Reading this diary may piss you off. Diary could lead to anger problems. Diarist warns of possible adverse emotional responses. It's too early to say.
Feel fully informed now? Good. Then you're just the audience for what few news stories there are on the health effects of the Gulf spill.
"Gulf Oil Spill Could Threaten Human Health" warns Business Week, quoting Dr. Gina Solomon of the Natural Resources Defense Council:
Health-care workers and the general public alike could face risks by inhaling various components of crude oil, such as benzene, toluene and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, all of which may cause cancer, according to the NRDC.
Crude oil also contains mercury and lead, both of which can be dangerous if inhaled or swallowed, the group stated.
"The immediate worry is what are called volatile organic compounds, which include chemicals like benzene that can be released in a vapor phase from the oil that's floating in the water," Solomon said. "These chemicals can cause acute health effects such as headache, nausea, vomiting, cough, dizziness. The chemicals can also cause longer-term effects, including the potential for miscarriage or low birth weight in pregnant women and risk of cancer over the longer term."
Dr. Jay Brooks of Ochsner Hospital adds, "It's too early to say" what health effects might be.
Dr. LuAnn White is just as reassuringly hypothetical regards the hazards:
"We are watching it very closely," she tells WebMD. "The odor from the spill could affect people with respiratory diseases such as asthma and emphysema, but the spill happened off shore, so that is good because there is no one out there," she says. The occupational health issues are immense, but proper safeguards are being taken by oil spill responders and others involved in the clean-up process, she adds.
The oil involved in the spill was sweet crude oil. "It didn't have sulfur, so it doesn't smell as bad as other types of oil and it is composed of lighter compounds that will evaporate," she explains.
So far, she says, the odor is light and transient.
There has been other reassuring news regarding air quality, White tells WebMD. "There has been air monitoring along the coastline and that didn't pick up anything so far."
Ah, yes, the EPA has stepped up air quality monitoring along the coast, and they, too, take a calming, well-it-might-happen approach:
I live close to the Gulf Coast, what will I notice?
The BP Oil Spill in the Gulf could cause an odor similar to that of a gas station for communities along the affected coast.
Is the odor bad for my health?
This odor may cause symptoms such as headaches or nausea. For your own comfort, limit your exposure to the odor by staying indoors. To the extent possible, close windows and doors, turn your air conditioner on and set to a recirculation mode. If you are experiencing severe incidents of nausea or other medical issues, please seek care as soon as possible.
What if the odor gets worse?
Wind and weather will play a role in the strength of the odors. Please stay tuned to your local news stations and newspapers for further information. The gas station-like odor will likely persist over the next few days. You will be notified to take additional precautions if federal and state agencies learn of worsening conditions.
What is causing the odor?
The odor you may smell contains the same chemicals as the gas you use to fill your car. These chemicals are classified as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), specifically: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and naphthalene. These VOCs can be smelled at levels well below those that would cause health problems.
Yeah, that smell. The one that was all over the city Friday a week ago. The one that had state legislators calling the secretary of Health and Hospitals to complain of nausea and burning eyes.
It came back yesterday as the winds moved around from the east-southeast, and it's likely to increase over the week with the winds forecast to remain from the southeast, driving the oil ever closer to Lake Bourne and Lake Pontchartrain.
That's the smell that "may" or "could" or "might possibly" cause some health problems. You know, down the road. In some "sensitive" people.
The cough. Dry, squeaky little thing like a Pekinese dog's bark, doesn't bring up much phlegm. A feeling like a low-grade fever, slight headache. Everyone seemed to come down with this "flu lite" about the same time. Last weekend.
One guy's friends is not a meaningful data point, especially when that guy and half his friends drink like fish and smoke like chimneys to begin with. So I've been looking for hard data on reports of respiratory problems. It's not that easy to find. The Department of Health and Hospitals web site cites no reports on increased breathing complaints. The clinics and hospital I called understandably say they cannot release such statistics.
BP is monitoring. EPA is monitoring. DHH is monitoring. May. Could. Possible.
And all the healthy nurses and receptionists and billing folks at GF's doctor's office were hacking like Pall Mall loyalists last week.
So many people I've talked to have the cough. Or the sore throat. Or the headache.
But, hey, who knows? It might be a cold, might be the flu. One thing's for sure, if history is any guide, that's the way BP's lawyers are going to see it, especially when it comes to claims from workers trying to contain and clean up the spill.
Marine biologist Dr. Riki Ott wrote a book called "Sound Truth and Corporate Myth$" about the Exxon Valdez spill and its aftermath, in which she details the many health exclusions made by Exxon against claimants. She was interviewed last week by FasterTimes on the response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Ott noted in Friday’s phone interview that Exxon refused to cover costs associated with “Valdez crud” because the Occupational Safety and Hazards Act (OSHA) has an exception for colds and flus. This is a problem because the symptoms of chemical poisoning can mimic those of colds and flus, she said.
“Exxon … fought workers who sued, claiming their respiratory illnesses and other sicknesses were chemical poisoning,” Ott wrote in a September 29, 2009 entry at the Huffington Post. Ott’s post also noted that sickness resulted from workers being told that clean-up products weren’t toxic and from the lack of adequate protective gear.
So it'll be the flu. Or a cold. Or smokers.
And, until this is sealed and the oil cleaned up, we all might as well be smokers down here.
Heck, when you think about it, everybody in the country might as well be a smoker. You, too. We have this dreadful addiction to a known toxic, carcinogenic substance that's nonetheless legal, subsidized and available on every corner. Every day we light it up and enjoy the pleasure it brings, knowing that it's killing us sure as a bullet.
Drive 'em if you got 'em, friends.
Small UPDATE: Even though the EPA seems to think that merely monitoring the levels of airborne toxins is sufficient, one group has taken the bold step of actually releasing those levels to the public. The press? Department of Health and Hospitals? The Feds?
Nope. The Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) has published an evaluation of EPA's recorded levels of hydrogen sulfide at Venice from April 28-May 7:
Odor Threshold for Hydrogen Sulfide: 0.5 ppb
Physical Reaction Symptoms: 5 to 10 ppb
Acute Physical Health Symptoms:
Irritates eyes
Irritates nose, throat and lungs
Nausea, dizziness, confusion, headache
Venice Hydrogen Sulfide Air Monitoring Results for the period of April 28, 2010 - May 7, 2010
Date: Hydrogen Sulfide (parts per billion):
April 28 None Detected
April 29 No Data
April 30 No Data
May 1 No Data
May 2 30 ppb
May 3 1,192 ppb
May 4 46 ppb
May 5 1,010 ppb
May 6 1,000 ppb
May 7 280 ppb
The results of the Hydrogen Sulfide air monitoring in Venice indicates that the concentration from May 2 through May 7 exceeded the odor threshold and Physical Health Symptom concentrations. The Hydrogen Sulfide concentrations on May 3, 5 & 6 exceeded the Physical Reaction Symptoms concentrations by a factor of 100 to 120 times. The Physical Reaction Symptoms have been reported by individuals living and visiting in Venice.
Damn flu. F'ing smokers.