I had not heard of "Valdez crud" - Are we poisoning recovery workers in the Gulf of Mexico?!?

[peacebird]

"Local fishermen hired to work on BP's uncontrolled oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico are scared and confused. Fishermen here and in other small communities dotting the southern marshes and swamplands of Barataria Bay are getting sick from the working on the cleanup, yet BP is assuring them they don't need respirators or other special protection from the crude oil, strong hydrocarbon vapors, or chemical dispersants being sprayed in massive quantities on the oil slick. "
< snip >
"During the 1989 cleanup in Alaska, thousands of workers had what Exxon medical doctors called, "the Valdez Crud," and dismissed as simple colds and flu. Fourteen years later, I followed the trail of sick workers through the maze of court records, congressional records, obituaries, and media stories, and made hundreds of phone calls. I found a different story. As one former cleanup worker put it, "I thought I had the Valdez Crud in 1989. I didn't think I'd have it for fourteen years."

In 1989 Exxon knew cleanup workers were getting sick: Exxon's clinical data shows 6,722 cases of upper respiratory "infections"--or more likely work-related chemical induced illnesses. Exxon also knew workers were being overexposed to oil vapors and oil particles as verified through its air-quality monitoring program contracted to Med-Tox. The cleanup workers never saw results of this program. Neither did OSHA, the agency supposedly charged to oversee and independently monitor Exxon's worker-safety program."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riki-ott/at-what-cost-bp-spill-res_b_578784.html

:wtf:

[ensho]

1. this is VERY IMPORTANT

the fishermen should not be doing cleanup unless wearing a HAZMAT suit

[SPedigrees]

7. and they shouldn't have been compelled to sign waivers

promising not to sue BP as a term of this hazardous work

[SPedigrees]

9. (duplicate deleted)

[woodsprite]

2. I told my kids and hubby I don't want them swimming in the Gulf

when we go down for vacation. We have to go there to my in-laws and it's going to be our first time (they just moved). I'll venture to some beaches to do shelling, but I'm absolutely sick that BP is killing the Gulf, the ecosystem and possibly people too with the crude and chemicals they're spewing.

We save up our vacation all year to take one long trip during the summer. I figure it's probably the closest I'll ever get to actually being able to retire. My family loves camping at any kind of beach but our favorite is Hatteras/Ocracoke. I wish now that we didn't have to go down to FL to visit the in-laws. If we didn't have reservations already, we'd go spend our 3 wks at NC. Who knows what Hatteras and Ocracoke will look like next year since the crystal blue waters of the gulf stream touches them too. :(

There are not enough fires in hell to roast those people from BP or from our Govt who are not doing a damn thing about this.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. Very important article --

This wil be the "other shoe" in this tragedy. :cry:

[HCE SuiGeneris]

4. Please keep this kicked! Enough of the exploitation by these criminals.

These workers need respirators.

[SPedigrees]

10. The topic is important, but threads on this forum don't "kick."

You'll have to settle for a "recommend."

[HCE SuiGeneris]

12. This IS a kick.

My post will bring it to the top of the discussion forum... albeit, it may be brief.

:kick:

[SPedigrees]

13. No, posts to a forum will not move that topic. DU forums don't work that way.

Topics appear and remain in the order they were posted, and they do not "kick" when one posts.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

15. No, you're mistaken.

I choose to see the latest posts bring the topic to the top of the page. Thanks for playing though.

[n2doc]

5. People don't understand how toxic crude is

It has all of the nasty carcinogenic organics one can imagine- benzene, naphthalene, all sorts of crap. And the fresh stuff has a highly volatile component. Workers need hazmat suits/respirators if they are working around high concentrations of the stuff. Of course, that takes money+training, something I don't see a lot of effort going into from this distance. Maybe it is different there than I see on the news.

[thereismore]

6. I hope Rachel will pick this up. nt

[madokie]

8. Tinfoil country here

But what the hell has the dick been up too. I can see him wanting to finish the job that Katrina started, you know like get rid of a bunch of dark skinned people at the same time that they make the area uninhabitable for a while, long enough for most of the property owners to either die off or quit paying their taxes on their property so they, the dick and his friends, can ultimately own most of the gulf region for pennies on the dollar. I believe I read some where one of the right wing think tanks say that what we really needed was about 1/2 the population as we do today.
Dick cheney has been working to be where he and they, neo-CONs, are today since his first days with the Richard Nixon administration. He was slowly working toward a kingdom for himself. Luckily for us W was too stupid and arrogant to be of any help other than getting the dicks ass in the whitehouse as vp otherwise we'd be royally fucked right now. I'd bet money on it, 'cept I don't bet

[Karenina]

11. How 'bout that Corexit 9500, eh?

It was sloshed around the Sound and helped kill off the folks awaiting restitution, in addition to melting rubber boots. So NOW (since BP has financial interest in the company) it's being used under conditions for which it has never been tested. The U.K. BANNED the shit because of its toxicity to the tiniest critters who are the BIG PLAYERS in the food chain. Never mind there were other choices that have been proved MORE effective and LESS toxic... WHATEVER. :shrug:

[bullwinkle428]

14. I work with processing oil, and the MSDS VERY CLEARLY STATES

that these compounds are CARCINOGENIC, and all skin contact MUST BE AVOIDED!!

I think we might be looking at another post-9/11 aftermath scenario for the clean-up workers, with countless cases of lingering health problems and premature deaths.

[L0oniX]

16. Kick

[Feron]

17. Fishermen are already becoming ill unfortunately...

http://www.wdsu.com/health/23615203/detail.html