Setting The Record Straight On The Safety Of The Use Of Corexit In The BP Gulf Oil Spill
Posted by Alexander Higgins - July 7, 2010 at 7:18 pm - Permalink - Source via Alexander Higgins Blog
Apparently there are those who refuse to acknowledge the toxicity and the threat that Corexit, the chemicals dispersant that BP is using in the BP Gulf Oil Spill, poses to the animals, environment and ecosystem.
Take for example the following comment that was sent to me.
Your comments are inacurate about corexit. it does not contain arsenic. Crude oil “may” contain some minute particles of arsenic. Less than 1% if any. But you are misleading people with your blog. If you dont understand the molecular formulas for corexit or even the basic theory of acid/base compounds, I wouldnt be off running my mouth scaring people. People ned to be more worried about screaming to get the leak stopped than they do corexit. Stop being a tool.
Normally I might not pay much attention to such a comment as it is not based on evidence and is more an opinion than anything.
However I recently received a pingback from USA Hitman who had posted the entire Daily Ko’s reference document which includes a section about dispersants.
That document contains the the following statement about my post “The Amount Of Neurotoxin Pesticide Corexit Sprayed By BP Tops 1 Million Gallons“.
An example very deceptive anti-dispersant propaganda with my debunking below it.
The Daily KO’s document goes on to provide a good collection of the arguments being used to claim that Corexit is safe.
Those arguments in turn serve as a basis to launch attacks against those denouncing the use of Corexit by declaring protesters as myself as alarmists and propagandists.
The bottom line is that those who are unaware of the dangers of Corexit, or should I say refuse to believe it is dangerous, would rather believe the press statements from the manufacturer of the Corexit or even worse scientific studies paid for by Exxon, who used the dispersant during the Valdez oil spill which has left the clean up workers dead or sick with long term chronic illnesses, than to pay attention to the actual data itself and the warnings from several members of the scientific community who are warning against the use of toxic dispersants.
Of course both Nalco and Exxon that are going to work to downplay and even work to hide the dangers of the dispersant because revealing any damaging information on the chemical would be financially catastrophic to those companies.
So let’s set the record straight.
To back up my well referenced and researched post on the dangers of Corexit I will refer to the presentation of Dr Susan Shaw given at the recent TEDx conference on the BP Gulf Oil Spill which further backs the claims I have made in that post.
Dr. Susan D. Shaw holds a PHD, is a world renowned toxicologist, and is the Director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute.
Dr. Shaw’s presentation on Corexit at the TEDx conference begins at around 1:00:00 into the video below.
So let’s take some of the slide highlights directly from her presentation and contrast those slides to the material and arguments in the Daily Ko’s reference document claiming the use of Corexit is safe and those raising the alarm have misinterpreted the data to use as propaganda.
The Daily Ko’s document claims the entire list of Corexit ingredients have been released to the public.
And this is old news because the manufacture released the ingredients list two weeks earlier, which does include that ingredient by another name (see CAS #577-11-7).
However, as Dr. Shaw points out, the new list of ingredients which is claimed to be a “complete” list of Corexit Ingredients isn’t a complete list at all.
In fact it still leaves hundreds of compounds unknown.
Dr. Shaws says she and a group of hundreds of chemists and toxicologists are still working to try to determine what those compounds are so the effects that those hundreds of chemicals have on the environment can be studied.
The Complete List of Corexit is not complete – It still leaves hundreds of compounds unknown.
Now the argument is made that it doesn’t make economic sense for the manufacturer to include hundreds of compounds in Corexit.
However, we don’t know what the manufacturing process is and when you consider that burning a cigarette releases over 5,000 chemicals it is easy to see how the manufacturing process of Corexit using unknown ingredients can leave hundreds of compounds unknown.
Back to the Daily KO’s document. The section on dispersants begins as follows.
Given the wide range of acquatic life and ecosystems, it is difficult to assess the impact of dispersants. There have been many alarmist posts about the toxicity of dispersants so I have tried to put things in perspective.
