POLL: US Officials say chemicals used in Gulf oil spill not a threat to seafood . . .!!

[defendandprotect]

U.S. officials say chemicals used to break up Gulf oil spill not a threat to seafood
AP Published: Friday, August 06, 2010, 1:34 PM Updated: Friday, August 06, 2010, 1:36 PM


WASHINGTON — Chemical dispersants sprayed into the Gulf of Mexico to break up the massive oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon disaster do not appear to threaten the safety of seafood in the affected waters, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said this week.

In a letter sent in response to questions from Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., the agency responsible for ensuring the safety of seafood said that chemicals used to break up the slicks are not as dangerous to human health as the oil itself.

Share FDA scientists do not believe that the chemicals accumulate significantly in the tissue of fish and shellfish, and so, even if the fish absorb the chemicals through gills or other ways, the fish do not retain them, Jeanne Ireland, FDA's assistant commissioner for legislation, wrote to Markey. That means they do not pass up the food chain to humans and are not considered a public health concern, according to the FDA.

BP sprayed 1.8 million gallons of the dispersant Corexit on the surface of the gulf and, for the first time, at the wellhead a mile underwater. Dispersants were last used July 19, four days after BP temporarily capped its leaking well.

The ingredients in the dispersants were initially considered classified business information. Under a 1976 federal law, only a handful of employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were privy to those ingredients and were barred from divulging them.



http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/us_officials_say_chemicals_use.html

[liberal N proud]

1. They know the public is stupid

Hogwash

[blindpig]

2. BP's PR department stays on message

The investors gotta be pleased as punch.

They are greasing the skids to the memory hole.

[B2G]

6. Uh, that came from the FDA

Not BP.

[EFerrari]

7. Exactly. n/t

[blindpig]

11. Can you tell the difference?

I'd say they are interchangeable, though neither has any credibility.

The government has shown itself to be a subsidiary of Capital.

[defendandprotect]

15. "The government has shown itself to be a subsidiary of Capital" --

At some point those in the know began calling the FDA ...

"Monsanto's FDA" --!!

[rocktivity]

3. "...do not APPEAR to threaten..."

"...scientists do not BELIEVE that the chemicals accumulate SIGNIFICANTLY in the tissue of fish and shellfish..."

Uhh...no thanks.

x(
rocktivity

[midnight]

4. Really? I'm somehow not thinking that is correct information.

[sabrina 1]

5. We are on our own.

EPA Misled Public on 9/11 Pollution

Published on Saturday, August 23, 2003 by the Long Island, NY Newsday
EPA Misled Public on 9/11 Pollution
White House ordered false assurances on air quality, report says

by Laurie Garrett

NEW YORK -- In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, the White House instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to give the public misleading information, telling New Yorkers it was safe to breathe when reliable information on air quality was not available.

That finding is included in a report released Friday by the Office of the Inspector General of the EPA. It noted that some of the agency's news releases in the weeks after the attack were softened before being released to the public: Reassuring information was added, while cautionary information was deleted.

"When the EPA made a September 18 announcement that the air was 'safe' to breathe, it did not have sufficient data and analyses to make such a blanket statement," the report says. "Furthermore, the White House Council on Environmental Quality influenced . . . the information that EPA communicated to the public through its early press releases when it convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones."

On the morning of Sept. 12, according to the report, the office of then-EPA Administrator Christie Whitman issued a memo: "All statements to the media should be cleared through the NSC (National Security Council in the White House) before they are released." The 165-page report compares excerpts from EPA draft statements to the final versions, including these:

The EPA 'did not have sufficient data' to declare that the air was safe. As a result many of those declared to be heroes by the same 'officials' who issued those 'safety' reports, are sick and dying, many already dead. And they have had to fight every step of the way to get help, going from 'heroes' to 'greedy people just wanting to profit from 9/11' according to 'officials'.

Anyone who is close enough to this disaster to be affected should not forget what was done to the heroes of 9/11. People will have to take care of themselves. The U.S. government does not care about the American people. How much more proof did we need than what happened to those first responders?

[blindpig]

8. "we are on our own"

Yes, we are.

The sooner more come to realize this the sooner we can gather the strength and show the ruling class what 'change' is all about.

[Turborama]

9. They should be sent this report on blue crab larvae (VIDEO)

COREXIT Now In Blue Crab Larvae From Texas To Florida; Bio-Accumulation/Food Chain Fears
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x491015

[sabrina 1]

14. Thanks for that link. People will just have to

use their own judgement and not eat anything that comes from the Gulf. At least until there is some way to be able to trust that they are being told the truth based on real scientific studies over a period of time. Otherwise it could be a repeat of what happened to the 9/11 First Responders.

[Subdivisions]

10. The crisis is over. Everyone move along and get back to shopping and

dining and vacationing on the Gulf. C'mon down! The beaches, wildlife, seafood, and water are fine!

[sabrina 1]

12. The people are so easily manipulated.

While the media was covering the Coal Mine disaster, people were rightfully angry and engaged. But then this happened, and teabagger Don Blankenstein was completely forgotten because the media cannot handle more than one crisis at a time. Does anyone know what happened with that?

Now the media will get its instructions once again, and as you say, we will move on. Until it happens again, which it will. It's only five years since BP killed 15 Americans in Texas through negligence. But who even remembers it?

Even on this board people are rushing to defend and minimize the damage. Almost breathing a sigh of relief that it will now all go away. And for the worst of reasons, political partisanship.

[Donnachaidh]

13. I can just see the lawyers setting up files for class action lawsuits

This sort of denial deserves to be sued out their asses.... :grr: