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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 -
"I truly don't see the point in your missives."
That is revealing. I got his points right away. Argumentative?? Quite rightly. Fact versus speculation. Educating versus stirring the pot for the sake of stirring the pot.
Here is the deal:
Chicken Little is running around telling people that there is NEWS that there are carcineogens in crude oil or gasoline. That is not news. Have you considered what the likely benzene levels are at the Pump and Shop where you got the gas and a slushy for the children? Are you aware of any tests for it? What if the last customer spilled 6 ounces at their fill up? How about the escape of harmful chemicals into the air you breath when you overfill the lawnmower. Did it cause you to go sterile?
The point is that the human body deals with very small quantities of "harmful" substances every day. They exist in the natural environment. Avoiding concentrated amounts is a good recommendation. the concentration in the air over the GOM resulting from this blowout will not affect anything measureable.
Dewd, that was lame.
GW, sorry your great investigations always get swarmed. It shows you doing are doing it right!
"Is it you claim now that the Sigsby salt is thousands of feet of loose material? "
Of course not. But there is up to a thousand feet of loose material caused by stuff washed down the Mississippi and other nearby rivers, overpressured materials, etc. Go ask one of the petroleum industry geologists at The Oil Drum with GOM experience ...
The Mississippi Canyon was - in the relatively recent geologic past - highly unstable.
Salt and sand formations could mean things are a little soft even under the top layer of muck.
Get it?
You know the scariest thing I've heard?
The head geologist from a major oil company told me the other day "this could have happened to anyone", in other words, any oil company.
THAT is terrifying, given the number of deepwater wells around the world in the GOM, Canada, Brazil, Angola, Nigeria and other countries.
Yellowstone park was unstable in the "recent geologic past". Should it be closed? Should the federal govt. attempt to stabalize it?
You know the scariest thing? You don't know what he was trying to tell you. His point is not about the formations. It is about a company not performing adequate checks on the cement job before they displace the mud. Any company which does that can have a blowout. It has nothing to do with "company practice." It was a decision and assessment made by a very few people on that drilling rig. How many blowouts have there been in the GOM prior to this one?
Augustus,
Yes, it could have happened to anyone, but it didn't, it happened to BP. You say the disaster was a reflection of poor decisions by a few people on the rig floor. NO! It is a reflection on BP.
Who were the people on the rig floor trained by, and whose reward system were they responding to. Were they rewarded for being careful, or "making hole" and meeting schedules (reasonable or not).
Things like this happen to people who are responding to time/money pressure applied from the top.
IF you actually believe that the people making decisions on this well KNEW that the well was flowing and still decided to unload the well, you are an idiot.
They did not KNOW that it was flowing because they failed to monitor the flow information. We cannot know anything for certain about the information they had or how they reached whatever conclusions the made. However, it is pretty evident that there was a problem with the cement job within a few hours of it being pumped. The returns were greater than what they pumped. The people on the rig did not recognize it. Well blows. It is a terrible tragedy with widespread damage. However the cause is not a mystery or because of extreme conditions.
You are not the first person to call me an idiot.
In this particular case, however, I dont believe I said that they KNEW the well was flowing. I said that people take risks to make schedule when they are rewarded to make schedule. The reward structure is a corporate policy, and it motivates behavior. People do what is rewarded.
At an operations level, people many times view systems as being over-engineered. The cable is rated at 1 ton, but they will put 1.5 tons on it, knowing that there is margin in the specs. Whether operations people play "by the book" or wing it, depends on the corporate culture. Accidents happen when companies reward people who "git her done". A operations manager who might get a $100K bonus if he can pull the schedule in WILL take risks and cut corners.
"The last full-scale eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano, the Lava Creek eruption which happened nearly 640,000 years ago"
Whereas "From 20,000 years to approximately 5,000 years B.P., a series of late Wisconsin and Holocene delta lobes formed and were responsible for the remainder of the fill of the canyon."
640,000 is more than two orders of magnitude greater than 5,000.
Look, you're no fun to debate. Why? I love debating people coming from very different perspectives/backgrounds, and I often learn something and even change my views.
But people just trying to spout the party line are boring.
Hasta muchisimo mas tarde ...
People disseminating BS as factual are what makes any debate impossible. I'm not supposing that this is a debate. I consider it exposure of BS.
So, in your view, if Yellowstone had errupted at a more recent date than the lobes, it would be more meaningful? In what way? Would it be more or less likely to errupt tomorrow? How do you know? It is as if you are writing that if the electric meter was read after the gas meter there is more danger from electricity.
Oh look Augustus is shitting a thread up with stupidity. I'm shocked.
"BP stated from about day two that the only way to actually stop the flow was a relief well."
Source.
"They are making reasonable progress on that."
What actions have they successfully taken that are causing you to think that the progress is reasonable?
"It will be no different from any other relief well kill."
How do you know this?
Note that none of the questions are meant to be taken as rhetorical, merely just challenging you to produce the level of depth you are requesting from GW.
You seem to be unaware that they provide regular updates of the drilling progress, If you follow them you would know that they are doing very well and are possibly ahead of original estimate.
Geo Wash attempted to assert that he was an authority on GOM geology by throwing out a few geologic terms for the different formations. Anyone who did not know them was uninformed. They were simply localized names for types of formations found in many places.
These relief wells are not particularly different from any other relief well. They are always done in emergency situations. The team doing this one has had an intercept on the first try on the last eight they have done. If it misses, they will stab at it again.
This well is not some monster. It was stable and under control using normal drilling mud and practices until they displaced the mud. It was drill and logged for several days. then they ran the casing. All under control bu the drilling mud. The relief well will inject the mud back into the well from the bottom and kill it again. Then the cement will make it permanent.
(yawn...) ... we're waiting ...
Set your clock for 08/24/2010 to remind you to check again.
Now you can resume your video game.
All they did was ask you for a link to substantiate your progress report.
Sounds like someone lost a LOT of money with BP; we feel ya pain, little fella;)
Get back with us in August, Augustus; sure you're stock will be soaring again by then!
Sweet little Carbuncle,
I have not ever been a BP owner. If you were not aware that extended exposure to crude was not healthy for you, then I guess you were the target for the CDC warnings. It is government money well spent attempting to explain the obvious one more time to the idiots, wouldn't you agree?
Interesting article on drilling in the GOM and deep wells.
Discovery of the year.
http://www.mcmoran.com/pdf/2010/moffett_best_discovery_reprint.pdf
Interesting article. Unless you really are looking forward to a Mad Max lifestyle, y'all better start rooting for the Jim Bob's out there. Yes, oil is toxic, and yes, life on large sections of the GoM coast is going to progressively resemble the Niger Delta (see link for details) -- but that's the price we pay for the corner we've painted ourselves into. Folks will adapt -- they usually do.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/world/africa/17nigeria.html?scp=1&sq=n...
As for BP, BK is the best option, and the sooner the better, imo. Once they start "taking responsibility," it creates a shark effect. Before you know it, every bubba who wakes up with a headache or has a nosebleed will be filing a claim. All this kind of thing needs to be consolidated in a single Federal jurisdiction where it can be ring-fenced and reserved for. The best BP assets will probably wind up in XOM's portfolio, as well as some of the other majors. So be it. The sooner we move past the wailing and gnashing of teeth stage, the better for everybody.
4shzl, you make some interesting points.
As I posted above (read the links only if you have trouble falling asleep):
As for bk, see this.