Bear with me, there's a lot of stuff. I'll start with two more recent articles:

 

 

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/12/20101230105158700342.html

Illnesses linked to BP oil disaster

Doctor attributes widespread sickness to toxic chemicals from the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.

Dahr Jamail Last Modified: 05 Jan 2011 16:55 GMT

 

Despite BP having capped its well in the Gulf of Mexico in July, the health-related after-effects of the disaster subsist.

 

Gulf Coast residents and BP cleanup workers have linked the source of certain illnesses to chemicals present in BP's oil and the toxic dispersants used to sink it - illnesses that appear to be both spreading and worsening.

Dr. Rodney Soto, a medical doctor in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, has been testing and treating patients with high levels of oil-related chemicals in their blood stream. These are commonly referred to as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's). Anthropogenic VOC's from BP's oil disaster are toxic and have negative chronic health effects.

 

Dr. Soto is finding disconcertingly consistent and high levels of toxic chemicals in every one of the patients he is testing.

 

"I'm regularly finding between five and seven VOCs in my patients," Dr. Soto told Al Jazeera. "These patients include people not directly involved in the oil clean-up, as well as residents that do not live right on the coast. These are clearly related to the oil disaster."

Chronic health effects

 

Lloyd Pearcey, from Bonsecour, Alabama, worked on a BP clean-up team as a foreman for four months.

 

During that time, he collected oil-soaked boom and drove a bulldozer "filled with the tar balls and tar mats we collected. Other times we stood in the water in Tyvek suits putting out shore boom with oil all over us. The fumes got to you."

 

"I just got my results from the blood tests," Pearcey told Al Jazeera, "I have the chemicals of the oil and dispersants in my blood."

 

Pearcey had experienced many of the now common symptoms of acute exposure to BP's chemicals.

 

Dr. Soto is testing his patients, and said he has ample documentation attesting to the levels of toxins people are being exposed to.

 

Dr. Soto classifies two types of symptom groups: acute exposure that includes skin and respiratory problems; and a second, larger group of people with no symptoms, but who still have toxicity. He believes the pathways of exposure occur through air, skin, and contaminated seafood.

 

One of the more extreme cases he treated was a woman who developed acute respiratory problems after a visit to the beach.

 

"This is a young woman in good health, with good nutritional intake, no health issues, hates to take any medication, and ate only organic foods," he explained, "But shortly after going to the beach, where she was likely exposed to toxins, she developed respiratory illness and developed cancer within weeks. I think this was due to direct exposure to chemicals in the dispersants and VOCs."

 

According to the US Government, BP's oil disaster released at least 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP has used at least 1.9 million gallons of toxic dispersants, that are banned in at least 19 countries, to sink the oil.

Many of the chemicals present in the oil and dispersants are known to cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, kidney damage, altered renal functions, irritation of the digestive tract, lung damage, burning pain in the nose and throat, coughing, pulmonary edema, cancer, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, difficulty breathing, delayed reaction time, memory difficulties, stomach discomfort, liver and kidney damage, unconsciousness, tiredness/lethargy, irritation of the upper respiratory tract, and hematological disorders.

While there are many examples of acute exposures like Pearcey and Dr. Soto's patient who developed cancer, his concern is that most residents who are being exposed will only show symptoms later.

"This latter group develops symptoms over years," he told Al Jazeera. "I'm concerned with the illnesses like cancer and brain degeneration for the future. This is very important because a lot of the population down here may not have symptoms. But people are unaware they are ingesting chemicals that are certainly toxic to humans and have significant effect on the brain and hormonal systems."

 

Dr. Soto is most concerned about the long-term effect of the toxins, because they have "tremendous implications in the human immune system, hormonal function, and brain function."

 

The toxic compounds in the oil and dispersants are "liposoluble," meaning they have a "high affinity for fat," according to Dr. Soto.

 

"The human brain is 70 percent fat," Dr. Soto added, "And these will similarly effect the immune cells, intestinal tract, breast, thyroid, prostate, glands, organs, and systems. This is also why this is so significant for children."

 

His particular concern for children involves toxins which cause "development of the depressed immune system and a resurgence of cancer."

 

Dr. Soto believes that for residents along the area of the Gulf Coast affected by BP's toxic chemicals, the solution is either to relocate or to engage in an intensive, long-term detoxification regime that includes intravenous detoxification programs.

 

All clear?