Some folks reacted with alarm to reading the MSDS or product bulletins for Corexit, and some have blatently misinterpreted stuff there to the point of propaganda. Like claiming that the product bulletin says it has Arsenic and other heavy metals because it has a section showing that the levels of these metals were below detectable limits or regulatory thresholds. Just remember, this is the MSDS for concentrated Corexit.
It then goes on to cite the portions of the the MSDS that they claim is being misquoted and states that many chemical MSDS can be misquoted if the reader doesn’t know how to misinterpret them.
Daily KO’s then gives some examples of compounds that are considered safe, such as Dawn dish soap and citric acid, which also have some alarming MSDS documents to reinforce the point that the MSDS can be misinterpreted .
But let us examine Dr Shaw’s slide on toxicity of Corexit 9500 and Oil, which can be considered an accurate interpretation of the MSDS by an expert scientists who does know how to interpret the document, as opposed to a talking head like myself or the author or the Daily KO’s document.
That slide on toxicity of Corexit 9500 and oil shows the following information.
- Oil and Corexit are more toxic than oil alone.
- Corexit breaks down oil and makes it easier to penetrate the membranes of the skin
- Oil and dispersants damaged the same organs – nervous system (hence the label neurotoxin), respiratory, immune system, endocrine, blood, liver, kidneys (it is also now being reported that Corexit eats through boat hulls as well as kidneys)
- Oil – PAHs (potycyclic hydrocarbons, solvents) tox to all organs, some are cacrinogens. (And yes corexit 9500 is manufacturer with these same PAHS and solvents)
- Corexit 9500 – Petroleum solvents, surfactants, detergents, metals. Arsenic, Chromium are carcinogens – cause mutations, birth defects
The document then goes on to claim that the tablets in swimming pool water are more toxic than Corexit in attempt to give a false sense of security of the safety of Corexit.
In the big undersea plumes you read about, the concentration is probably 2 to 10ppb, based on the concentrations of oil being 0.085 to 0.47ppm and an corexit to oil ratio of 1:50. That is two orders of magnitude below the lethal concentration for the most sensitive marine organisms evaluated. That is equivalent to one drop of corexit in 1405 to 7770 gallons of water. That is equivalent to 2.3 to 12.8 drops in a average 18000gallon backyard swimming pool. Now, the corexit is about 5 times less toxic to humans/rats than the trichlor tablets you put in your swimming pool. And you put a lot more of that than 2.3 to 12.8 drops – about 2.6 pounds – or 1930 to 10753 times as much. So, the water in your swimming pool is about ten to fifty thousand times more toxic than the corexit in the big plumes. Thats if it was fresh. The stuff biodegrades for 28 days and the more famous plumes have been there that long so the stuff is gone.
Of course swimming pool tablets more toxic. Swimming pool tablets are designed to kill bacteria and other organism that live in the water.
So just give some though to that. What would happen if you tried to put fish in your swimming pool?
They would all die. Again this an apples to oranges comparison to project a false sense of security.
In regard to “the stuff” biodegrading with in 28 days that is a good point to explore because the toxicity of Corexit and other chemicals is based tests of its lethality over a 48 to 96 hour period.
That means to get an accurate reading on the lethality of Corexit there needs be be studies conducted to show just how toxic Corexit is over a 28 day period.
The results such studies would be shocking considering that it Corexit kills off 50% or an even greater percentage of certain types of sea life within a 96 hour period.
Which leads us to another statement in the document meant to downplay the dangers of Corexit.
Corexit has been reported to be toxic to corals. But at concentrations higher than we are seeing in the plumes.
In regard to the plume concentrations the few studies performed has only been done on what must a very small sample of plumes of what must be an entire sea of plumes.
Furthermore Dr. Shaw points out that 98% of life in coral reefs, which makes up about 1/4 of the species in the Gulf, can survive oil alone.
However as the slide below shows 0% of that life can survive a combination of oil and Corexit.
The Daily Ko’s document once again tries to give us a false sense of the safety by once again comparing apples to oranges by pointing out the toxicity of salt to humans and making the point that even to much water or oxygen can be lethal.
If you drink water from the gulf of mexico plumes that have measured at 0.085 to 0.47ppm petroleum hydrocarbons, how much will it take to kill you, on average? 1.8 gallons. Because of the Corexit? No. Because of the Oil? No. Because of the salt. Take away the salt, now how much? 5 gallons. Not because of oil or Correxit. Because of the water. Ok, so assuming too much water wouldn’t kill you, how much of this contaminated sea water (assuming the Corexit had not biodegraded) would it take to kill you? Over 7 million gallons. That is 5.8 times the amount of water held in the swimming pool built for the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
3000mg/0.030/kg*150lbs/waterdensity = 1.7973964 gallons
Feeling suicidal? Pour yourself an 8oz glass of undiluted Corexit EC9500A. Drink it. Assuming you weigh 150lbs, there is probably a less than 50% chance you will die without medical attention. The LD50 of the most toxic component is 9.68oz/150lb person (assuming rat equivalence). Pound for pound, the most toxic ingredient appears to be less toxic to humans/rats than table salt. Ok, better find a more reliable way to off yourself.
Rule #1 of toxicology: the poison is in the dose. Too much of anything is toxic, including things we can’t live without. A sufficiently low dose/concentration of anything is non-toxic. Ingesting an overdose of water has killed people (we aren’t talking about drowning here and we aren’t talking about that much more than you need to live). Pure oxygen will shred your lungs.
Some juvenile stages of marine life can be killed by as little as 1.6ppm of Corexit (96 hour exposure). Assuming the upper end of Corexit (10ppb) in the plumes NOAA is sending ships out to monitor, and assuming the dose is cumulative, how long would the creatures need to be exposed for in order to kill half? 1.75 years. But Corexit biodegrades in 28 days. Even if it didn’t, it is claimed that Corexit does not bioaccumulate. The difference between 4hour and 96 hour lethal concentration may be because it takes a couple of days for the concentration inside the creature to reach equilibrium with the concentration in the water.
Some fish are sixty thousand times less sensitive to Corexit.
1.6ppm/10ppb*96hours = 1.7522619 years
That assessment sure does make Corexit sound safe but it is very misleading.
Let’s let the real scientists weigh in on the issue by explaining the true the effects of Corexit on living organisms based on legitimate scientific research as opposed to some back of a napkin calculations of the lethality of the poison.
For example Dr. Harish Seethamraju is a pulmonary specialist at Methodist Hospital in Houston tells us potential problems to humans swimming in the mixture of dispersed oil include wheezing and asthma, but that’s not all.
Now let’s examine the effects of Corexit and oil on the basic level of the food chain, plankton.
Dr. Shaw warns that Corexit can be lethal to Plankton an Plankton Eaters and sensitive life will be lost for generations.
Then Dr. Shaw points out that the adding Corexit to oil makes it 19,000 times more toxic to amphipods.
Note that lower concentrations means more lethal.
Let’s go back to what the Daily Ko’s the document says about the the threat to aquatic life.
An example very deceptive anti-dispersant propaganda with my debunking below it.
A panel of 50 experts was convened and decided to allow continued use of dispersants.
That does not make Corexit safe nor does it mean it was the right decision.
Putting Corexit on the oil makes it significantly more toxic to some marine life for a short period of time in a small portion of the water just below the surface.
That statement may be valid when considering Corexit being applied to the surface and the short period of time is 28 days it takes to biodegrade which is much longer than the 96 hour cutoff of toxicity tests.
Putting Corexit on the oil means bacteria can biodegrade it much more rapidly; the down side of this is the oxygen levels are reduced. So far, the oxygen level measurements I have seen have been above the limits.
Some percentage of individuals may die at levels somewhat less than the LD50. Doses which are a significant fraction of the LD50 may have long term health effects even if not lethal.
Even without toxicity, physical properties of oil or dispersed oil may be an issue.
Now let’s review Doctor Shaw’s interpretation of the effects of Corexit on marine life.
Corexit + oil plumes will cause damage to gills, organs, chemical pneumonia, internal bleeding, and tumors to sea life.
Air Breathing animals face inhalation of volatile fumes, chemical pneumonia, liver, kidney and brain damage, skin ulcers, skin lesions, burns to eyes and mouth, internal bleeding and tumors because of Corexit.
