Gulf Oil Spill Cleanup Workers Getting Sick, Scientist Compares It To Exxon Valdez

"Deja Vu."

That's how marine toxicologist and Huffington Post blogger Rikki Ott described the similarity of events surrounding the failing health of workers recruited to cleanup the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and their Alaskan counterparts who worked to do the same after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.

On Wednesday, The Los Angeles Times reported that fishermen hired to cleanup BP's mess were coming down with nausea, severe headaches, and breathing problems after working in waters contaminated by the nation's worst oil spill.

BP reportedly told the workers that if they encountered oil, it "wasn't supposed to bother [them]." BP did not distribute gloves, suits, or any other kind of protective gear.

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Crews work to clean up oil washed ashore at Pensacola Beach in Pensacola Fla., Wednesday, June 23, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill continues to wash a shore along the Florida panhandle. (AP Photo/ Michael Spooneybarger)

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Crews work to clean up oil washed ashore at Pensacola Beach in Pensacola Fla., Wednesday, June 23, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill continues to wash a shore along the Florida panhandle. (AP Photo/ Michael Spooneybarger)

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Following up on the LA Times report, Propublica noted that BP continues to use a dispersant called Corexit, which has been tied to human health problems in the past. BP continues to use Corexit despite a deadline imposed by the EPA directing the oil company to stop using it.

Ott told the Times that the illnesses for cleanup workers were "déjà vu ... What we saw with Exxon Valdez was a parallel track -- sick animals and sick people. Harbor seals were looking like they were drunk and dying ... and autopsies showed brain lesions....What are we exposing these poor fishermen to?"

While sicknesses observed during the current BP oil spill might be most similar to those during the 1989 Exxon Valdex cleanup, other events, like the failed blowout preventers, location, and long-shot solutions appear to be more similar to a different spill, 1979'S Ixtoc 1 oil spill.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow reported on the striking similarities:

WATCH:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Comments

[Greg Hedgepath]

04:42 PM on 06/24/2010

I lived through Hugo, opal and George, It seems like these followed me as I moved around coastal cities. All I can say is I cannot imagine the devastation that would have been left had the ocean been full of crude oil at the time. Hugo took us months to clean up, Opal was almost like why try and George really messed up the keys. Cudjoe key was completely under water. That would be a DEAD island now almost 13 years later.

I hope we do not have to wait for a hurricane to find out. Perhaps we should be looking at some of the solutions mentioned on this link.
http://www.fusionfx.net/index.php/2010/06/24/5-solutions-to-clean-the-bp-oil-spill-from-the-gulf-of-mexico/

Shortened URL http : //bit.ly/aiiBiX

5 Solutions to clean the BP Oil Spill From the Gulf of Mexico | Politics & Capitalism: http://bit.ly/aiiBiX

[Robin Blinn]

01:56 PM on 06/09/2010

This is absolutely irresponsible. The workers should be provided with full protective gear INCLUDING respirators, or perhaps air tanks. BP is responsible for this and they are paying their owners, AKA stockholders billions in the next few weeks. They can afford to pat the cost of protecting those who have to clean up their mess.

It happened before, in Alaska

http://bit.ly/9sInm3

There is no excuse to let it happen again.

[holmberglee]

12:13 PM on 07/14/2010

not arguing that in certain conditions yes the workers should be provided with the correct equipment, as person in the field of emergency medicine let me add that having this equpiment on ALL the time will be more harmful to the workers than the oil. I recently was in the gulf doing medical standby for these workers and gets to be over 100 degrees during the day when you factor in the heat index. Heat is the number one concern for these workers aside from the oil itself.

[sompo]

06:05 AM on 06/08/2010

i think this link could helps..
http://hubpages.com/hub/oil-spills-clean-up-methods

[sompo]

06:04 AM on 06/08/2010

According to research, there are some method that could be used to Clean-Up Oil Spills...but there is haven't any prove to state this method effective yet.

