Secrecy surrounding the Gulf Coast devastation is criminal

By Bill Linder at Digital Journal

BP and the government are intentionally covering up the deadly health effects related to the gushing crude and the use of Corexit, the highly toxic dispersant. Clean-up workers are given hazmat training but are told they will be fired if they wear protective gear or masks to protect their respiratory systems. BP's blatant procrastination is obvious and it appears that they really don't care if the oil is cleaned up or not.

It's unknown what the actual figures are since we have to rely on data from BP, but ProPublica has been tracking BP's figures on illnesses and injuries of clean-up workers. According to a recent report, there have been 552 illnesses and 785 injuries for a total of 1,337 illnesses and injuries. Again, those are based on information from BP so it's hard to gauge how accurate those figures are since both BP and the government are doing their best to keep as much of that information hidden as they can.

A video -- shot before the government decided to declare Gulf of Mexico beaches off limits to journalists -- posted by James C. Fox on YouTube reveals reasons for the concern that BP and the Obama administration have over giving the media access to spill areas.

The video shows water samples being collected from the shores of Grand Isle, LA and from 20 miles out. According to the video, preliminary analysis was done at an academic analytical chemistry laboratory, looking for the likely pollutants from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, focusing on the detection of benzene and propylene glycol -- one of the toxic ingredients found in Corexit, the dispersant used by BP in the Gulf Coast.

The Gulf of Mexico has been poisoned
Benzene levels were low but results of the propylene glycol levels showed the concentration to be between 360 and 440 parts per million (ppm). 25 ppm will kill most fish. BP used more than a million gallons of Corexit despite being told by the EPA to stop. Consequently, the Gulf of Mexico has been poisoned, putting all life in the Gulf Coast in danger.

Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) information on Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527 can be found here. Propylene glycol has been linked to liver abnormalities, kidney damage, and can easily penetrate the skin. Corexit 9527 was also used when the Exxon Valdez oil spill -- which also involved BP -- and most of the clean-up workers involved are dead according to a CNN report. The Deepwater Horizon gusher is several times bigger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill was.

A recent report from Marine Toxicologist Riki Ott reveals more of the lies used by BP and the government to downplay the public health risks from the oil and the toxic dispersant. Many people coming into contact with contaminated Gulf Coast waters have had adverse reactions. As noted by Ms. Ott, it's time for the government to protect public health first and BP's profit second...