulf Coast can be Ground Zero.
Other Oil Updates:
Robot damaged cap, BP removes cap, oil now GUSHING UNCHECKED.
BP
Had the Technology to Accurately Measure Amount of Oil Leaking into the
Gulf 2 Years Ago
»
- advertisements -
it's starting...oil rain in New Orleans
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/23/raining-oil-in-louisiana_n_622815.html
I am simply amazed at the amount of trust people still have in these "government agencies" despite repeatedly outright lying to the American public. When are we just going to use our common sense and stop relying on government "anal-ysis"?
Oil is NOT safe. Get the HELL away from it. Got it?
Please explain the instances of "repeated outright lying" to the American public.
When did anyone ever tell you that you should drink oil?
If you did drink oil before they told you not to do that,
it explains the nonsense of your posts.
The epa is contradicting itself - as the notred sources of this report show - The air is dangerous even for short periods of exposure - Your knowledge stops at how to fix a properly drilled well .
http://www.sciencecorps.org/crudeoilhazards.htm
When babies are born with cancer or deformed that shit falls on assholes like you who defend the indefensible.
As someone who works in the environmental health field, I call BS. Please remember that the CDC and WHO were super alarmists about H1N1 (Swine Flu), as well.
Leaking rig now being reported in the Red Sea. Just in time to greet the American fleet.
Regards.
"The relief well is drilling normally..." Success depends entirely on drilling into an 18" steel casing 14000+ feet below the surface. Per Matt Simmons the chance of the relief well being successful (capping the blowout) is zero since the casing string in the blowout is either very damaged or has essentially collasped into the center of earth. The issue is not drilling a relief well, its whether its possible to stop/cap the blowout well. It would be wonderful if the relief well is successful, but you have to consider the real probability that it will fail and hundreds of millions bbls of toxic oil will leak into the GoM for years turning large areas into dead zones and force the evacuation of millions. Until it stops leaking, the risk is very real.
"... hundreds of millions bbls of toxic oil will leak into the GoM for years turning large areas into dead zones ..."
We put a man on the moon. We geared up for WWII in a very short time. We do other amazing things with technology. Why are you content to believe that we would let the well leak into the GoM for years?? If the relief wells don't work, we will quickly invent very efficient methods for capturing the escaping crude. The crude is worth too many dollars on the open market to do otherwise. And have you noticed the NASA satellite pictures of GoM? There is very little of the oil to the west of the Mississippi. Lots of life in the sea over there.
Per Matt Simmons 13,000 feet of pipe was jacked out out of the hole, through the rig derrick, and across the GOM and no one but him knows about it. No one on the rig was alert enough to see 2 1/2 miles of pipe flying through the air. That is a theory that you and Geo Wash can believe?
If mud was able to control the well while drilling, and for several day while it was logged and casing was run, it is likely that mud will control the flow again.
The reservoir has more than 10 Billion barrels of production capabilities according to Geo Wash and WMR. This 65' pay zone will produce more than the Saudis can ever dream of. The well is actually 35,000 ft deep and it is connected to an underground cavern greater than Mt. Everest, entirely filled with benzene.
Keep shopping people and take a vacation to a southeastern beach.
gw and augustus,
yes. i get it. here from the link.../s
fiat driven drivel, cause, resulting in that historically
honored activity (effect) of random insult and assault,killing, and
irrationally expecting to win hearts and minds. hearts
and minds? what does that mean? sedation? yes. and
acquiescence and an intellectual stillbirth as in
you, we , have nothing of value to offer except our
usury and collection rackets..... more randomness ensues.....
"Indeed, the entire fabric of thought about
deep reservoirs has been ripped apart and is
now being sewn back together in new patterns.
“The geology of the rocks below the salt is
quite different from that of above-salt sediments,”
says Moffett. “We suspect the environment
of deposition was such that the shelf
sands were better sorted than they were onshore.”
Furthermore, high temperatures and pressures
below the salt likely created acidic gas,
which dissolved certain constituents of the
reservoir such as feldspars and clays. The result:
primary and secondary porosity made even
better by diagenetic processes.