[Odins Acolyte]

09:30 AM on 06/03/2010

I worked in the oil field often covered from head to toe in the stuff. Never ill. Never have been.
What is wrong with these folks? Perhaps something else is making them sick. I would bet it isn't the crude oil. Maybe they need some money...

[nmaddog7]

12:06 PM on 06/01/2010

They told ppl it wouldn't BOTHER them.this company everyday turns out more and more unbelievable stuff, next thing you know they'll be nuking the leak and saying it's safe.

[Tweets4iPad]

01:26 AM on 05/31/2010

This may not feel like the same kind of disaster Katrina was. No high winds. No flooding tide waters. But this disaster will already cause more damage to our ecology, wildlife, property, and economy than all US hurricanes put together. Even if the oil gushing into the Gulf was stopped today, there is already enough oil in the Gulf to coat the beaches of the entire US Gulf Coast from Texas to Miami. Thousands of seabirds, turtles, fish, and mammals will perish as they succumb to the oily goo. The fishing, shrimping, and shellfish industries will whither away along with their fishing habitats. Billions of dollars of prime Gulf Coast real-estate will plummet in an already deeply depressed housing market. Perhaps millions of people will be denied their livelihoods. And this will continue for decades to come while the oil slowly degrades over time.

But the oil continues to gush! And our U.S. Government isn't issuing a "State of Emergency" for one of our most precious resources? We are not calling on all of the private and military resources at our disposal to do everything we can to stop this disaster in the making? Oil tankers capable of cleaning the spill from the surface are not being summoned to help? We appear to simply stand idly by as a foreign national corporation (BP) flounders at attempts to control a disaster they should never have been allowed to cause in the first place.

[Merle Savage]

03:54 PM on 05/30/2010

Article from Las Vegas Review Journal: http://www.lvrj.com/news/exxon-valdez-oil-risks-spur-warning-for-gulf-cleanup-crews-93258964.html
The workers who are cleaning up the oil in the Gulf need to be aware of the chemicals that will be used. I am one of the 11,000+ cleanup workers from the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS), who is suffering from health issues from that toxic cleanup, without compensation from Exxon.
My name is Merle Savage; a female general foreman during the EVOS beach cleanup in 1989, which turned into 20 years of extensive health deterioration for me and many other workers. Dr. Riki Ott visited me in 2007 to explain about the toxic spraying on the beaches. She also informed me that Exxon's medical records that surfaced in litigation by sick workers in 1994, had been sealed from the public, making it impossible to hold Exxon responsible for their actions. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5632208859935499100
Exxon developed the toxic spraying; OSHA, the Coast Guard, and the state of Alaska authorized the procedure; VECO and other Exxon contractors implemented it. Beach crews breathed in crude oil that splashed off the rocks and into the air -- the toxic exposure turned into chronic breathing conditions and central nervous system problems, along with other massive health issues. Some of the illnesses include neurological impairment, chronic respiratory disease, leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, liver damage, and blood disease. http://www.silenceinthesound.com/stories.shtml

[JUSTSAYING--]

10:53 AM on 06/22/2010

Fanned for speaking out!!

[KarateKid]

07:48 PM on 05/27/2010

Part Two

Yet, he's gotten things done in spite of the odds. But does he ever get any credit for that? No, the whining about HCR continues, as it does for the Wall Street reforms and other things. Is some of it deserved? Of course it is, no one is perfect.

But he's the best we have, better than anyone on the other side of the aisle I can think of. I've asked the cretins time and again, who's gonna beat him? The answer is _dead silence.

I expected the whining and name calling from the _retards of the right, but I must say, I've also been disappointed with some of you on the Left, so quick to criticize without knowing all the facts, and even name calling, like Marcospinelli did, calling him a weasel the other day. Some have called those of us defending him apologists and other names. So be it, I, for one, don't need fair weather, phony friends, so what ever you say means nothing.

You know anyone who can do better than he has, under these circumstances? Let's see some names.

