Sanjay Gupta Warns Contrary To Government Claims Nobody Can Be Sure That BP Gulf Oil Spill Seafood Is Safe
Posted by Alexander Higgins - July 10, 2010 at 10:29 am - Permalink - Source via Alexander Higgins Blog
Loading ...When I first watched Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s report on the safety of BP Gulf Oil Spill seafood on CNN I was shocked.
Some of the issues I raised in my article Investigation Into Safety Of BP Gulf Oil Spill Seafood Raises Shocking Concerns were confirmed by Sanjay and to make matters worse more problems where exposed.
In particular Dr. Sanjay informs us that the Federal Government is only testing seafood contamination for only 12 of the multitude of chemicals that oil breaks down into.
This is particular concerning knowing that the EPA is testing water samples for almost 50 different chemicals and compounds.
Furthermore the investigation revealed that the “smell test”, in which the Government determines if seafood has been contaminated by smelling it, that has previously been reported as almost fail safe is really very subjective and is only 90% accurate.
A 10% margin of error leaves a lot of room for contaminated seafood to find its way onto the market.
Perhaps the most shocking part of the report is that the Federal Government is not even testing seafood for the neurotoxin pesticide dispersant Corexit.
Corexit is has been reported to eat through boat hulls and has caused heart palpitations and rectal bleeding in a Gulf fisherman who was merely splashed by water contaminated with dispersed oil.
EPA water samples have also confirmed the presence of both types of Corexit in multiple locations in the Gulf of Mexico far away from the leaking oil well.
Sanjay also points out that the Federal Government really doesn’t know where the oil is going or how far it has traveled because we still don’t know how much is leaking.
That means that there exists the possibility that some contaminated seafood could be finding a way onto the markets in locations outside of the current areas where the Government is testing seafood for contamination.
Watch the Sanjay Gupta report on CNN: Is the seafood safe to eat?
SANJAY GUPTA from CNN BP Gulf Oil Spill Seafood – “Is the seafood safe to eat?” Video Transcripts
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Behind these doors, huge decisions are being made. Tests that determine whether or not the seafood in the Gulf is safe for us to eat. It looks like a scene straight out of a crime scene show.
(on camera): What you’re looking at is a chain of custody record. That’s because the fish that are being tested are literally treated like evidence. You’ve got to keep track of where it’s been and who’s handled it.
This is the testing facility. These are fish over here that are being tested, trying to figure out if, indeed, they are safe. Aluminum foil, special instruments, workers wearing gloves. They want to be very careful not to contaminate any of these fish, to make sure their records and their testing is as accurate as possible.
(voice-over): Thousands of fish being tested since April 28. That’s just a week after the oil spill. They’re being brought here in these huge ice units.
(on camera): We’re here in Mississippi. Got a lot of fish behind us here.
JOHN STEIN, NOAA: Yes.
GUPTA: Bagged and tagged.
STEIN: Bagged and tagged, yes, they are. Very important so we know where they come from.
GUPTA: This is part of the process?
STEIN: Part of the process.
GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. John Stein, he’s head of NOAA’s seafood safety testing program.
(on camera): You go around the country, John, and you talk to people about what’s happening here in the Gulf. The question always comes up, is the seafood safe?
STEIN: Yes.
GUPTA: And you say?
STEIN: Yes. We have an extensive program in place. It’s a cooperative program between NOAA, FDA, EPA, and the Gulf states. And we’re all working together to ensure that seafood is safe.
GUPTA (voice-over): But no one can be sure. And that’s because we don’t know exactly how much oil is leaking and more importantly, exactly where it is going.
(on camera): We’ve been talking to a lot of scientists, and you may know some of this. But they say, you know, the oil, as it starts to break up, you get all these various compounds that are not oil, so to speak, anymore. They’re just these aromatic hydrocarbons, these volatile compounds. And they can go all over the place.
And that’s what I think makes it is so difficult. How do you know if it’s kind of oil, per se, but still some of the toxic elements land further away in an area that doesn’t have oil?
STEIN: Correct. So that’s why this testing program deals both with the sensory, to be able to detect oil and those aromatic hydrocarbons and then the analytical chemistry to also detect those aromatic hydrocarbons.
GUPTA: So to give you a little peek behind the curtain into this room, which is where sensory testing takes place. They have, typically, testers all up and down here. One of the first things you do is actually, this is uncooked fish. You just get a little smell of this. And then determine what you think the score is, what the likelihood that this is contaminated.
(voice-over): The next step, the taste test. (on camera): So you’ve got your nose. You’ve got your sense of smell working and now is the sense of taste. They pointed out to me that, even if this was contaminated, eating a small amount like this would not be problematic. You eat this. You don’t swallow it, they say, because you don’t want to ruin the rest of your testing. So here it goes.