“We won’t know until we flow-test Davy
“The only
scorecard at
the end of the
day is
reserves. That
is something
shareholders
can
understand.”
James R.
Moffett,
McMoRan
Exploration
Co.
Jones just how good it is, but the gamma ray
and resistivity curves in the Wilcox look so
clean and blocky it could be a Miocene sand.”
Additionally, Davy Jones and Blackbeard
proved to the industry that sub-salt pressures on
the shelf were manageable. This was another
revision of preconceived notions. “Pressures
below the salt weld are actually much lower
than we would have expected 10 years ago,”
says Moffett. “We drilled Davy Jones and
Blackbeard with 18-pounds-per-gallon mud.”
Certainly, the bottomhole environments are
challenging in the extreme, but they do lie
within accepted parameters for production.
Reservoir temperatures are in the 430-degree-
Farenheit range at Davy Jones, similar to temperatures
the industry already grapples with in
the Norphlet in Mobile Bay, and actually lower
than those seen in Fandango Field in South
Texas.
“We don’t feel we have any issue with hydrocarbon
mobility or rock quality at Davy
Jones,” saysMoffett.
2010 program
Davy Jones gives all appearances of holding
many Tcfe of gas in place. McMoRan had 272
Bcfe of proved reserves at year-end 2009, but if
this new field can be developed economically,
the company’s size could mushroom. It holds a
26% net revenue interest in the discovery.
“Nothing gets an E&P analyst more excited
than the discussion of 20,000-acre structures
draped with porous clean sands, filled from
base to the top with what appears to be natural
gas, and no faults or trapdoors to let the pesky
hydrocarbons escape,” wrote analyst Nicholas
Pope, of Dahlman Rose & Co., when Davy
Jones was unveiled in January.
“But, with all the excitement, it’s still important
to understand the remaining risks involved
in this well that should be answered with a production
test,” Pope said. The ability of the formation
to produce and the exact composition of
the hydrocarbons are still key questions.
“At the pressures and depths we’re dealing
with, there are few certainties and few comparables.
But, we acknowledge the risks and think
that the Davy Jones discovery is likely on the
order of 2.5 Tcf (gross), and we estimate it’s
worth roughly $7.50 per share (risked).”
McMoRan is working diligently to complete
and production-test the discovery. If it can secure
properly robust equipment, it hopes to kick
that effort off in the coming 12 to 18 months.
“We have all kinds of things to sort out
here,” Moffett says. “This reminds me of the
Grasberg deposit that we discovered in Indonesia
in 1988, and the challenge of being able to
produce it. People said, ‘Hell, you’ll never be
able to produce it.’ Sound familiar?
“The only scorecard at the end of the day is
reserves. That is something shareholders can
understand.”
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBPIPWqOziw
.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/06/23
.
comment and key words: pressure, "acknowledgment of risk",
co operation.
reserves (and fiat profit) are things shareholders "understand".
lol. "the only scorecard at the end of the day is reserves".
here the breakdown of the intellect. good luck with that.
ps. i enjoy both of your expressions and contributions. odd. i am.
blindman.
ppss... gw, thank you.
ppppsss. having trouble with posting here, ?, software, i explorer issues?
so here let me post this too, since this post seems to be working ....
http://maxkeiser.com/2010/06/
.
big picture stuff. and much more...so much fundamental stuff in play
all at once. and i was thinking how paradigm is all about designating,
unconsciously, cause. so the effect can be accepted, collectively, as
reality. when pardigms change cause becomes effect, the specific relationship
is comprehended, acknowledged, and a new
cause becomes the unconscious basis for the reality, effect. think,
where does our money system originate? what is the energetic
source of our infrastructure? and associated analogic narratives
that describe, inform, our thinking in relation to our conceptions of
these systems.
the goal being to integrate seminal "cause" into our knowledge and
knowledge base. mind. simple.
imo.
What would you honestly expect of the administration?
Come out and say that the GoM will be a dead zone, physically and economically, for a generation?
That the US's 4th largest economy, primarily dependent on tourism, is screwed?
