Government Says Gulf Oil Spill Hasn't Entered Human Seafood Supply. Really Now?

Simon Atkins, CEO, Senior Industrial Disaster Threat Forecaster, Advanced Forecasting Corporation


Is oil from the BP Gulf disaster entering the food chain? There are increasing food safety concerns. First we had contaminated shrimp, and Red Lobster took them off their menu. Then it was oysters leaking oil onto dinner plates (you didn't hear?) Now golden globs have been found on newly-hatched crabs. Organisms in the sea can accumulate the hydrocarbons, which could harm their ability to reproduce. What happens when our food becomes contaminated and our air becomes toxic?

...my hypothesis is that contamination can happen even when a fish doesn't "look oily" or when a crab doesn't "smell toxic". I reckon we are going to see not only oil but also the toxic mix of dispersants like COREXIT 9500 (produced by the NALCO Company, and banned in the UK and over a dozen other countries because it is four times more toxic than oil) and other chemicals and gases enter the food chain at an increasingly alarming rate. Here is a blunt prediction: toxin levels are going to continue to escalate and it is only a matter of time until we hear of some food for human consumption contamination.
Tens of thousands of jellyfish are washing up dead on Gulf shorelines. Many fisherman are reporting on blogs and through other media outlets that deep sea fish are being spotted at an increasing rate close to shore, which is probably indicative of a widening "dead zone".

What will we hear about next? The poisonous soupy broth will enter (and of course has already entered) the water vapor cycle. Weather, climate and oceanography is everything here: air flow patterns, waves, sea currents and rain will distribute (and of course are already distributing) the toxins far and wide.

I seriously wonder if we might start hearing about something called "Gulf Of Mexico Syndrome" in the future? Let us hope not, but with almost 200 million gallons of spilled oil, this will very likely be deemed (if not already by some historians and scientists) as the largest ever oil spill on the planet.

...Already, hundreds of people are falling sick as reported by the Louisiana State Health Department and hospitals in Pensacola just to name a couple of places. And supposedly, most of these illnesses over the past few weeks have been from inhalation of toxic air. You know, chemicals and gases like hydrogen sulfide, benzene, toluene, methylene chloride and many more.

...As a planetary risk forecaster and advisor, my job is to connect the dots. With toxicity levels gaining, hundreds already going to hospitals and many others visiting doctors (the ones we know about), let us hope some potential future illness that might be called the Gulf Of Mexico Syndrome is just a far-fetched story on the equivalent of a Tom Clancy novel. Then again, if the story comes true, what will be the price to pay?

Time will tell.

"If you are waiting for an official announcement to evacuate, you will have waited too long."
-Editor, Watcher's Lamp, June 30, 2010.

See more on the endless oil eruption in the Gulf of Mexico.