 

State health departments in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama had issued swimming advisories while BP's well continued to gush oil into the Gulf of Mexico last summer. Since then, however, all three states have declared their beaches, waters, and seafood safe from oil disaster related toxins.

Florida never issued any advisories, despite many residents reporting illnesses they attribute to the oil disaster.

 

US federal government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with President Barack Obama himself, have declared the Gulf of Mexico, its waters, beaches, and seafood, safe and open to the public.

 

In addition, most doctors in the effected coastal areas are not treating people as though they are suffering acute exposure to toxic chemicals.

 

While Al Jazeera has heard of incidences where doctors having received threats, and while many fear litigation for talking openly about patient illnesses being attributed to BP's oil disaster, most doctors are simply not trained to deal appropriately with acute chemical toxicity on a mass scale.

 

Dr. Mary Jo Ghory a general and pediatric surgeon, and a member of the American College of Surgeons, told Al Jazeera she believes most doctors along the Gulf Coast are unlikely to connect the illnesses they treat to BP’s chemicals, because of a lack of adequate training.

"Toxicology is not usually a course, and there is not much discussion of the toxic effects of chemical exposure," Dr. Ghory said. "When confronted with an array of confusing and widely varying symptoms related to chemical exposure, it is difficult for each individual physician to sort things out, especially without a definite profile of what to expect."

 

Dr. Soto says he is in a very unique - but isolated - position, as he is one of the only medical doctors he knows in the region who is treating people accordingly.

 

Like Dr. Ghory, Dr. Soto believes this is largely due to lack of training.

 

The Exxon Valdez legacy

 

Merle Savage was a cleanup worker for the Exxon Valdez oil disaster in Alaska in 1989, and she is still suffering health effects from chemicals in the oil and dispersants.

 

"The first few weeks I was on the beach spraying hot water onto the oil covered rocks," Savage explained to Al Jazeera. She was soon promoted to a foreman working on the support barges where workers returned each evening.

 

"So when they started spraying the dispersant, the crews that came back in from spraying it returned with it all over their suits and boats. They were sprayed off with water, and the steam that came off them was dispersant chemicals and we all breathed this in."

 

"The symptoms mimicked the flu, and everyone was coughing," Savage added, "Then it came on and stayed. I went to the doctor during some time off the cleanup, and at that time I was congested with bronchial problems. Then it became a stomach disorder. My whole system since then has been jeopardized."

 

After finishing her work on the oil disaster clean up, she returned to her home in Anchorage, where her problems worsened.

 

Savage moved out of Alaska, thinking that would improve her health. Yet after moving, a liver biopsy showed cirrhosis of the liver.

 

"I have always been physically active and very healthy," she explained, "I don't drink or smoke, and I eat health food."

 

Savage, now 72-years-old, completed a chemical detoxification program three years ago, and is now feeling better.

 

"There was 21 years of watching my body break down like that, and nothing I could do helped, until I learned I was chemically toxified, and could treat that appropriately," she said.

 

Reacting accordingly

 

Independent scientists and activist groups have been carrying out their own blood testing of Gulf Coast residents.

 

Recent results released in a report involve a 46-year-old male who lives 100 miles from the coast. The man, who asked to remain anonymous, was not a BP cleanup worker, yet tested as having higher levels of chemicals from BP's oil in his blood than the actual cleanup workers.

 

Dr. Wilma Subra, a chemist and Mcarthur Fellow, analysed his blood and found the highest levels of ethylbenzene than anyone tested to date. Ethylbenzene is a form of benzene present in the body when it begins to break down; it is also present in BP's crude oil.

 

Styrene, a chemical produced in industrial quantities from ethylbenzene was also found, along with Hexane. M,p-Xylene, a clear, colorless, flammable liquid that is refined from crude oil and is used as a solvent, was also present in the man's blood.

"I've never even seen a tar ball," the man, from Louisiana, told Al Jazeera, "I tried to stay away from all of it. So for me to have the high levels I have, tells me that everyone must have it."

 

Gregg Hall lived in Pensacola, Florida, and also had his blood tested by Dr. Subra.

 

"I have a cough that won't go away, my feet have been numb for months, I have headaches and nausea all the time," Hall said.

 

Hall recently moved to Idaho, and is among a growing number of Gulf Coast residents who feel that they are victims of an environmental catastrophe that has received inadequate response from the federal government.

 

Dr. Soto, whose list of patients related to the BP oil disaster continues to grow, feels similarly.