They've told far worse lies about much smaller things already.
May be in bad taste (sic) but I'm having a "Corexit Martini"
Gin, 2 oz
Vermouth, dash
ice
2 tsp. olive oil, plus 2 large martini olives.
Combine in a shaker, shake vigorously, and pour into a glass.
For big picture background, see this, this and this.
Disclaimer 1: If the Russians are right about abiotic oil, then peak oil might not be true, but it STILL might be more dangerous and expensive to extract the abiotic oil reserves which haven't already been drained (in human timescales, they may not recharge, even if there is an unlimited abiotic recharging process on geologic timescales).
Disclaimer 2: Even though I studied global warming and environmental science at a good university, I am now agnostic about climate change. So take Klare's predictions with one or more grains of salt according to taste.
The deal with the abiotic oil theory is that is about the same as actually disproving that the belief in ghosts.
This is a very darned good article that addresses the issue.
The “Abiotic Oil” Controversy by Richard Heinberg http://www.energybulletin.net/node/2423 There has not been an oil reservoir that has not had an organic carbon origin signature. I was pretty excited about the Thomas Gold idea. The fellow was certainly very, very intelligent and had well reasoned theories. That does not mean that his was correct in everything. What attracted me at first was the observation that several planets have methane atmospheres and have been that way since being formed. If everything was once methane, where did the earth's methane go? So far there has be nothing done to confirm the abiotic oil theory.The illness and death count will be spun. When the death count gets large enough, the controlled media will have to pick it up. The problems for those exposed when they should not be, could be long lasting and could be avoided. The health risk of the US citizen is being intentionally covered and the correct education to the public is avoided, if not misleading.
Yet another success
NEW ORLEANS – Tens of thousands of gallons more oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday after an undersea robot bumped into the cap that had been containing some of the crude, forcing BP to remove it.
The setback, yet another in the nine-week effort to stop the gusher, came as the Obama administration tried to figure out how to resurrect a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling and thick pools of oil washed up on beaches in Florida.
Thanks for the post GW. You may want to send it to all of the msm reporting live from the gulf since everytime I turn on the tv I see one of these idiots literally lathering themselves up with it to show us how bad things are. So yes, you would think common sense would prevail and people wouldn't voluntarily subject themselves to this stuff but apparently there are plenty of people out there splish splashin around in it.
btw, someone get these fucking clean up crews some respirators already.
That's f'ed up.
murder by government. There is a hurricane coming, the air is bad and getting worse . If it comes down with the rain now it will be a horror show the entire east coast. Slick streets and folks in a hurry to get out. All adds to a big problem worsening.
Is the government warning the folks? Why the hell not? Do they WANT so many folks hurt? All legitemate questions in light of the evidence.
No kidding. Nightstick to the face for asking questions these days. One of the horrific aspects of the mess is that our gov't knows the answers and they are generally silent. Very scary. People are waking up but mainstream media lulls them back.
I was showing her police brutality videos on YT as well as other controversial topics, stepped out for moment and when I came back she was playing solitaire! Who freaking cares! Save yourself is what I say. Anyone that can't be convinced of the need for a plan of action now is a liability; I hate to say it, but a "useless eater" of my storage food.
Why does it have to be so hard to convince people of what they can already see with their own eyes!!!!!!
It is hard to convince people because the truth is so distasteful that they want to believe the lie, that everything will be OK. Some are using the time we have to do what they can to prepare as best they can. Others choose to simply to ignore the signs of trouble.
Didn't you know that saving people from a slow, cruel death is like ... expensive?
Funerals are cheap, especially for poor people and children.
No sarcasm flag here, people. That's just how they run the numbers. Fuck you if you think it's smart.
Heard on the radio from the mayor of Gulf Shores. He promised me the beaches were safe and free of oil. Besides, he said, most people that come to Gulf Shores never go in the water anyway. Wow, now i'm relieved.
Thanks for the updates GW. Don't sweat the hacks.
