One of the real tragedies of the 911 saga is that the EPA assured the people of NYC, and especially the cleanup workers, that everything was okay with air quality when it was obvious to everyone else in the world that it was not okay. If it sounds familiar then it is probably because you either read or heard the following story.
Here's one of the most recent examples of deliberate disinformation, misinformation and false information disseminated by the corporate/government/media juggernaut regarding the BP Gulf Oil Spill. The new and improved BP PR Campaign that is addressing the environmental health aspects of this oil spill has gone into full gear in order to assure everyone that everything is okay. BP's COO, Doug Suttles is quoted as follows:
"BP's chief operating officer sought to give the southern US fishing industry a much-need boost Sunday, saying he'd "absolutely" eat Gulf of Mexico seafood after the massive oil spill devastated the region."
http://green.yahoo.com/news/afp/20100801/ts_alt_afp/usoilenvironmentpollutionseafood.html
We, here at the Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference in Tallahassee, FL, would very much like to audit the actual seafood sources from which Mr. Suttles takes his daily lunch and evening supper over the next twelve months. We would also ask that he partakes of at least one meal a day which includes seafood from the Gulf of Mexico, specifically from within a one hundred mile radius of the Macondo Prospect. At the end of the first year we will have our physicians standing by to conduct either an autopsy or the appropriate pathology procedures that would be required at that point of evolution of the most likely diseases to be caused by oil and COREXIT poisoning.
Interactions, Synergies, & Dangerous Combinations:
The area of research that studies the effects of different combinations of these chemical constituents is at an alarmingly rudimentary stage of development. Therefore, we really do not know the long-term effects of the various chemicals that, through synergistic interactions, can ramp up their level of toxicity in living organisms. Because we are particularly concerned about the deleterious effects to human life, it may be very difficult to ever assess these health risks. Who among us would avail our person to such exposures for the sake of testing?
We can make the following three (3) statements about oil, dispersant (Corexit 9500) and dispersed oil. As follows:
(1) 10.72 parts per million (ppm) of oil alone will kill 50% of the fish test species in a normal aquatic environment within 96 hours.
(2) 25.20 parts per million of dispersant (Corexit 9500) alone will kill 50% of the fish test species in a normal aquatic environment within 96 hours.
(3) 2.61 parts per million of dispersed oil (Corexit-laden) alone will kill 50% of the fish test species in a normal aquatic environment within 96 hours.
"Crude oil has proven toxicity at 1 part per million, with constituents like benzene exhibiting genotoxicity in the parts per billion range. The dispersants have made the oil "disappear," according to the mainstream media, and yet we have marine toxicology documents PROVING that the dispersants PREVENT the natural break"down of some constituents of the oil, e.g. the lesser soluble hydrocarbons, e.g. naphthalene." (Per Gulf Oil Spill Truth)
http://www.dec.state.ak.us/spar/perp/r_d/biodeg.pdf
As you can see from the above statements, there is a very definite synergistic effect that directly results from the interaction between the oil and dispersant. Together they create a much more toxic environment, and should be considered very seriously when seafood is known to be coming from those locations.
Are there other more dangerous combinations to be aware of? We don't know and toxicologists usually study isolated chemical compounds rather than researching the results of their various combinations.
Moral of the Story: What we do not know may hurt us. And in some cases it may take years to show up as a symptom or a disease. Perhaps it is better to err on the side of caution where it concerns our precious health.
This state of affairs also illustrates how unintended consequences, collateral damage and toxic side effects all collide in a rather finite system called the Gulf of Mexico with far-reaching ramifications. Contrary to what the BP spinmeisters convey to the media and government, the Gulf IS full of oil. Because some of it has been dispersed into tiny droplets, doesn't mean it isn't there. Because much of the spilled oil exists in many different locations, as well as in different conditions, and is out of sight, out of mind, doesn't mean it's not there. Oil doesn't just disappear, as some would have us believe!
(1) The pools on the undersea floor are under extremely high pressure and very low temperature, and therefore require a uniquely creative solution.
(2) The plumes at, above and below the midline exhibit there own behavior and challenges.
(3) The surface plumes, oil slicks and screens are more easily addressed except when they migrate into the wetlands, marshes and littoral regions. These predicaments pose great challenges no matter what the solutions, especially when they coat the beaches, as the sun and heat and gravity encourage the oil to sink into the sand as it did in Prince William Sound, Alaska after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.
Here's what Admiral Thad Allen of the Coast Guard BP Oil Spill Response Team said about the difficulty of dealing with oil accumulations scattered throughout the Gulf:
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