Gulf Oil Spill Brings Concerns about Skin, Breathing Troubles and Cancer
Gulf Oil Spill May Bring Skin, Breathing, Cancer Concerns
Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
The derrick is seen from a helicopter on board the Transocean Ltd. Development Driller II rig, which is drilling a relief well at the BP Plc Macondo site.
The derrick is seen from a helicopter on board the Transocean Ltd. Development Driller II rig, which is drilling a relief well at the BP Plc Macondo site. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
Residents of the U.S. Gulf Coast and crews cleaning up the BP Plc oil spill that dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into the water may suffer long-term health problems, including breathing difficulties, skin ailments, mental health effects and cancer, researchers said.
Doctors should watch for symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, respiratory trouble and chest pain, said investigators from the University of California, San Francisco, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Physicians should ask where their patients live and work to determine their potential health risk from the disaster, the researchers said.
“Health-care providers need to know what to look for and what to focus on when they see folks from the Gulf Coast,” said Gina Solomon, director of UCSF’s occupational environmental medicine residency program. “The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is well known as an ecological disaster. What is less known is the risk to human health caused by oil contamination.”
The researchers examined the components of crude oil, the chemicals used to disperse it and the compounds created when it is burned away. Their findings were released today by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Residents, volunteers and workers shouldn’t fish in off- limits area, eat fish with an oily smell or touch contaminated water or tar balls, Solomon said in a telephone interview. Solomon, who spent several weeks in the region evaluating the risks, said protective equipment and common sense are needed.
Cleanup Efforts
Cleanup of the 4.9 million barrels of oil that spilled into the water from BP’s Macondo well after an April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling well is still under way in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida’s panhandle. No oil has flowed from the plugged well since July 15.
More than 300 people, mainly clean-up workers, needed medical care in the initial days after the spill, the researchers said. The air quality has improved in recent weeks, Solomon said, and the existing lung problems may not become chronic complaints.
The extent of the danger isn’t known because the long-term health consequences from previous spills haven’t been documented, she said.
“There is really pathetically insufficient information in the scientific literature about previous oil spills,” she said. “This time it’s going to be important to do it right and do the follow-up studies of health issues, so we know what can be attributed to this spill.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Fay Cortez in Minneapolis at mcortez@bloomberg.net
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