A rosy outlook painted by a government oil spill report is being challenged. Three scientific studies challenge what the National Incident Command says explaining most of the oil is burned, collected or vaporized. Getting shrimp is now allowed yet again for shrimpers. The President is backing himself up by going to the gulf with his family, eating seafood at the gulf and even going as far as to swim within the gulf. A University of Georgia (UGA) study explains that the ecosystem can be effected for years considering 75 percent of the oil hasn’t been collected yet. University of South Florida (USF) researchers have found another oil plume on the sea floor. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), there could be hurtful effects to human health and gulf seafood for years.
Oil spill dispersed reported by government
The government claims the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010 has had oil mostly all dispersed. Burning and skimming has only taken away 4.9 million gallons of the oil in the spill says National Incident Command in a Wall Street Journal article. 25 percent more has evaporated. Some of the scientists at UGA explain that there is nevertheless 79 percent of toxins and oil sitting in the gulf. It could be years, they concluded, before the petrochemicals break down. Unless 25 percent of the oil was sitting on the surface, that much couldn’t have evaporated. The area has numerous large areas where plumes are trapped.
Undersea canyon harbors toxic oil plume
The USF team concluded that further east than previously thought, a large portion of the BP oil spill has settled to the bottom of the gulf. As outlined by CNN, an undersea canyon 40 miles offshore has droplets of oil in it because of the dispersing, says the USF study. Organisms like plankton have been having a super hard time with all the chemicals that have been coming out of the oil. The surface has oil that might come out again. A UGA researcher told CNN that a 3rd of the hydrocarbons within the form of methane and other gas emissions that remain in the water weren’t measured by the government.
Threats to gulf seafood safety
The safety of gulf seafood can be hurt for a while, says the AMA, from the BP oil spill. As outlined by the Sacramento Bee, shellfish will continue to have petrochemicals, like cigarette smoke, in them for a when. Big game fish such as tuna, swordfish and mackerel will amass high concentrations of mercury in the long term from consuming fish lower in the food chain. The report said that over time pregnant women and kids may be warned by their doctors to avoid gulf seafood.
Additional reading
Wall Street Journal
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704868604575434074237252604.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories
CNN
cnn.com/2010/US/08/17/gulf.oil.disaster/index.html?npt=NP1
Sacramento Bee
sacbee.com/2010/08/17/2963788/gulf-oil-spill-still-a-threat.html
