Even if you didn’t ace chemistry, all it would take is one whiff of the oil spewing into the Gulf to know that it could kill you. Benzene and naphthalene, which evaporate quickly, are likely to have acutely toxic effects when first released, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That could certainly make the more than 20,000 workers sent to the Gulf to help clean up the BP oil spill feel sick, even though they are outfitted with what officials call Personal Protection Equipment. So the headaches, coughing, watery eyes, nausea, throat irritation and other mild symptoms go away when workers are out of harm’s way. But the long-term exposure to larger petroleum compounds, including some carcinogens, are more likely to have chronic effects.
As expected, the symptoms reported by cleanup workers and the local population along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast have mostly been mild and have dissipated quickly, according to a new surveillance report from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and confirmed by a local emergency physician treating these patients.
Still, the number of people seeking medical treatment for what they believe to be oil spill-related health problems rose 54 percent in one week, from 71 to 109.
"It’s probably less dramatic than you might think down here," said Dr. Robert Chugden, director of emergency medicine at West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, La. Chugden, along with paramedics and nurses, has treated about 80 cases, both from a tent clinic set up on Grand Isle to handle minor symptoms and their main hospital unit an hour’s drive from the coast. "Most of the people we’ve seen have cleared their symptoms in less than 24 hours" with common treatments like intravenous fluids, oxygen and cooling, he said.
Concern for the Future
Yet some residents have had more severe reactions. Gary Burris, a longtime fisherman, told Scott Walker of WDSU in New Orleans he felt like he was going to die. And others are working sick, afraid to speak out because it could cost them. But it’s nearly impossible to tell for sure if patients are sick from oil pollution or from the heat itself. Oil products accumulate in the body over time, and the fumes can have toxic effects on the kidneys, liver and brain if absorbed into the bloodstream in large amounts, Chugden said. But aside from waiting until those organs malfunction, the best course of action is to try and "flush" them out with fluids through an IV.
"The only way to know whether it’s the oil or something else making these people feel sick is to actually take a biopsy of the organ itself," he said, which is not done unless absolutely necessary.
The question of how the oil and dispersant will impact long-term health is the real wild card, government officials and scientists agree. The populations involved in cleaning up the 1989 Exxon-Valdez other historic spills were not monitored for long term or chronic health effects, said the CDC’s director of occupational safety and health, John Howard, in a Tuesday hearing before a Senate panel. "When you look at the world’s literature, you have maybe less than 40 articles that you could possibly turn to, and not all of them very high quality."
"It would make sense to see some excesses in cancer, other lung diseases, and neurologic conditions," said Dr. Edward Trapido, a cancer epidemiologist at Louisiana State University. "But right now, since we didn’t follow up on Exxon-Valdez, we just don’t know."
The crude oil contains some compounds, namely benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, that when combined are considered cancer-causing carcinogens, Trapido said. "And this is unusual in that we’ve got a population which has been under stress for years, and stress certainly seems to be a factor in the development of cancers," he said. Of course, chronic stress — and there’s every indication that this disaster will not be controlled any time soon — can lead to depression, violent behavior, drug and alcohol abuse, or domestic violence. "You have to remember that some of these communities have experienced three hurricanes in the last five years and now they get this, which is not a natural disaster," Trapido said.
Still, most of the workers are not preoccupied with health concerns. They’re more concerned with the task at hand, Chugden said. "These are South Louisiana people, mostly men, who are kind of tough and take what the world throws at them. We’ve seen them stitch themselves up, and set their own broken bones," Chugden said. "I can’t say they are panicked about their health, even if their wives are concerned about it. They are more upset that their economy and way of life has been terribly disrupted by the whole thing."
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