We Support HR 3562 - Ban Toxic Dispersants Act of 2011

Regarding the continuing use of dispersants as a remedy for oil spills, we, the people of the Gulf Coast ask that you support HR3562 - Ban Toxic Dispersants Act of 2011.

As a part of the National Contingency plan, we are deeply concerned for your safety. God forbid an “incident” of oil leakage in your local waters should occur, even at a much smaller amount than we have seen in the Gulf, because it is likely that they are going to spray toxic chemicals on it.

Consider this a warning to you and your community. Based on our experiences, if that should happen there is a good chance that a portion of your population will get sick, there is a chance that some may die.

You may not have heard, in fact you probably haven’t, but contrary to the Center for Disease control’s website, found here

http://emergency.cdc.gov/gulfoilspill2010/2010gulfoilspill/dispersants_coastal_residents.asp, which states that “most people in coastal areas are not coming into direct contact with oil spill dispersants,” we are. 

In fact, early on in the spill they sprayed it over the heads of many of our clean up workers and fishermen, and those same chemicals came into our communities via our air, on our beaches and marshes. And now some of those same chemicals have been found in our blood.

If you doubt the effects to health still being experienced by clean-up workers and visitors alike, feel free to check out testimony collected by the Louisiana Environmental Action Network.

We recommend that you start with video affidavit from Chris Landry and Stephen Aquinaga, found here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5CxOcqUPJ1M. Also of our children, shown here http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9vVZ51XAUXA

While they keep telling us that there is not enough information to tell whether people really are sick from the use of dispersants, it is a hard sell to coastal men, women and children who are still suffering headaches, rashes, seizures, respiratory issues, “brain fog,” heart palpitations, abdominal pain, miscarriages, eye troubles, mental health issues, ect.

The truth is, they knew that these symptoms may occur to a part of the human population as early as 81 days into the spill. According to this report by Keith Olbermann,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ew7U5imIRM, BP had released a report at that time, “ finding that 20 percent of offshore (clean-up) workers and 15 percent of near shore (clean-up) workers had 10 parts per million of the dispersant solvent called 2-Butoxyethanol, twice the toxicity limit of 5 parts per million dictated by the CDC’s National Institute on Occupation Health and Safety.”

Symptoms for 2-Butoxyethanol, as seen on the OSHA website found here

http://www.osha.gov/dts/chemicalsampling/data/CH_222400.html, reads that potential maladies include, “eye, nose throat and skin irritation, cough, hemolytic, hematuria, anemia, central nervous system depression, dizziness, drowsiness, lightheadedness, unconsciousness; headache, vomiting; pulmonary edema; eye redness, pain, blurred vision; liver and kidney damage;… abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea; metabolic acidosis..”

The site further explains that this one ingredient can affect the organs, “eye, skin, respiratory system, CNS, hematopoietic system, blood, kidneys, liver (and) lymphoid system.”

And that's not all we have had to worry about. According to environmental law firm, Earth Justice, 5 of the 57 ingredients found in the dispersants being used in the Gulf of Mexico to combat oil spills have been linked to cancer.

Those ingredients, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request regarding Corexit 9500 and 9527 (Nalco/Exxon) include:

- Amides, coco, N,N-N-bis(hydroxyethyl)

- Cyclohexene, 1-methyl-4-(1-mthylethenyl) -, (4R)

- Ethanol, 2-butoxy

- Petroleum distillates, hydrotreated light

For more information please go to the link,

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2011/2011-08-26-092.html

A NIEHS Gulf Study is under way now, yet as one Mississippi clean-up worker and resident explained, “Ten years from now we should have some idea of what we died of.” For more info on that study, please go to nihgulfstudy.org.

But frankly, neither we, nor you, have that kind of time. We are hoping to protect you, even if we, at this point, have little hope of help ourselves.

H.R. 3562 Ban Toxic Dispersants Act of 2011, found here

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h3562/text, would ban dispersants until further testing can be done to prove that the use of these chemicals is safe for humanity and the ecosystem.

We tend to agree with Earthjustice attorney, Marianne Engelman Lado’s statement, “The testing can’t be done in the moment of the disaster. It has to be done ahead of time..”


Thank you for your help, and special thanks to Rep Jerrold Nadler for proposing the legislation.