"It's criminal for the government to tell people to eat the contaminated seafood, and that it's alright for people go to our toxic beaches and swim in the contaminated water," Dr. Soto concluded, "This crisis has to be taken seriously by the government and health care community."

Source:

Al Jazeera

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/gulf-hero-doctor-testing-patients-poisoning-worsening-cancer

Gulf hero doctor testing patients: Poisoning worsening, cancer

 

* November 11th, 2010 11:09 pm ET

 

Unlike most Gulf Coast doctors, Dr. Rodney Soto is testing, diagnosing and treating patients for toxic exposure. He has reported that he is seeing more and more patients with toxins in excess of the 95 percentile and what will be long-term health suffering associated with having been poisoned.

 

Dr. Soto says he is more concerned about long-term cancers from the oil and dispersants and that "it depends strictly on how the body can get rid of it."

 

Toxic exposure deniers vs do-no-harmers

 

In one of the TV reports on the video below, the news reporter says they haven't been hearing much about illnesses associated with the Gulf oil "spill." Mainstream news has conducted the greatest cover-up in American history so that the American public is kept unaware of the health effects of the Gulf oil and dispersants.

 

The Hippocratic Oath includes the promise "to abstain from doing harm." It is harmful to not test patients when they present with signs of toxic exposure because diagnoses and treatments are subsequently not accurate.

 

How can it be known what the illness is, and know it is not associated to poisons if there is no testing? If the doctor is not sure what the illness is, how can his or her treatment be effective?

No accurate diagnoses and treatments are mistreatment. According to Gulf Coast residents reporting to Gulf Coast Barefoot Doctors, it is not easy to find a doctor who will run the appropriate tests - even when patients can afford the tests. It is also widely reported that medical staff continue to be toxic exposure deniers.

 

The VOC blood tests are not covered by health insurance and cost over $200.00.

Gulf hero

Dr. Soto is providing blood tests for his patients that any primary care doctor could be doing that.

 

A reporter parroted what government is telling people about safety of oil and dispersants and asked Soto if that is true.

 

Without hesitation he said, "I don't think so."

 

Dr. Soto explained that there is no way the chemicals could be gone, dissolved.

 

"They evaporate in the atmosphere, mixes with other gas and falls in the rain," he said.

 

"They remain in the air-tube and that's why we cannot say, "We're OK now.'"

In WJHG interview with Soto on November 9, 2010, What Are The Long Term Health Effects of the BP Oil Spill?, at one point asked, "Could we all be at risk?"

[W]hen you get a huge load of toxins and chemicals, then the system gets overwhelmed. The liver can’t take care of it. It stays in the tissues effecting their functions - brain functions, immune system, hormonal function. It effects the aging system.

 

“I'm not just talking about short term effects of irritation in the airways, headaches, or rashes people have been experiencing from symptoms that we get calls here in the office for.

 

“But I’m more concerned about the long term health effects. Nobody's talking about it. Nobody’s even thinking of that 5,10,15, 20 years from now, that we’re going to see – you know - cancer.”

Dr. Soto was born in Ecuador and migrated to the United States in 1989 after completing his Medical School. In the US, Dr. Soto trained in internal medicine at the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, and then performed three years residency training in neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina.

 

Dr. Soto then completed two additional years of fellowship training in vascular and critical care neurology at the Comprehensive Stroke Center at UAB. He is board certified in General Neurology and Vascular Neurology.

 

He specializes in the treatment and prevention of cerebrovascular disorders and is very knowledgeable about neurodegenerative diseases of the nervous system. He has served as the medical Director of the UAB stroke center in Birmingham, AL and the Regional Stroke Center at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, FL.

 

According to the Younger You Institute, Dr. Soto also completed all requirements for Defeat Autism Now (DAN) certification -- a project of the Autism Research Institute providing biomedically-based research, appropriate testing and safe and effective interventions for autism.

 

He is the president and the founder of The Younger You Institute, P.A. incorporated in Florida in May 2007.

 

 

Sources

 

Oil Spill YouTube Video

 

WJHG

 

Florida Oil Spill

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prior to the federal government's announcement, a "rigorous sensory analysis" (a sniff test), was the only measure in place to test seafood samples for dispersant contamination. According to the press release, the new testing measure checks for the level of dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (known as DOSS), a major component of the dispersants.

 

Surprisingly, the press release admits to dispersant chemicals being present in some of their seafood samples: "Using this new, second test, in the Gulf scientists have tested 1,735 tissue samples ... Only a few showed trace amounts of dispersants residue (13 of the 1,735) and they were well below the safety threshold of 100 parts per million [ppm] for finfish and 500 parts per million for shrimp, crabs and oysters."

 

"This test adds another layer of information, reinforcing our findings to date that seafood from the Gulf remains safe," Jane Lubchenco, undersecretary for commerce and NOAA administrator, said of the test.

 

However the press release does not specify which type of analytical testing was carried out on what types of seafood, nor what the "trace amounts of dispersants" were. Al Jazeera's requests last week for this information from both NOAA and the FDA have not been answered.

 

Hugh Kaufman is a senior policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) office of solid waste and emergency response. Kaufman, a leading critic of the US government's decision to use Corexit, told Al Jazeera this about the press release: "They say it perfectly clear: the purpose of the test they developed is to make the public confident, not whether the seafood was safe or not.

 

"They selected the one compound that doesn’t bio-accumulate, as opposed to testing for the toxic ingredients that have a low safety threshold and do build up in tissue. They are not looking for those."

 

Kaufman, who has been the EPA's chief investigator on several contamination cases, including Love Canal and Times Beach, said: "They want to be able to tell the public the seafood is safe. But if you are going to test seafood to see if it’s safe or not, you want to test for the ingredients of Corexit that have a low safety threshold and do bio-accumulate in tissue."

 

"However, if you want the public to think everything is fine, then you do what they said in their press release they are doing, which is to look for an ingredient with a high safety threshold that doesn’t build up in tissue."

 

"They told you they are doing a cover up, how they are doing the cover up, and notwithstanding that, they still have some positive results for chemicals."

 

Inaccurate safety levels

 

Chemist Bob Naman with the Analytical Chemical Testing Lab in Mobile, Alabama, has been testing samples from across the Gulf for oil and dispersant also takes issue with these recent government statements.

 

"500 ppm is an incredible amount," Naman explained to Al Jazeera, "I don't know what moron set that level, but 500 ppm is an extreme amount. It is probably 100 times too high. A reasonably insignificant number would be five parts per billion [ppb], not something being tracked in ppm."

 

Naman gave an example of a government standard that seemingly undermines information in the recent press release.

 

"The amount of chemicals the EPA allows in storm water draining from a site containing salvaged cars into a body of water is 15 ppm," he said.

 

"If the EPA won’t allow more than 15 ppm of that, why in the hell would they consider a number that is 33 times higher than that as acceptable for something you are going to put in your body? Their people that are setting that kind of number apparently don't have a clue what that number even means. The threshold limits they are setting are extremely absurd to a chemist like me. I'm appalled they would use such high numbers for their thresholds."

 

Naman also expressed concern over the fact that from his understanding neither the FDA nor NOAA are testing for propylene glycol and 2-butoxyethanol, the two marker chemicals for BP’s dispersants.

 

"Since they are testing in ppm, these two marker compounds are not being picked up," Naman said.

 

"They are not using low enough detection limits. They need to be looking for parts per billion, not parts per million. It's a world of difference."

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/11/201011465847225269.html

 

 

 

 

Lol glad BP remained in charge of operations

 

BP Is Planning to Challenge Estimates of Oil Spill

 

BP intends to challenge official government estimates of how much oil leaked from its runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico, a move that could reduce its legal liability by billions of dollars, according to documents the company filed with the presidential commission investigating the spill.

Green

 

In August, federal scientists estimated that 4.9 million barrels of oil had leaked from the well before it was capped on July 15, a figure that BP now argues is 20 to 50 percent too high. Under the Clean Water Act, BP faces fines of up to $21 billion, or $4,300 per barrel, if courts determine that it acted with gross negligence before the accident.

 

BP has not offered its own estimates of how much oil spilled, but in the documents filed with the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, it questioned the accuracy of the government’s figures, Priya Aiyar, the panel’s deputy chief counsel, said at its final hearing on Friday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/science/earth/04bp.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miller, his wife and dog were boating on the Gulf of Mexico near one of Mississippi's barrier islands when all three of them fell ill.

 

"My wife and I felt the chemicals immediately and my dog even started hacking like he was trying to cough up a bone," Miller explained.

 

Later that day he began vomiting and experiencing a severe headache and diarrhoea. Then on November 4 he passed out in the shower. Concerned by his uncontrollable nausea and bleeding in his esophagus, his wife took him to the emergency room.

 

"The doctor just told me I have acid reflux,"

....

 

Charter plane pilots who have conducted Gulf over-flights have reported having to wipe an oily, orange film from their plane afterwards. Following this, the skin on their hands peeled off.

 

 

According to Ott, doctors along the Gulf coast are treating the symptoms of the widespread exposure to BP's toxic chemicals with antibiotics.

 

"You can't take antibiotics and expect to get better," she explained. "Environmental medicine is what these people need, but it is hard to find that in the Gulf, where the oil and petrochemical industry reign supreme and medical doctors there are reluctant to call a spade a spade."

 

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/2010/11/201011872121964396.html

 

 

 

 

Chemist Bob Naman described the brownish, rubbery tar balls that are a product of BP's dispersed oil that continue to wash up on beaches across the Gulf:

 

"Those are the ones kids are picking up and playing with and breathing the fumes that come off them when you crush them in your hand. These will affect anyone who comes into contact with it. You could have an open wound and this goes straight in. Women have a lot more open mucus membranes and they are getting sicker than men. They are bleeding from their vagina and anus. Small kids are bleeding from their ears. This stuff is busting red blood cells."

 

Dr Ott said: "People are already dying from this… I’m dealing with three autopsies' right now. I don’t think we’ll have to wait years to see the effects like we did in Alaska, people are dropping dead now. I know two people who are down to 4.75 per cent of their lung capacity, their heart has enlarged to make up for that, and their esophagus is disintegrating, and one of them is a 16-year-old boy who went swimming in the Gulf."

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/10/20101027132136220370.html

 

 

"A new mandatory requirement by the United States Food and Drug Administration is to ensure no fish (seafood) may be harvested from an area that is covered by a Local, State, or Federal closure or for which there is additional information that indicates potential hazards related to an oil spill."

 

"Our lawyers looked this over and told us it is basically an attempt to make us and the fishermen take full responsibility for the seafood, even though it has been BP and the feds that have pushed to open up all the previously closed waters for fishing," Hopkins said.

 

"That means that we’ll be the ones who get sued if somebody gets sick from contaminated seafood, instead of BP or the feds, who are the ultimately the responsible parties for all of this in the first place."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are tons more articles about this. US literally ignoring the large scale poisoning of its citizens, and going a step further to make a media black out. Plus saying beaches are okay to visit, waters are okay to swim in, and seafood is okay to eat. If you don't mind the terrible health consequences

There are tons more articles about this. US literally ignoring the large scale poisoning of its citizens, and going a step further to make a media black out. Plus saying beaches are okay to visit, waters are okay to swim in, and seafood is okay to eat. If you don't mind the terrible health consequences

 

If I recall, Obama used the Gulf as a photo op... you know, swimming with his daughter...

And the seafood, they're just changing what Cajun means. Instead of spices, its flavored with oil and natural sea-salt.

 

 

It also sounds like Dr. Soto is making a ridiculous profit from all this. Evil Dr. Soto for taking advantage of the poor sick people of the gulf.

There are tons more articles about this. US literally ignoring the large scale poisoning of its citizens, and going a step further to make a media black out. Plus saying beaches are okay to visit, waters are okay to swim in, and seafood is okay to eat. If you don't mind the terrible health consequences

 

If I recall, Obama used the Gulf as a photo op... you know, swimming with his daughter...

And the seafood, they're just changing what Cajun means. Instead of spices, its flavored with oil and natural sea-salt.

 

 

It also sounds like Dr. Soto is making a ridiculous profit from all this. Evil Dr. Soto for taking advantage of the poor sick people of the gulf.

 

rofl

 

I can't tell if your being sarcastic or not o.O

He's being sarcastic. Oil could work well with food, don't even need to pay for it, just walk down to the beach and scoop up some oil tar!

You know, I watched something on this subject. They're just spraying the oil with a chemical that's not cleaning it up, it's just making it sink lower so you can't see it, and that chemical is dangerous, and they've been told to stop by the EPA, but didn't stop using it. And I think someone within the BP circuit bought the oil cleaning company that's currently cleaning the oil several days before the accident happened, which generates more income than the oil itself.

Well now BP's in a share swapping deal with Rosneft which could mean they get access to Arctic drilling. Happy polar bears.

