Gulf Oil Spill Workers Report Health Problems

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People here are developing symptoms: headaches, coughing, congestion, sore throats, hoarseness, burning eyes, difficulty concentrating and remembering, pneumonia, wheezing, difficulty breathing not typical of allergies.
We need some air and water testing!! From objective labs, so we will know whether this is related to oil/dispersants reaching our shores. We have already had tar balls on the beaches and oil sheen.

Gille of FL 1:52AM August 05, 2010

I too have been sick Patricia for about a month. It has really only subsided when I was in Santa Fe on vacation. It came back within 2 days of my return to the Gulf. Constant headaches and some weird eye irritaton x a month. Just started coughing, chest congestion, low grade fever . Met 3 others this week with same symptoms. Have doctor appointment tomorrow with the new symptoms.

Deborah of FL 5:45PM July 12, 2010

I think that whomever in Florida is telling people that it's safe to swim in their waters can be sued. Find the bureau making those commercials and prepare the lawsuit for future use. During the Exxon Valdez disaster, 11,000 people flocked to the scene to assist in the clean-up: 6700 cases of respiratory illnesses. In the summer of 1989, 1,800 of the cleanup workers filed injury claims with the Alaska Workers' Compensation office. People are more important than animals unless you believe your ancestors are monkeys. Congress won't take serious action to plug the hole in the gulf until they pass their crap and trade tax.

Green Hornet of TN 6:38PM July 04, 2010

I have been sick since early May, I doubled over many times in my classroom after being outside for short periods of time. Now I have a constant metallic taste in my mouth and pain in the area of my liver. I don't work on a clean up crew, I just live here! I know why I am sick, oil dispersants in the air and benzene! God only knows what else. I live 15 miles from the coast and work about 4 miles from the beach. Everyone I talk to says that they feel sick all the time, when is somebody going to do something about this?

Patricia Watters of MS 2:46PM June 29, 2010

Heh. Why does everyone think that New Englanders all like seafood?
Brad, I've never been a big fan of the stuff (tastes like low tide), so there's a mercy.
Regardless. We already have plenty of tar on the beaches up this way.. the oil releases from NY area, the 'Foul Zone' off of Geroges Bank where toxic waste was dumped, literally, in barrels that were then shot with high-powered rifles to get them to sink - true story.. (occasionally a trawler will haul some of these time-bombs up and you'll hear of the boat's crew getting sick.. there's boatyards in Mass. that have nothing but contaminated vessels sitting in them..) Ships belching oils as they come in and out of the harbors in Boston and further down in New York, or the boatyard in Groton, Conn. We've already got these kinds of chemicals in the coastal waters here. I don't go in the ocean, the beaches often have waste alerts up, though that's usually sewage, but not all the time. Toxins putting people out of work and landing boats is nothing new up here, it just rarely makes press beyond a line or two the local papers.
If you look at coastal maps, there's boatyards and harbors and industrial zones ALL down the eastern seaboard, so most of the waste that ends up in the water drifts past this area anyway. WTF, it's not like the coastal northeast is pristine, virgin territory. Quite the opposite: It's the longest permanently settled area in the country, so yeah, it's filthy by many other areas' standards. Crowded too.
To the many Gulf fishermen who will lose their livelihood from this disaster of carelessness and ignorance: Welcome to New England! :(

foodandart of NH 11:41AM June 04, 2010

I just finished watching the animation of oil flowing rapidly around FL and up the East Coast. Predictably, you will see significantly lower property values, the collapse of fishing and tourism industries, and a serious public health threat from aerosolized oil (i.e. "40% of the oil evaporates" within a short time). The people of Louisiana are just now beginning to realize how badly they are screwed - not temporarily, but long-term. Look at the attitude of BP: those clean up workers aren't suffering from oil exposure, oh no, it COULD BE any number of things... I bet that will be their attitude when it comes to lower property values, lost business, and most importantly people miles inland suffering from headaches, breathing difficulties, and other symptoms. When the full extent of the damage is realized, you will probably see wide-spread civil unrest. The sea food harvested will probably have minute oil deposits that the US government and BP will as sure us is of no harm...sure that's the ticket that headache and heartburn is completely unrelated from that Gulf (or soon East Coast) seafood you ate. They lied about the oil flow volume, they lied about the odds of Top Kill working, and they are lying about what is causing clean up workers to fall ill - do you trust them to be any more honest with your health East Coast residents?

Brad Arnold of MN 4:17AM June 04, 2010

BP says it's just that you're dehydrated, which means you probably have eight minutes to live before poisons in the dispersants turn your guts inside out.

Jeremiah of NH 11:21PM June 03, 2010

IIRC, what needs to be looked at are the health records from past oilmen, many of whom would be covered in the stuff at the end of a workday.
Remember those educational movies from the 50's and 60's many of us saw as kids, showing drills coming up out of the ground and the men wrestling the equipment as the oil gushed up and squirted all over them?
Well, if the symptoms of the men who got ill way back when are the same as what we're seeing today, it's likely the oil.
If there is a totally NEW set of symptoms, you can probably safely bet it's the dispersants.

foodandart of NH 9:50PM June 03, 2010

Yea forget the humans out there trying to clean up the spill.
Save the fish and seaweed!

hooah 9:27PM June 03, 2010

Okay so workers are getting sick...But what about the animals! they have to live in it! Millions of gallons of crude oil are just freely flowing into the water with no one stopping it and hundreds of animals are dying! open your eyes people! there will be nothing left by the time this is all done!

concernedandpissed 6:25PM June 03, 2010