Sounds like the 4th of July weekend in Amity ;)
Thank you GW for posting this vital info! The ruling class will try to sweep this under the rug, just like they are trying to sweep the Derivatives/economic crises under the rug by blaming consumers, speculators, etc. I have met people who either don't even know there is an oil spill still going on, or think that "it will be taken care of" - thinking that it is just a bunch of environmentalists' griping! This is a devastating economic event in that region. Eventually, tar balls will be washing up on Miami and North Carolina beaches (late summer/early fall). People need to know what the real situation is and have wisdom in taking precautions. Closer to the spill, people will be living with the toxic effects for more than 10 years.
And all the while, the ruling class will say, "We settled for xxBillion$$, we wash our hands of the on-going health and economic problems it has caused you."
We need to take care of ourselves and educate others. Hearing truthful information is more helpful than hearing sanitized MSM sound bites. The possibility of health problems is more important to hear about than just dismissing this as another economic disaster that will be papered-over.
Thank you GW for posting this vital info! The ruling class will try to sweep this under the rug, . . .
Are you clueless?
The CDC made the announcement to sweep something under the rug? What bug rug are you living under?
Do you believe gasoline energy is something that is an Energy Drink? Do you sniff your tank for a benzene hit? Suck on a tailpipe for a Saturday Night high? Can you read a warning label?
Thanks GW. Appreciate all you do. We're screwed as property owners on the panhandle. If you thought some of the banks had it bad already with FL RE issues, just wait. When the panhandle has condo after condo go under it will then be truly horrific.
Seems to me that if Gov't didnt have its hands in the pocket of corporate, people would be told to leave . At least pregnant women .
http://www.sciencecorps.org/crudeoilhazards.htm
The reports the EPA have on the effects of crude/dispersants and the chemicals which enter the air seem to contradict their statements .
If the disaster was smaller, they'd be going door-to-door to tell people how to protect themeselves. They'd close schools, bus the elderly into other counties, transport hospital patients to other hospitals further away.
The very same disaster on a larger scale, you get nothing. Hell they play it down "nothing to see here folks move along".
Unbelievable. Crass, heartless, cheap-ass, bottom-line ROI, scum sucking motherfuckers, from Obama all the way down and not skipping even the janitor or the dog.
Oh cougar, not the dog? :>)
But of course you're correct. It's called shelter in place, aka fend for yourself because there's no political, moral or citizen will to do much else. Katrina was the dry run (no pun intended) to measure public and corporate apathy and we lost.
This is what happens when we're been ground down into separate little bits huddled in front of the boobtube seeking salvation or at least relief form the constant assaults. Where is our moral courage?
Chapter 5 is up, asking just that question.
"Oh cougar, not the dog? :>)"
Reminds me of Baby-Face Nelson shooting the livestock...
You should, if you haven't already, ask if a contributor post can be stuck in place for awhile (a day or so); your final installment has already been bumped by the others on the site. Looking forward to reading this one.
What it boils down to is this is a ponzi breaker and as this site has evidenced again and again people aren't as important as keeping the ponzi together.
this is instructive for those considering a bottom (dead) fishing expedition in BP, which I have and decided against. The scope of BP's liabilities is not definable and could become out of control. Class action suits for all residents of Gulf states, with an outcome similar to world trade center workers, where even those not showing any effects nine years later are paid off just the same? How about Obama requires BP to make-whole all real estate values in the Gulf states? How about Obama wants BP to make good on "economic collateral damage" across the country? At end of the day, the Socialists, abley led by Obama, can and just might expropriate the value of BP's assets for whatever purpose they deem worthy.
Hey, I have not been sleeping well since the oil spill. I stay up late into the night watching the spill cam. I have nightmares, and my performance at work is going down hill.
Do you think I have a claim?
This is pure BULLSHIT! I posted this several times to refute THE DEGREED EXPERTS on this forum when THE DEGREED EXPERTS said that tides, storms, hurricanes, etc. would help to BIODEGRADE and DISPERSE the oil - not understanding that it is CRUDE and called that for a REASON - , so that it won't be CONCENTRATED in local areas.
This is BULLSHIT and discredited by THE DEGREED EXPERT posters.
Am I the only biologist who hangs out on ZH?
Sometimes these discussions and comments are depressing as hell. I sense the futility of even trying.
CW
You are more than wanted here! I love reading your posts and value your knowledge and perspective. I hope you will generate articles and threads if and when the time is right. There are so many questions about so many topics in this catastrophe we need all the experts and energy we can muster. This is not an us vs. them thing....it is a 7 sigma we are all in this together shit storm!
+10 Not sure I get where some of these comments are coming from.
I am an engineer and work around chemicals mentioned in the article. They are as bad as they author states. The chemicals do not cause a quick death. It will appears years later as chronic health problems like various cancers and other unpleasant slow killing diseases. Want to go swimming in the gulf banksters?
I had to take a 10-day HazMat course once, when I was going to work for a few years on a SuperFund site. Learned a lot of scary stuff, and the knowledge serves me to this day. I can't believe how casual people are around raw chemicals and spills, and all the stuff that ends up in the atmosphere or dumped on the ground.
If I lived near the GoM right now I'd move the fuck out and just take my chances. Fuck it, BP can pay for a hotel room 300 miles inland. Because no way they would pay my medical bills or funeral 10 years later after they've "cleaned up" and moved on.
Immoral corporations and their government goons. The common man and his family are crushed between them. Nobody will even know what hit them.
10+ "Immoral corporations and their government goons. The common man and his family are crushed between them. Nobody will even know what hit them."
You got that exactly right!!! Paul Farrell's commentary yesterday about the Invisible Gorilla points out how the system is run completely for selfish gain and is immoral and out of control.
"Yes, tragically for future generations of Americans the guidance system of capitalism's Invisible Hand has been replaced by the guiding hand of Wall Street: With no public conscience, no soul, no ethics, no moral values, nothing other than the addict's obsession to get as rich as possible, fast as possible."
The only ones who will know will be the deformed newborns and the mothers who have to take care of them .
But you know what happens then ... they blame the mothers for "not being careful" or some crap like that. Meanwhile, Tony Hayward buys himself a new yacht every year.
We are a cruel bunch of monkeys. The wrong people are suffering.
CW:
what follows is from an e-mail i wrote to friend when we were discussing the spill. i think it applies to this conversation, especialy in light of your comment about the wrong people suffering:
"any time you have a high risk project bad things can happen. that's why, when emergencies occur, experienced managers/leaders rely on time tested processes and procedures to get them thru difficult undertakings: you go back to the simplest, most basic, fundamental guidelines common to your discipline and follow those exactly. it's time consuming, expensive and exhausting but can, if you're both lucky and good, produce positive outcomes. what I see here is the same thing that happened during the financial crisis: massive of amounts of money in play in incredibly risky projects, misunderstood potential outcomes, clear warning signs ignored, projects on the far edge of current technological capabilities with oversight and regulation of said moon-shot's a fiction at best. this kind of approach to things has become endemic and arises, at least in part I think, from the ascendancy of a specific personality type that seems to flourish in such high risk, fast paced, chaotic circumstances. these people are driven to risky ends because of their own internal needs to constantly be pressing the envelope of gamesmanship and stimulation. they are relentless, take no prisoners, slash and burn managers whose only concern is their own self interest. when push comes to shove and things get ugly, they are both unwilling, and unable, to accept any responsibility for their actions. though they can be charming and convincing on a superficial level, they are heartless manipulators when it matters most. these people are called psychopaths and they, and their behavior, are part and parcel of the tumultuous boom-bust cycle of the last 20 years."Yeah, I know the type. So-called "alpha males". Hungry, nasty little Ivy League fraternity fucks. Their moms are enemies to all women, birthing twisted monsters like that.
That's fine for them 'til we go all Natural Selection on their narrow asses. Frat boy stew and weed out the gene pool, mo'fo. And there I am again talking about food. I get angry and then I get hungry dammit.
That Dewey Revette was a real Ivy League frat boy.
yo, CW:
i'm with you on the nest of vipers from Yarvard but, girl, you gotta chill just a little....you don't want to do the 'lovely little claret and fava bean' thing..................