Toxicologist: Oil spill far more toxic than admitted

[cory777]

Source: Michigan Messenger

Nicholas Forte has spent the last year with an array of health issues. Headaches. Migraines. Nausea. Breathing problems so severe they would land him in the hospital.

“We have no idea what it is,” the 22-year-old Battle Creek resident told Michigan Messenger. “Then it escalated to seizures.”

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Ott noted that just this July a peer-reviewed study of oil spill exposure found the same set of symptoms in each location. They are the identical to the ones being seen in Calhoun county. She also noted that the studies have begun to identify toxicity to DNA, as well as reproductive health impacts. She says many of the chemicals of concern to occupational and environmental health officials have been shown to impact fetuses in the first trimester.

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“It’s not just a simple pipeline break or a rig blow out. It’s America’s energy future, the politicians have no exit strategy off oil,” she says. “So they minimize the costs in sick people, lost babies, it doesn’t matter. That’s what we’re seeing. Battle Creek is a pawn in this giant bid for Alberta tar sands. It doesn’t matter that it happened in Battle Creek … there will be countless communities in the future. What is starting to change is that — after witnessing this over two decades now — this is a decision that is not going to be made by the politicians, our energy policy, it’s going to be the people. Fracking, tar sands, there is a moral obligation for future life and immediate public health that we do something different. That will give enough transformation to bring the politicians along.”

Read more: http://michiganmessenger.com/52176/toxicologist-oil-spill-far-more-toxic-than-admitted

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Breaking Activist News http://activistnews.blogspot.com/

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, cory.

[burrowowl]

2. Kick!

[canuckledragger]

3. from the "no shit, Sherlock" dept

As a Canadian, let me apologize in advance for Stephen Harper's greed & shortsightedness in allowing this stupid pipeline to be built at all. (ignoring all the damage already being caused by the tar sands extraction to the surrounding native communities)

[Auntie Bush]

4. Thanks for telling that about your own country. We need more people like you.

[canuckledragger]

33. here's an article for you that explains some the pollution already being generated

http://www.earthpulsedaily.net/epd-post/oil-sands-contamination-athabasca-river

[DeSwiss]

5. K&R n/t

[Lugnut]

6. K&R n/t

[madrchsod]

7. that is why there should be no tar sand pipelines

the stuff is deadly. no one knows how to clean it up and what the long term effects will be.

this shit could have gotten into lake michigan.

[TBF]

8. You'd think our President would realize that an exit strategy is needed -

why not actually use the power of taxation to tax both wealthy individuals and corporations - and earmark some of that money for the development of new energy technologies (which will also provide jobs). This isn't rocket science ...

[slay]

10. Oh he knows - but he's up against the sick oil industry who have the oil, and therefor the power

remember the fake gas shortages under Carter cause the big oil barons didn't like him? it's going to be a real battle to get the rich politicians to side with the people and not Big Oil. and it would help if Obama would at least pretend to give a shit - but i think he's accepted his place as puppet president while the big banks, oil, and war industries continue to bleed this country dry.

we should nationalize all forms of non-renewable energy as a national security issue.

[TBF]

27. "nationalize all forms of non-renewable energy as a national security issue"

I agree 100%.

[Selatius]

20. The problem is he'd have to get Congress to levy taxes on the rich and corporations.

As we all know, Congress is run by people who are also rich and are heavily lobbied by corporate special interests.

[izquierdista]

9. Just like yeast in a bottle

"Hey, you guys, if you keep turning sugars in to alcohol, you're going to kill us all."

"Well, maybe, but Chief Yeastie Bollinger is making a lot of money in the meantime."

[KansDem]

11. Isn't this the way this starts?

Always underestimating the damage until the real damage can't re refuted any more. So you raise the estimate just a little but still underestimate...

[Pooka Fey]

12. K&R

[amborin]

13. KR

[HCE SuiGeneris]

14. It's far more than the failed exit strategy.

It's the demise of our planet. We have been tethered to oil, actually manipulated into our all-consuming need for oil, by those that reap the profits from our dependence. Exploration and innovation of alternative methods of energy have been severely crippled by monied interests. It's a sad reflection of where we are in a greater sense.

