Former Valdez Cleanup Worker Warns of Toxic Dangers in the Gulf

[babylonsister]

Former Valdez Cleanup Worker Warns of Toxic Dangers in the Gulf
by Marian Wang, ProPublica - June 4, 2010 10:40 am EDT


At the time, it was the worst oil spill the United States had ever seen.

It was 1989, and Merle Savage, then a healthy 50-year-old, had heard the news about Exxon Valdez. Compelled to help, she spent four months cleaning up Alaska’s oil-contaminated waters and shores.

She has never been the same since. Now 71, Savage still feels the toll that summer took on her health, but as she watches the reports coming out of the Gulf, she’s felt something else:

Déjà vu.

After all, the symptoms <1> seem to line up <2>:

A flu-like illness <3>. Dizziness. Nausea. Nosebleeds. Vomiting. Headaches. Coughing. Difficulty breathing. Many of the same things she experienced two decades ago; some of the same things she still experiences today.

“I had an upset stomach all the time. I was throwing up, fainting, I was having trouble with my lungs,” Savage said. It’s been 21 years. She said her health has improved over the past two decades, but still, “everything is not back to normal. It’s still difficult to breathe.”

Asked if there’s any doubt in her mind that the health problems in the Gulf are due to workers’ chemical exposure, she was certain.

“No. There’s none,” Savage said. “Let’s face it, crude oil is toxic. There’s no question about it. Anybody who says it isn’t has to have some type of interest otherwise. The fact that you’re out there in it, and the heat and humidity and fumes, you breathe it and it’s going into your lungs. I can’t imagine anybody thinking different.”

more...

http://www.propublica.org/ion/blog/item/former-valdez-cleanup-worker-warns-of-toxic-dangers-in-the-gulf

[L. Coyote]

1. Petroleum products were exempted from worker safety laws so the world would not have to shut down!

Gasoline is 6% toluene, a volatile organic solvent.
Unrefined crude contains VOSs and is both carcinogenic and an immediate health danger.
VOSs act as a drug and alter consciousness.

MSHA - Safety and Health Information - Material Safety Data Sheets ...
Due to the enormous volume of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS),
MSHA is providing you with links to sites that provide MSDS. ...
http://www.msha.gov/msds.HTM

[madokie]

2. sounds like huffing in a big way

and that is not good for anyone

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. K&R