Dr. Shaw: How Corexit can cause a “tropic cascade” (death of food chain)
Here is the picture the Daily Ko’s presents on dispersants assisting oil in getting pass the booms that are aimed at protecting the shore line.
Dispersants may allow oil to get past containment booming. If it is as dilluted as described above, that may be a non-issue, though it is possible that water stranded by tides may evaporate in the hot sand concentrating the dispersant/oil. If insufficient quantities are dispensed, oil may break up without being fully dispersed. If a sinking agent, such as sand is used, oil globs may be able to travel under boom.
Apparently it is not being “diluted as described above” and it certifiably isn’t “a non-issue”.
In fact those claims are a direct contradiction to claims of experts.
For example a Louisiana Parish Councilman John Young tells us that experts are telling him that the dispersants are sinking the crude but “we’re told as the water gets warmer then the oil will rise to the top”
Billy Nungusser, actually informs us the dispersed oil is that is covering the entire seafloor.
It [the oil] came ashore under the surface… If it didnt work why don’t we stop spraying the dispersants, let it come to the surface and let’s fight it where we can see it…
They said it’s [oil] light, it will come to the surface. Why do we keep spraying it, if its not doing what it said? It will be ugly all over the top, but at least we can fight it.
Right now its coming ashore beneath the surface. We have it on the bottom of Barataria Bay. Those are the most precious oyster baskets.
It is literally sunk at the bottom with dispersants coating the bottom of that bay. Let us fight it offshore… Tell me why we don’t stop spraying and fight it off shore.
What kind of effects will the sea floor being coated with oil have on sea life? Think about it.
So what’s your take? Have the dangers of Corexit been exaggerated or have we falsely been misled about the safety of Corexit?
TEDx has announced Susan Shaw has launched an independent research group to study the effects of Corexit.
June 30th, 2010
TEDxOilSpill Speaker Susan Shaw Launches Independent Research Group to Study Effects of Oil and Dispersants in GulfBP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill is the largest spill in US history, and potentially the largest spill in world history. Crude oil contains hundreds of compounds including petroleum that are acutely and chronically toxic to marine organisms and people. Compounding the threat of the oil, between one and two million gallons of toxic Corexit chemical dispersants have been sprayed and injected into the Gulf. The use of dispersants is seen as a “trade-off” to keep the oil slick from reaching the marshes and beaches. But their massive application has created large subsurface plumes of dispersed oil that threaten the ocean food web itself.
The Marine Environmental Research Institute (MERI) proposes a collaborative, region-wide investigation of toxic impacts of oil and dispersants on the Gulf ecosystem – from phytoplankton, fish, and birds to marine mammals and humans. This broad-based, multi-species, multi-habitat approach can provide essential information in a timely way that will inform public health measures (seafood safety), as well as current and future restoration efforts.
Tracking Threats to the Food Web
Both types of Corexit dispersants used in the Gulf contain solvents – petroleum distillates that are animal carcinogens – capable of killing or depressing the growth of a wide range of aquatic species. For vulnerable species such as phytoplankton, corals and small fish, the combined effects of Corexit and dispersed oil can be greater and last longer than the effects of oil alone. As plumes of dispersed oil form in the water column, toxic globules of oil and dispersant envelope and kill floating plankton, fish eggs and larvae – and everything else at sensitive life stages. Planktivorous fish like herring indiscriminately ingest these globules and break the oil down to more toxic by-products that can be deadly at low concentrations. Depletion of critical niches in the food web sets the stage for “trophic cascades” which can cause the collapse of higher organisms.
At the top of the food chain, large fish (amberjacks, tuna, grouper) and marine mammals are exposed to oil and dispersant through consumption of contaminated fish. For air-breathing animals like dolphins, sperm whales, and manatees, exposure to volatile petroleum fumes occurs every time they surface for air and can result in liver and kidney damage and respiratory problems including chemical pneumonia. Skin contact with oil and dispersant can cause ulcers and burns to membranes of the eyes and mouth. Corexit 9527 contains an especially toxic component, 2-butoxyethanol, that ruptures red blood cells, causing animals to undergo hemolysis (internal bleeding).
