Oil Spill Clean Up in the Gulf Is Organized Hypocrisy – Catastrophic and Toxic Tort Lawyer Speaks Out
As the newspapers have reported, many workers helping to clean up oil from the Gulf have reported health problems including but not limited to nausea, dizziness, headaches, chest pains, and skin rashes. As an experienced catastrophic injury and toxic tort lawyer, I have all too many questions over the safety of the clean up operation in an around the Gulf of Mexico, particularly regarding protection of the workers from the toxicity of the controversial chemical dispersants being used by BP in an attempt to break up the slick.
According to many experts, the many dispersants that BP and the United States government are using to treat the ongoing Gulf spill are by their makers own admission toxic to fish, crustaceans and mollusks. BP information concerning the safety and toxicity of the dispersants as it relates to humans is kept secret under competitive trade laws. This is not what you want to hear with regard to toxins being dumped in the sea by hundreds of thousands of gallons. More alarming, the data sheets for both products being used to disburse the oil contain a shocker “no toxicity studies have been conducted on this product...” meaning testing for their safety to humans. I don’t know about you, but I find this completely jaw dropping and have no doubt the toxic properties of these substances will reveal themselves in the future in the form of human health hazards, illnesses, and potentially death.
One of the material safety data sheets for one of the dispersants states that “excessive exposure may cause central nervous system defects, nausea, vomiting, anesthetic or narcotic effects” and repeated or extended exposure to butoxyethanol, an active ingredient, may cause injury to blood cells (hemolysis), kidneys, or the liver. It also adds that prolonged and repeated exposure through inhalation or extensive skin contact may result in damage to the blood or kidneys. According to their data sheets, both dispersants are composed of three potentially hazardous and toxic substances. They contain two common organics, sulphonic acid salt and propylene glycol. In addition, one of the dispersants contains something called distillates petroleum hydro treated light and butoxyethanol. Not surprisingly and frustratingly, the data sheets on these products do not give exact information about how much of the substances are in the dispersants.
One thing for sure is that the early warning signs of the illness among the workers tells you that this situation is not as safe as BP or the government seems to indicate. I fully expect that within the next few months or years, we will see the short term and long term effects of these products to humans, not to mention to the sea life. As an added precaution, seafood eaters beware.
If you or a loved one has been exposed to a toxic chemical and need experienced counsel, please feel free to contact one of our toxic tort and chemical exposure lawyers at Reiff & Bily for a free no obligation consultation.
