Tag Archives: gulf oil spill fumes

A little over a month ago, reports suggested that several dozen oil cleanup crew members had fallen ill. Authorities suggested that the illnesses were caused by heat exhaustion and possibly fumes from the oil. In the past week or so, reports say over 160 oil spill crew members were suffering from flu-like systems. Also, over 400 beach visitors and residents in Escambia County, Florida went to medical care facilities complaining of upper or lower respiratory problems, headaches, nausea, and eye irritation. Within a month, illness cases went from 24 to 560 with most, if not all suffering from the[...]

Gulf oil fumes occur when crude oil hits the surface of the sea water and begins to evaporate and release Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Further air contamination occurs when the oil is burned, creating smoke that contains particulate matter along with a whole new set of contaminating toxins. The following focuses primarily on the burning of crude oil.
There is great controversy around the health impacts of burning crude oil. One side argues that the monitoring of air quality and scientific data find few compelling arguments that human health is threatened. On the other side, scientists, industry experts and governing bodies say[...]

CNN once reported that Exxon Valdez cleanup workers had a life expectancy of 51 years old.  Most of those workers have now died. A version of Corexit oil dispersant that is being used in the Gulf was used also in the Exxon Valdez cleanup. Corexit is banned in the UK as well as many other nations and considered roughly only 60% effective. It is ironic Corexit cannot be used in England, but BP is using both Corexit 9500 and 9527A in our waters as the oil dispersant of choice. Corexit is manufactured by NALCO, a company reportedly with closes ties[...]