While some of the effects of this disaster are all too visible – oiled pelicans, dead sea turtles — it is likely that the worst of the impacts on the Gulf are yet to come and will not be apparent without deliberate tracking and scientific assessment.
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After reading this,all sea life will be dead and gone.Yup put more crap in the water!!!!
Thank you for everything you are doing on the spill.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Stevard Hatler. Stevard Hatler said: RT @kr3at: Setting The Record Straight On The Safety Of The Use Of Corexit In The BP Gulf Oil Spill http://bit.ly/aHcaOe [...]
[...] the rest of this great post here Comments (0) Posted in Oil Spill [...]
[...] Blog Article Link // FDA issues warning to Kellogg over listeria bacteria at Eggo plant (47.4%)Australian Internet Filtering 2011 and Coming Soon to the US! (47.4%)Smoke-Flavoring in Some Foods May Be Toxic (47.4%)No proof of mobile cancer risk, major study concludes (47.4%)Irish ship on collision course with Israeli navy near Gaza (47.4%)The UN and Obama Versus Gun Owners (47.4%)EPA Says Dispersants Safe for Aquatic Life, But Controversy Remains (27.1%)Coast Guard bans reporters from oil cleanup sites (27.1%)To People Who Think It's Not Raining Oil…. (26%)Toxic Beaches: Blisters on Mouth, Sore Throats, Lung Problems; Danger to City Water Supplies; Gov Approves Decontamination Centers (26%)BP agrees to $20b account to pay Gulf claims (RANDOM – 8.5%) Post Published: 08 July 2010 Author: conspiracyman Found in section: Conspiracy Or Not [...]
BP Now Using Eight Types of Chemical Dispersants in Gulf
By oilflorida, on July 5th, 2010
Meanwhile, Environmental Protection Agency scientists… [are conducting] toxicity testing on eight of the dispersants used in the Gulf. …
The agency has said it plans to conduct more tests of the toxicity of the dispersant when mixed with crude.
A CNN analysis of daily dispersant reports provided by the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command showed that the chemical dispersants keep flowing into the Gulf of Mexico at virtually unchanged levels despite the EPA’s May 26 order to BP to “significantly” scale back.
Before that date, BP used 25,689 gallons a day of Corexit. Since then, CNN’s analysis showed, the daily average of dispersant use has dropped to 23,250 gallons a day, a 9 percent decline.
http://www.facebook.com/FancyKat?v=app_2392950137#!/video/video.php?v=1343970359173
Of course it’s utter BS.
Here’s Exxon’s own Jim Clark on COREXIT 9500, I do believe he was the main man responsible for designing the stuff in the first place.
http://www.uni-regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/nat_Fak_IV/Physikalische_Chemie/Kunz/student/Uebung_Formulierung/Clark_presentation.pdf
Admitting to the fact that dispersed oil will settle on coral reefs….and some other things.
Like the fact that COREXIT 9500 is only made/engineered for surface application…in droplet form.
So then what the hell are they applying at the well-head…?
I have had so many oil company chemists trying to discredit me on the Yahoo Wall Street message board…..none of them are wiling to even respond to my questions about the molar mass of one ” mole “o f the proprietary surfactant. Valence is the key to disintegration. Chloride ions are the most abundant electrophile found in seawater.
34% salt saturation at 5000k’ in the Gulf means that the ability of the surfactant to resist electrophiles, is much greater than what they will admit to…which is an admission that it persists in the environment much longer than the ” normal ” 1-2 days.
Oil is encapsulated at under 50 microns.
Water evaporates at under 50 microns.
Micelles undergo photo-dissociation in the atmosphere. ( micelles are the encapsulations formed by the surfactant, little balls filled with oil ) Photo-dissociation is the action of electron particles from the Sun weakening covalent bonds in a solution…then..
..the oil is released.
It’s the same exact process that converts sulfur dioxide to sulfuric acid, thus producing
” acid rain “.
Don’t even get me started on glycol ethers and polymer-precursors..