[Hubert Flottz]

15. Stupidity is like water...or oil,

it seeks it's own level.

Can the "EXPERTS" ever be wrong? Not to hear the other "EXPERTS" tell it. Factor in cash/greed and you have the recipe for mankind's destruction. "Good to the last drop," but what then Mr. Expert? What Then?

[Gregorian]

16. We vote for this every time we fill up our cars with fuel.

I expect outrageous replies to that statement. It's a challenge to the way of life as we know it. But you know that it's true. It's also a two way street with corporations pulling their weight, as long as we give them the line to pull with. And politicians are spending money on killing machines instead of battery research, etc. But the bottom line is always us. That next trip. That next vacation. Flying, driving, and on and on. No sense of sacrifice or responsibility. I constantly get looks of disbelief when I tell someone I won't go. I won't be there for that bike race because I don't want to drive there. It's foreign to Americans to be frugal and careful and thoughtful to the extent that our behavior changes.

[No Elephants]

17. People used to work and shop near where they lived. Parents and kids walked home for lunch.

Then car companies and oil companies got Eisenhower to build our highway system for "national defense."

And here we are.

"It's foreign to Americans to be frugal and careful and thoughtful to the extent that our behavior changes."


For some Americans, some generations more than others. It's not foreign to seniors, who were kids during the Depression and remember WWII. That's probably the reason some of them can even survive on nothing but Social Security.

[Fumesucker]

23. There's more to the establishment of the Interstate Highway system than that..

Eisenhower had been on a coast to coast truck convoy in 1919 that was in many ways a disaster..

Then after the end of WWII as SACEUR he saw the German Autobahns, he put two and two together..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_Motor_Convoy

The 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy was a "Truck Train"<1> (convoy) of the US Army Motor Transport Corps that drove over 3,000 mi (4,800 km) from Washington, D.C., to Oakland, California, and ferried to San Francisco. In addition to 230 road incidents<11> (stops for adjustments, extrications, breakdowns, & accidents) resulting in 9 vehicles retiring,<12> the convoy of "24 expeditionary officers, 15 War Department staff observation officers, and 258 enlisted men" ((e.g., Bvt Lt Col Dwight D. Eisenhower of the Tank Corps) had 21 injured en route who did not complete the trip.<12> Although some "were really competent drivers" by the end, the majority of soldiers were "raw recruits with little or no military training"; and except for the Motor Supply Company E commander (1st Lt Daniel H. Martin), troop officers had "meager knowledge" of "handling men in the field".<13>:6,10


1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy car at a service station in a western desert town.
The convoy broke and repaired<14> 88 wooden bridges<12>:10 (14 in Wyoming),<15> and "practically" all roadways were unpaved from Illinois through Nevada.<1>:4 The convoy logged 3,250 mi (5,230 km) logged miles in 573.5 hours.<16> and 6 rest days without convoy travel were used. Convoy delays required extra encampments and, at Oakland, California, the convoy was 7 days behind schedule (ferrying the next morning on the last travel day).<13>:4

[Gregorian]

29. It's very interesting to see how perspective has changed.

I am fully aware of how the lack of roads, and improvements, was the context of life only a century ago. Add to that the population being only a couple of billion people. Some people knew we were on the cusp of an exponential curve of change. But to anyone just looking with eyes, it was a limitless world. Now were on the vertical part of the curve, looking back. Most still don't see. Which I think is some kind of human flaw. We're unable to extrapolate in order to visualize the future.

So now we've jeopardized our own survival.

Thanks for posting that. I'm not sure which era I would prefer living in. They all have their pluses and minuses.

[Aerows]

18. It has to be

Look at the people who did clean up for the Exxon Valdez spill, and how many are still alive afterwards.

[No Elephants]

19. We were deceived by big business and our government about a matter of life and death and no one

is even mildly surprised.

Is it soup yet?

