Health care problems from BP oil spill to last years, experts say
“The health care impact of the massive BP oil spill will be measured in years – not weeks or even months – according to a panel of experts who testified this week before a congressional committee. Because too little is known about the toxicity of the oil, and more specifically about BP’s own recipe for chemicals used to disperse the oil, health care problems are likely to last for years and need to be monitored, experts said during their testimony.
“The hearing by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee looked at steps taken so far to monitor and deal with health care issues, and what the longer-term threats and effects may be, according to CNN. Lisa Kaplowitz, a deputy assistant secretary of health and human services involved in preparedness and response, said the spilled oil would cause health care concerns for years to come. “The impacts of this disaster must be considered in the framework in not weeks or months, but years,” Kaplowitz said, adding that there is a lack of long-term assessments on the toxicity of oil in the environment.
“Fortunately, the monitoring of health care concerns has already begun. Concerned about the growing number of Gulf Coast residents and clean up workers becoming ill as a result of the spill, federal and state health care officials teamed up earlier this month to send a mobile medical clinic to Louisiana to treat people and monitor the long-term health care effects of what is clearly becoming one of the worst environmental disasters of our time…local residents have complained of throat irritation, eye irritation, nausea, headache, and coughs…
“How concerned do we have to be about the long-term health care effect of the oil spill? Consider this excerpt from joint report by researchers at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Royal Oak, Michigan and the Sciencecorps organization in Lexington Mass., which assesses the human health threat of the BP oil spill: “Crude oil contains chemicals that readily penetrate cell walls, damage cell structures, including DNA, and alter the function of the cells and the organs where they are located. Crude oil is toxic, and ingredients can damage every system in the body.””