I am so mad right now.
Alex, keep it up.
Here are some more papers for you.
This top one is very important.
” Potential field evidence for a volcanic rifted margin along the Texas
Gulf Coast “.
http://www.utdallas.edu/~rjstern/pdfs/MickusGeology09.pdf
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/mragheb/www/NPRE%20402%20ME%20405%20Nuclear%20Power%20Engineering/Biogenic%20and%20Abiogenic%20Petroleum.pdf
https://smst.asminternational.org/content/ASM/StoreFiles/06072G_Chapter_Sample.pdf
http://phe.rockefeller.edu/docs/yantovski_gold_future.pdf
[...] Setting The Record Straight On The Safety Of The Use Of Corexit In The BP Gulf Oil Spill [...]
Never take the MSDS at face value. Some compounds are most hazadous in pure form, others in various levels of dilution/solution. Once you’re talking ppm/ppb, with many compounds, organics, natural minerals…get the picture? The metals listed in EPA test results are barely (if at all) hazardous in the pure form (processing byproducts?), and not in any way hazardous in solution. This leaves only the materials of the formula itself, which eventually are diluted to ppb in solution and biodegrade.
1,000,000 US gallons would cover one square mile to a depth of four feet, if all of it was applied at the surface AND all at once. We are talking about several hundred CUBIC miles, there will heavily affected areas but the region as a whole will eventually recover.
Isaac, sulphur monoxides and dioxides do not get carried into the atmosphere by evaporating river water. They are put there by the effects of the giant rising exhaust from unregulated coal plants, combustion byproducts of oil-based fuels and other sources. The compounds become sulphur trioxide when exposed to upper atmospheric ions, readily bonding to water and becoming sulphuric acid. This acid then precipitates out, never to return to the water cycle. Get your facts straight.
If you want to try to minimalize this with your “move along folks, nothing to see” mantra I suggest you head over to the oil drum because if you do it here I am just going to call you out on it.
It is very easy to downplay the dangers here using cubic miles but the fact is that the entire Gulf of Mexico only contains about 584,000 cubic miles of water.
Corexit is lethal to some species at 2.6 parts per million after only 96 hours of exposure.
That means that you only need 0.23 cubic miles of Corexit to make the entire Gulf Lethal.
While 2 million gallons of Corexit is far short of the 250 billion gallons needed to contaminate every gallon of water in the Gulf that still isn’t all that reassuring.
With a 2.6 parts per million lethal concentration over 96 hours that means that 1 gallon of Corexit lethally contaminates 2.6 million gallons of seawater for certain species.
1 million gallons contaminates 2.6 trillion gallons of water — that’s 2,600,000,000,000 gallons.
Now I can use your method to downplay that number and say that is only 2.36123832 cubic miles of water.
Yes that does seem like a small number but Guess whaTt? That is enough Corexit to cover the ENTIRE 600,000 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico 1/4 of an inch thick with a lethal concentration.
See for yourself 2.6 trillion gallons / (1/4 inch) to square miles
2 million gallons of Corexit lethally contaminates 5,200,000,000,000 gallons – that’s 5.2 trillion gallons of seawater.
5.2 trillion gallons covers 1/2 of an inch of the entire Gulf of Mexico with a lethal dose of Corexit.
Furthermore oil can be lethal to fish eggs at 1 part per billion.
Given a 100,000 barrels per day leak rate at 100 days that is 10,000,000 – 10 million – barrels of oil or 420 million gallons.
That is enough oil to make 420 quadrillion gallons of the 683 quadrillion gallons – almost 2/3 – of the Gulf of Mexico lethal to fish eggs.
Even if the flow rate is only 50,000 BDP that makes 1/3 of the Gulf of Mexico lethal to fish eggs.
People are slowing beginning to scratch the truth but there is still a massive propaganda campaign out there.