[Sherman A1]

21. K&R

:kick:

[knitter4democracy]

22. I live in Battle Creek not far from the river. It's bad.

The smell when it happened was awful, and I'd get headaches when I was by the river for not long at all. People around here aren't happy with Enbridge at all except for the jobs we've gotten out of it. Who the heck thought it was okay to send heavier tar sands oil through a pipe not designed for it right through Michigan, a fresh water resource, I don't know.

[varelse]

24. K&R

[Starry Messenger]

25. k&r

[blindpig]

26. After the Gulf this should be no surprise.

Can there be any doubt that government is the tool of capital?

k&r

[chervilant]

28. The End of our Species?

I read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring when I was 12. When I finished Carson's iconic treatise, I made two fundamental decisions: 1) I would not bear children, and 2) I would be an activist for the rest of my life. I am thankful that I've achieved both these goals, considering our species' imminent ecocide.

During my 55 years on this planet, I've witnessed:

~heavy metal pollution of virtually all of our groundwater

~inexplicable declines in honeybee populations

~nutritional deficiencies in almost every fruit or vegetable harvested since the 70s

~vast swaths of soil erosion and silt runoff

~measurable declines in the quality and flavor of most produce

~GLOBAL monopolies on seed stocks, and genetically modified foods

~cross contamination of vegetable foodstuffs from cattle and dairy operations

~inhumane treatment of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, calves, chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks

~Bhopal

~Chernobyl

~Fukushima (still releasing deadly radiation)

~oil spills in the Gulf (and, apparently, an irreparable fissure now leaking even more oil)

~the nationwide existence of 'Superfund Sites' that are so toxic, massive amounts of our tax dollars have been allocated to 'clean up' these abandoned, hazardous areas (visit Superfund websites and you'll find "Superfund for Kids!")

~destruction of the planet's rain forests (actually, widespread deforestation)

~global climate change, resulting in extreme weather conditions worldwide

~a pile of floating garbage--in surface area, twice the size of the state of Texas--in the doldrums of the Pacific Ocean (and another similar carpet of plastic in the Atlantic...)

~a measurable decline in the amount of food fish we pull out of our oceans and lakes (with toxic levels of mercury in tuna and other large fish)

~an exponential increase in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other diseases directly linked to the consumption of refined sugars (let's not even BEGIN to discuss hydrogenated oils...)

~a growing percentage (almost half) of functionally illiterate (thus, easily manipulated) adults in the US

~a now ubiquitous 'message delivery system' (television) that has turned a significant number of humans into distracted, misinformed zombies

~a dangerous economic system that concentrates the wealth of this planet into the hands of a VERY few at the expense of the VERY many

~destructive, endless 'wars' based on lies and profitability (don't get me started about Depleted Uranium)

~a radical shift to exponential growth (read 'change') that few recognize and even fewer discuss.

Sigh...

We are like a plague of locusts on this planet, fouling the air, water, and land while destroying entire ecosystems. AND, in these exponential times, the catastrophic economic 'transformation' we're witnessing in our global economy promises to inflict challenges we have yet to envision.

Did you know that a third of US students surveyed do not expect to live into their old age? (In case you don't remember, for teenagers thirty is old age...)

The 'whining' Obama and his sycophants denigrate is actually the justifiable grumbling of the hoi polloi, as more of us awaken to the reality of the jack boots of the uber wealthy clamping down across our necks. These vile corporatists are daily increasing their stranglehold on our lives and our livelihoods. Do they expect us to go quietly into their dark night?!

Our species has reached critical mass. The decisions we make RIGHT NOW will determine whether we continue to evolve into the erudite, peaceful and creative beings we KNOW we can become; or devolve into the ignorant, aggressive, and fearful beings we vociferously deny being now and in much of our past.

At this unavoidable fork in our evolutionary path, which way do YOU think we'll go?

[defendandprotect]

30. kr --

[tawadi]

31. K&R

[blkmusclmachine]

32. Why do you ppl. keep wanting to look back:

You might see all that massive, obvious wrong-doing. We Gotta WTF! WTF! WTF! :hurts: