E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSOil spill workers toiling along the Gulf Coast have suffered 1,753 illnesses and injuries, according to most recent figures from BP. That’s more than double the tally of a month ago.
Records collected from April 22 through July 15 include 718 illnesses ranging from dehydration and heat exhaustion to seasickness, and 1035 injuries, mostly cuts, bruises and strains caused by accidents. On July 11, for instance, a worker slipped and caught his arm on a fish hook, which was embedded so deeply it reached the bone.
Meanwhile, as of Wednesday, poison control centers had received 863 calls from people in 18 states reporting exposures to oil and dispersants, with symptoms that include headaches, nausea, vomiting and dizziness. People who called from states outside the Gulf Coast region may have been in the area to work or visit or may have family there, said a staffer with the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
Another 536 people have called seeking information about the health effects of the spill, according to the poison centers.
The largest number of reports has come from Louisiana, where health officials have logged 290 health complaints, including 216 from workers and 74 from the general population. Most frequent symptoms include headache, dizziness and nausea.
Leave a Comment:
My concern are the water treatment plants in the many communities along the gulf coast. With a tropical depression approaching are the treatment plants tar ball safe. Filtering tar balls dosent seem feasible. Not having drinking and bathing water after the storm could lead to more illness.
According to some, children are already falling ill in the afflicted coastal regions from drinking tap water. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FxfYqnlQ50&feature=player_embedded The videos also report that corexit is being sprayed directly on the coast as opposed to what the EPA and NOAA are reporting, which is to say, 3 mi from the shore. This page goes over hazmat health hazards associated with the gusher--http://www.reefrelieffounders.com/drilling/2010/06/14/sciencecorps-org-gulf-oil-spill-health-hazards/ and here is a Lousiana Lawyer who is trying to help gulf workers document their cases, which is important. http://www.wdsu.com/news/24314456/detail.html Otherwise no doubt BP and our beknighted govt will try the old "You were already sick and a layabout" routine, so they don't have to compensate you for the loss of health, quality of life and a significantly diminished lifespan. I see stuff all the time about having to "tell the president that workers need respirators!" And I have to say, with all the agencies like NOAA, EPA and OSHA, and the DOI working for him, some of whom are cabinet members, of all the military folk too, who work with jet fuels, paints, corrosives, explosives, solvents and the like--Do we really need to tell him anything? Because if he doesn't know by now then folks we are in deeper caca than ever, and I will have to reassess my idea of this man that he is smarter than Bush. The worst part of that though, is that it means he just doesnt give a sh*t. It is clear to me at this point that this is being done to start a paper trail in order to absolve culpability for health problems incured by Workers and Residents. The govt and Bp are pretending like nothing is wrong, so that when challenged, they can do their best to discredit the claims of people who are sick and injured due to exposure. Because that could quite possibly be a lifetime of care and disability for WHOLE FAMILIES! This is all done of course to help keep costs down. Because we all know that Money is what makes America and Not People.