Make no mistake, Corexit 9500 was merely optimized for high sea water, the chemical composition is almost identical to Corexit 9527, which is known outside the US as the “2nd Agent Orange”. It is a grave error to believe BP and Nalco’s claim which declares it as non-toxic. This kills fish faster than the ocean can produce. Your children will get rashes and breathing problems for the rest of their life. It is known to cause cancer and destroys your kidneys, which are vital for the body detoxication. So if you don’t want your kids to spend the rest of their life in a hospital and respirators, you should stay away from the ocean, not only the beach. IT IS HIGHLY TOXIC. Even adults get sick after a short exposure.
Only the people who realize this early will be safe from the short and long term effects. Those who trust Nalco’s obvious lies and propaganda will pay with a shortened life span as well as life long breathing problems. But not only them, it is children who are going to suffer for the rest of their life. Many people are confused and don’t know what to believe. It is understandable after the little information that is being leaked to the media. But they should ask themselves two simple questions:
Who do you trust? The company that creates nerve agents for a living or independent scientists, who actually try to get out the truth?
Who has the highest incentives to your health? – BP who denies even now the responsibility and liability for the gulf spill or scientists and doctors who warn the people with children to move away asap?
Here is what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says:
I’m pregnant. Can the oil harm me or my unborn baby?
- People, including pregnant women, can be exposed to these chemicals by breathing them (air), by swallowing them (water, food), or by touching them (skin). If possible, everyone, including pregnant women, should avoid the oil and spill-affected areas.
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/gulfoilspill2010/2010gulfoilspill/pregnancy_oilspill.asp
It is interesting to note that the site was edited in the last 4 weeks to include this
“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.”
It is interesting as one has to recognize where the CDC has gotten their samples from. So instead of taking own samples the CDC used samples from the EPA, the very same organization that is sleeping with BP and Nalco.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Media/oil-spill-bp-official-epa-approved-toxic-dispersant/story?id=10708060
“Any living organism that contacts this stuff, particularly the mixture of dispersant and oil, is at significant risk of acute mortality,” said marine biologist Rick Steiner. In fact, EPA testing released Thursday indicates that where the dispersant had been used, 25 percent of all organisms living at 500 feet below the surface died.
And for people who still believe that corexit does not contain arsenic, check the chemical composition list of Corexit:
http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/ncp/products/corex952.htm
silverado
[...] toxic? Corexit is far more toxic than oil and so is the arsenic that scientists are sounding the alarm is on the rise in the Gulf of Mexico [...]
[...] In The BP Gulf Oil Spill – Alexander Higgins Blog Posted on 07/07/2010 by katy Setting The Record Straight On The Safety Of The Use Of Corexit In The BP Gulf Oil Spill This entry was posted in BP Oil Spill, Corruption, Environmental Health Threats, Health – [...]
[...] [...]
Thanks Alexander – your account was just what I was looking for. I’ve tweeted and set this page up as http://bit.ly/corexitblog+
Best, M.
[...] you haven’t already read it yet, I highly recommend you read my post “Setting The Record Straight On The Safety Of The Use Of Corexit In The BP Gulf Oil Spill” which reviews Dr. Shaw’s presentation at the TEDx Gulf Oil Spill conference and dispels the [...]
[...] cover up has included repeated lies that Corexit is as safe as dish soap and has gone as far as violating the constitution to keep horrifying photos of the devastation [...]
[...] More information on Corexit. [...]
Corxeit was used in the 1970′s on an oil spill in the Fore River which is the southern most bay in Boston Harbor. Originally called Wessagussett by the indians, which means (place of the narrow inlet) it was at one time (before the oil spill, and the use of Corexit) a spawning ground world famous for flounder, and also a spawning ground for many other species of sea food and sea life. When the oil spill hit the beach they whoever they are flew helicopters over the oil and sprayed Corexit on it, when the tide came-in the water turned white like a bleach, and the life of the Fore River died. The oil did not kill Fore River it was the Corexit. The effects of Corexit are designed to get rid of the sight of the oil, but the cure to do that with the use of Corexit kills the patient. What really bothers me about the US Gopvernment, EPA, OSHA, etc. is that they know this, and especially the oil company s know that the effects of Corexit are deadly on marine life,. And it shows who is in charge of public policy, the oil company’s should not be allowed to clean up the mess they create because they are incompetent, and so is the US Government.