And then they ask us why we don't trust corporations - or the government itself.

 

The truth is, I am unable to feel as passionate about this issue because it is in the Gulf of Mexico, and I'm safe up here eating northeastern seafood and swimming in heated pools (nobody's crazy enough to go in the ocean in the middle of January). This is what most Americans are feeling - since the problem doesn't directly threaten them, it isn't as huge as it really is. The oil spill is becoming exactly what every non-American crisis becomes - disconnected, and fuel for rich white girls who want to add something to their college applications, or for angry anti-government people to complain that the public is stupid.

 

What bothers me the most, though, is that we could be seeing mass health issues a few years down the road which won't be credited to the BP disaster.

since the problem doesn't directly threaten them, it isn't as huge as it really is.

 

Most don't know this is happening because there is a media black out. They're probably unknowingly eating oil fish and shrimp and etc etc too

since the problem doesn't directly threaten them, it isn't as huge as it really is.

 

Most don't know this is happening because there is a media black out. They're probably unknowingly eating oil fish and shrimp and etc etc too

 

A media black out? It's only because nothing has changed. News thrives on change, things out of the ordinary, dramatic turns of events. Right now, like it or not, the oil in the Gulf of Mexico is status quo, much like violence in Afghanistan or poverty in Haiti. The best you'll probably get are follow-up programs a year later. They're still terrible things that should be stopped, but they're not changing. I also find it painfully ironic that Americans can be outraged about another country's state of healthcare.

 

 

Is this whole thing meant to be sarcastic? Because it isn't particularly funny.

since the problem doesn't directly threaten them, it isn't as huge as it really is.

 

Most don't know this is happening because there is a media black out. They're probably unknowingly eating oil fish and shrimp and etc etc too

 

A media black out? It's only because nothing has changed. News thrives on change, things out of the ordinary, dramatic turns of events. Right now, like it or not, the oil in the Gulf of Mexico is status quo, much like violence in Afghanistan or poverty in Haiti. The best you'll probably get are follow-up programs a year later. They're still terrible things that should be stopped, but they're not changing. I also find it painfully ironic that Americans can be outraged about another country's state of healthcare.

 

 

Is this whole thing meant to be sarcastic? Because it isn't particularly funny.

 

No, there is a black out.

No, there is a black out.

This some kinda conspiracy theory?

No, there is a black out.

This some kinda conspiracy theory?

Indeed. [Citation needed]. You posted a ton of stuff but nowhere was there a mention of a blackout except in your own comments.

 

Though you'd think it would be obvious that leaking billions of gallons of oil into the ocean would have side effects. It's a huge problem, there isn't going to be an easy fix, and what fixes there are, are almost guaranteed to have effects of their own.

No, there is a black out.

This some kinda conspiracy theory?

Indeed. [Citation needed]. You posted a ton of stuff but nowhere was there a mention of a blackout except in your own comments.

 

Though you'd think it would be obvious that leaking billions of gallons of oil into the ocean would have side effects. It's a huge problem, there isn't going to be an easy fix, and what fixes there are, are almost guaranteed to have effects of their own.

 

There was a black out during the spill (common knowledge) and one now about this. Google search Gulf Coast Toxic, you're lucky if you find any foreign stuff, never mind major American sources.

During?

I don't know about you, but I remember a fairly constant amount of coverage about the spill as it was happening until a while after they claimed it was plugged.

During?

I don't know about you, but I remember a fairly constant amount of coverage about the spill as it was happening until a while after they claimed it was plugged.

I also remember watching BP's webcams during the spill... you know, that broken pipe leaking huge amounts of crude into the ocean? I'd hardly call that a blackout.

 

 

I'd also like to think that it is fairly common knowledge that chemicals tend to evaporate, and its not recommended to breathe hydrocarbons (warning labels on methane/propane/butane/octane tanks about how dangerous they are).

Nature will take care of the oil spill - there's a little bacteria that eats oil. Scientist were freaked out by the Exxon tragedy until they discovered the microbe, and then they realized that nature will take care of itself. Same thing applies here.

During?

I don't know about you, but I remember a fairly constant amount of coverage about the spill as it was happening until a while after they claimed it was plugged.

 

I don't know man, hearing minimal things for the first couple weeks, then slightly more after that, and having reporters/scientists threatened by feds and cameras taken/threatened to be taken away for trying to cover the spill seems pretty black out to me. The fact that it was never really big in the news and that these new health problems would be the number one story if there wasn't. But there isn't so much as a TEENY TINY article in the major news companies about this.