[vippy]

08:08 PM on 05/27/2010

For a while I made the same excuse, but to sign off on shoddy bills is not in the interest of those who elected him but those who put the money out. By now we know that the president is not running this country, the FED, the shadow government, the Bilderbergs, the 1% rich who own the majority of this world are and therefore will we have wars until 2028,no matter who is elected prez.
On the other hand people don't get any smarter and keep voting for the crooks, millionaires, the cards are stacked against us. Tell me one bill that was done for the good of the people!

[betito]

10:57 AM on 05/30/2010

thank you

[KarateKid]

07:48 PM on 05/27/2010

Part One

Just a reminder: we didn't elect a god; we elected a human being. Like another pioneer, Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player, he has had to tread carefully, under more scrutiny than anyone in that position in US history.

Not only because of that, but perhaps because expectations fell to an all time low with his incompetent predecessor, he has been held to a higher standard than anyone I can remember in my lifetime. This is patently unfair but he's dealt with it.

He's been in office for a little over a year and four months, much of it without a fully staffed administration; that is STILL ongoing. He has faced unprecedented opposition from the bitter losers of a party that was given the boot for doing the very thing they criticize his administration for.

[galaxyhiker]

01:38 PM on 05/27/2010

FOR IMMEDIATE POSTING
BREAKING HEADLINE NEWS!!!!!!!!!

A sixty car train loaded with Hemp seeds destined for Bio Diesel processing at a North Dakota refinery has derailed and seeds are scattered for over half a mile.

The bio-diesel spill from the locomotive has been reported to be extensive but wildlife and domesticated animals appear to be licking up the spill and putting on weight.There have been unconfirmed reports of birds now having difficulty in taking off due to obesity and other animals are exhibiting severe hunger pangs even though they are obviously well fed. FDA and EPA officials contacted for response have not responded.

Local authorities are kept busy as enterprising individuals are rapidly salvaging the spill in any container at hand. It seems that most informed folks have discovered that the hemp seed has an added value as a food source they can live on and reports indicate it extends their life due to the Omega 3's present in the oil. Authorities have stated that had the spill occurred closer to where they were grown salvage efforts would not be an issue since economic conditions have improved so dramatically in the growing and processing areas that poverty and hunger have been eradicated. Local officials have now expressed interest in planting and harvesting a local source.
To date no source has been willing to verify any problems with mass outbreaks of 'the munchies or expressions of 'wow man that's bitchin!.
Stay tuned for further updates.
That is all.

[pangurban]

12:39 PM on 05/27/2010

The dispersants are simply BPs attempt to destroy evidence and god knows what more damage they add to this disaster

[tazdelaney]

05:00 PM on 05/27/2010

drag out the culprits; seize their assets, then give em a choice between working in the conditions they impose on these cleanup workers until it is as clean as it can be made or face execution.

drag out the culprits; seize their assets, then give em a choice between working in the conditions they impose on these cleanup workers until it is as clean as it can be made or face execution.

drag out the culprits; seize their assets, then give em a choice between working in the conditions they impose on these cleanup workers until it is as clean as it can be made or face execution.

[vippy]

08:09 PM on 05/27/2010

There won't be any life in the waters in the gulf!

[pangurban]

12:36 PM on 05/27/2010

I hope tomorrow Obama will go out on a boat and into the marshes

[GaryCharles]

12:19 PM on 05/27/2010

BREAKING NEWS: New 22 mile oil plume discovered underwater in gulf!!!!

[JUSTSAYING--]

11:01 AM on 06/22/2010

I heard on the radio last night an oil sheen has been seen off the coast of Cuba, it is already getting into the gulf stream and will continue up the Eastern Coast following the Gulf stream into the Atlantic Ocean. There is no way to capture the oil plume's under water...the well they drilled could be one of the largest oil deposits in the world, in the trillions of gallons, all gushing into the Gulf.

[FreedomAgain]

12:19 PM on 05/27/2010

If BP is still using dispersant when the EPA has told them not to do so, I want to see humvee's surrounding BP's headquarters, and people removed forcefully. I want the government to use any force necessary against BP to get them to comply with government orders.