Public Comment on Cold Water Oil Spill Response Study

Request for Public Comment by 10-17-03

The Oil Spill Recovery Institute invites public comment on a report titled "Draft Agenda to Improve Oil Spill Response in Ice-covered Waters."

"I find it interesting that there seems to be SO MUCH information available on the overall impact of the oil spill on the environment and wildlife, but so little on the effects of the PEOPLE who were involved in cleanup!"

- Comment by a forum Moderator, 10-03

Referring to the Exxon Valdez oil Spill cleanup,

"The human toll alone is not worth it!"

Dr. John Middaugh, Alaska State Dept of Epidemiology - 1989

Classic - Overview News Article should be considered for input

LA Times 11/5/01

Sometime when you see the word 'proprietary'

it might just be - not telling what harm could happen to people

Albert Venosa of EPA did note all 4 hard-to-find disclosable ingredients of Inipol EAP 22, and when asked if he didn't think that 12% by weight of 2-butoxythanol was too much, he never replied. EPA has behaved shamefully on reporting incomplete and misleading information about the past 'dispersant' called bioremediation.

Remember too, you should not put a lot of stock of what an 'industry spokesman says,' when they are going to make huge profits from the sale of their product.

Never let an owner of a chemical run the show, as in 1989 when Exxon did.

I believe when you realize the harm 2-butoxyethanol caused

(& EPA allowed then & to the present)

with the chemicals of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup,

You won't think dispersants are good at all!

Spray 'n Washing the beaches with strong poison should never happen again.

And if you really think about what happened to the 1993 demise of the herring run in Prince William Sound, you won't think they should be at risk for poison that hangs around in the deep cold waters, either.

Corexit 9527 MSDS states:

Hazard And Precautions:

EYES: IRRITATING, MAY INJURE TISSUE IF NOT REMOVED PROMPTLY.

SKIN: IRRITATING. ABSORPTION MAY CAUSE HEMOLYTIC ANEMIA & KIDNEY DAMAGE EVIDENCED BY PALENESS & RED COLORATION OF URINE.

INHALATION: RESPIRATORY TRACT IRRITATION.

Systemic Effects: .

INGESTION: LOW TOXICITY.

INHALATION/SKIN OVEREXPOSURE: BLOOD/KIDNEY DAMAGE.

TARGET ORGANS: EYES, SKIN, LIVER, KIDNEYS, RESPIRATORY & DIGESTIVE TRACT, BLOOD, HEART..

However this list is incomplete,

2-butoxyethanol also severely affects the central nervous system

and appears to disrupt the entire endocrine system.

Corexit most likely has ethylene oxide which causes even more harm.

Ability to have healthy children? Both 2-Butoxyethanol and Ethylene oxide
are on the list of known and suspected teratogens

May no more lives

be harmed by 2-butoxyethanol!

Their health should have been monitored, instead of ignored.

It's not too late to locate these

and have them medically monitored.

* Robin - 10-27-03 update!

* Capt Richard

* 18 year old 'bioremediation worker'

* These

* and this chemical harmed Chenega, Alaska

Has been sold to the Dept of Defense, to Australia, to Karachi?

Sad Story

People would never have the right protective 'moon suit' gear to be protected.

These dispersants strong in 2-butoxyethanol should never be used again.

What I summarize as happening * and *

Exxon says ...*

PLEASE, do not use dispersants, full of poison, to harm anyone else!

Please allocate some of your funds to find out what happened

to the 'Bioremediation' workers of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill cleanup...

It will shape your future decisions, that is for sure!

Check-up Charts of Symptoms

It is well known among chemistry students, tested

that at 4 degrees centigrade nothing even biodegrades.

So, in cold water, whatever you put there will be suspended until some other unfortunate life, marine or human, comes across it.

Note also:

cover

Rosa Margesin, Silvia Gander, Gabriele Zacke, Anne Monique Gounot, and Franz Schinner of Institute of Microbiology, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
Hydrocarbon degradation and enzyme activities of cold-adapted bacteria and yeasts. - an Abstract
Extremophiles, August 26, 2003

"Only four yeast strains but none of the bacterial strains could grow with all hydrocarbons tested." at 10 degrees C

(source) "HighWire Press, Internet Imprint of the Stanford University Libraries"

"Dispersants have not been the first line of defense for oil spill cleanup in the U.S.

because dispersants present toxicity threats and health threats to those applying the products." uspoly.com/dispersit

But Realize, you are up against the chemical industry.

RCAC report March, 2003 ohmsett

October 15, 2003 Revised