Tastes pretty good, as well. I’m not an expert. That seems pretty good to me.
(voice-over): The researchers say a contaminated fish has a distinct taste; it’s unmistakable.
But if all this sounds subjective to you, you’re right. That’s why there are ten different testers, all of them hidden from each other. They can’t even see each other’s reaction while they’re testing. But all of these tests are only for oil compounds. Turns out no one is testing these fish for possible contamination by that controversial dispersant, Corexit.
(on camera): Diepoxybutane, I believe it’s called, one of the — one of the particularly toxic chemicals in the Corexit. You can’t — there’s no chemical test being done right now?
STEIN: There’s no — there’s not a chemical test for that right now.
GUPTA (voice-over): What? No test? So how can the guarantee of safety be complete? We decided to dig deeper to clarify.
NOAA says, in an abundance of caution, they’re currently developing a chemical test for dispersants. It just isn’t ready yet. And it can’t come soon enough for the millions of people who want to eat these fish and those who make a living catching them.
(on camera): Based on everything you know now, how long is it going to stay closed?
STEIN: It’s going to stay closed until the well, the oil leak is stopped. Once the oil leak is stopped, then we’ll have a very aggressive and very comprehensive survey of that area for reopening.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: And Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us live right now from New Orleans.
And, Sanjay, that is incredible to me, that they are not testing for dispersants at this point. Do you have any sense, having talked to everybody and investigated this, when that’s going to start happening?
GUPTA: They say the test is in development now.
You know, for some time, Campbell, they weren’t sure exactly which chemicals or which components of the dispersants they should test for. If you look at the list, there’s 12 things that they test for chemically, but those are oil breakdown products.
So, figuring out what they’re going to test for specifically was the first step. And now they’re developing the test. Here’s what they told me, Campbell. They said, when it comes to dispersants, they don’t bioaccumulate in fish.
What that means is, they don’t build up. So, even if a fish is exposed to it, they say it’s unlikely that a human who eats that fish is going to have an exposure. Obviously, it’s still of concern to people, which is why they say they’re going to develop the test out of an abundance of caution.
But as things stand now, there isn’t a test. So, they’re just being really strict on where you can and cannot fish.
BROWN: And, Sanjay, those 10 people taste-testing fish wouldn’t even let you put a camera on them, and they are under a lot of pressure right now, aren’t they?
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA: Especially the local tasters. These are very well-trained people. They say, with 90 percent accuracy, Campbell, through smelling uncooked fish, smelling cooked fish and then eating it, they can tell if a fish has been tainted in some way. They can detect up to 10 parts per million of these various chemicals.
So, it’s a very sophisticated process. But here’s the concern, is that this is a huge industry out here, Campbell. So, if there’s a local tester, if it somehow comes to be known that that person actually said the fish was tainted, that that area has to stay closed in terms of fishing, they’re worried about backlash, which is why they — some of them didn’t even want to be film when we were doing this piece.
BROWN: Wow.
Sanjay Gupta for us — as always, Sanjay, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
GUPTA: Thank you, Campbell.
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Looks like beef sales are goina go up ,we really screwed up the sea industry!!
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SO let me get this straight.
1) Each sample is tested in total privacy by ten reviewers, who have have roughly 90% accuracy. With a small overlap, this grants extremely high subjective precision.
2) Each sample is lab-tested for oil and oil byproducts that result from organic reactions.
3) Large areas are entirely cordoned off on mere suspicion that oil may be present in dangerous quantities.
4) Nobody wants an outbreak of contamination-related illness on the nightly news.
Diepoxybutane, is it actually found in any product used on the oil? The only mention of this was from Mr Gupta, while common uses are for polymer-setting reactions and the diagnosis of a very rare disease.
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[...] So how can the guarantee of safety be complete? We decided to dig deeper to clarify.video and more: http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/07/10/sanjay-gupt... [...]
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[...] the test." There is NO TEST for Corexit !!! There is a Video and Transcript at the Link: [link to blog.alexanderhiggins.com] DanielLast Edited by Daniel on 7/11/2010 at 12:07 PMAnonymous CowardUser ID: 1032787 United [...]
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[...] media investigations into the safety of BP Gulf Oil Spill sea food and warnings from CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta that no one can assure Gulf sea food is safe the federal government has still continued to say that Gulf waters are clean and safe for [...]
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[...] the test." There is NO TEST for Corexit !!! There is a Video and Transcript at the Link: [link to blog.alexanderhiggins.com] DanielLast Edited by Daniel on 7/11/2010 at 12:07 PM Anonymous CowardUser ID: 1032787 United [...]
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[...] warns that contrary to claims made by the Government nobody can be sure that Gulf seafood ….. more→EPA No health risk in USA from Japan meltdown yeah fucking rightEPA: No health risk in USA from [...]