 

I also remember watching BP's webcams during the spill... you know, that broken pipe leaking huge amounts of crude into the ocean? I'd hardly call that a blackout.

 

lol @ them not letting anyone else try to estimate how much was actually leaking, not releasing any of their numbers, and discrediting anyone who had evidence that it was leaking a ton

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/qws/as/qr?scope=term&source=&dmode=preset&period=all&minm=01&mind=01&miny=2011&maxm=12&maxd=31&maxy=2011&term=gulf+oil+spill&smode=exact&Submit=S

Go nuts. Something like 300 results from the SF Chronicle's website. That's where I got my news, I can't say anything about other areas.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/qws/as/qr?scope=term&source=&dmode=preset&period=all&minm=01&mind=01&miny=2011&maxm=12&maxd=31&maxy=2011&term=gulf+oil+spill&smode=exact&Submit=S

Go nuts. Something like 300 results from the SF Chronicle's website. That's where I got my news, I can't say anything about other areas.

 

Looked at the first 2 pages of results, none of them about my OP. All the articles there are about dispersants and criticizing Obama and the tar balls on the beach. Nothing about the health effects plaguing people recently

A media blackout? There was constant news at the time. If anything, there was too much coverage. It was on every news program for weeks, more than anything else I can remember. There is a difference between a blackout and something not being newsworthy. Ongoing medical research and illness' are very rarely newsworthy unless they are either a massively contagious disease such as bird flu or a large medical breakthrough. Even then, it is very rarely on the news for long as there aren't often any major changes. I really think you need to take a step back and stop with the conspiracies.

Black out may be a strong word, but if you can prove this (below) I'd believe you.

reporters/scientists threatened by feds and cameras taken/threatened to be taken away for trying to cover the spill

I hate to be that guy, but do you have a reliable source?

 

Like I said, the biggest issue here is that Americans don't want to hear about their own problems. We're the greatest country in the world, man, nature could at least make an effort to keep up its end of the deal.

http://www.reefrelieffounders.com/drilling/2010/08/15/florida-oil-spill-law-feds-confiscate-independent-lsu-scientists-samples-because-project-not-approved-by-bp-others/

 

 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/07/coast-guard-bans-reporters-oil-cleanup-sites/

 

 

http://www.b-roll.net/today/2010/05/cbs-crew-turned-away-from-oil-spill-by-bp-rules/

 

http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/05/oil-spill-bp-grand-isle-beach

 

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/26/the-missing-oil-spill-photos.html

 

 

Hell, Jacques Cousteau's grandson was turned away after he told them he had members of press with him

The very idea that government officials are acting as agents of BP (of all companies) in what clearly seem to be unconstitutional acts to intimidate and impede the media is infuriating. Obviously, the U.S. Government and BP share the same interest -- preventing the public from knowing the magnitude of the spill and the inadequacy of the clean-up efforts -- but this creepy police state behavior is intolerable.

 

Also trying to buy off silence

 

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/bpac-j27.shtml

And from that article

 

The federal government has imposed a sweeping media blockade on most of the spill area, including an order prohibiting fly-overs, and it has denied scientists and engineers independent access to the ruptured Macondo well located one mile beneath the oceans surface.

 

 

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6626613-bp-media-blackout-hides-dead-oil-spill-animals-cutting-heads-off-birds

 

 

Also not being allowed access to treatment that oilspill clean up crews were receiving.

 

Not being allowed to film oil soaked birds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpJBsjKhRTo&feature=related

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQj2bk0cY9I&feature=player_embedded

So everything was from six months ago. Do you have anything more recent? It seems like no one cares anymore.

So everything was from six months ago. Do you have anything more recent? It seems like no one cares anymore.

 

I don't know why I bother posting on runescape forums anymore :wall:

Why? because we want recent proof? At the time BP certainly wanted to save face which means doing all they could to prevent reporters getting in and around their workings. If they didn't they would be idiots. The quote in the middle of your post at the top of this page is laughable. You think it's unreasonable that they didn't allow independent scientists and engineers access to the rupture? Having them there would have been a huge safety risk and would also have hampered any attempts BP had been trying to plug it. You have also totally gone off from your original topic which is the medical issues. You don't seem to be able to show us any proof of a blackout.

:wall: