Margaret Hirsh
PO Box 233
Valdez, ALASKA 99686
January 6, 2003
Re: Spain - Say yes to Alaska's skimmers -
URGENT - SAY NO TO chemicals Corexit or Inipol EAP 22
Dear Spain:
What we learned from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill cleanup - Do not use
chemicals - Do not put people in Harms way!
Spain: Valdez, Alaska has sent help to Spanish coast in scooping up the
oil... best oil skimming equipment they have found. This will be a
wonderful help!
Accept the oil scooper, booming system....
If they offer experimental chemicals: Corexit or Inipol EAP 22
R E F U S E
& if you can...stop Exxon from putting more 'poison' in Alaska waters,
please don't let them dump Corexit (New version of Inipol EAP 22) in the
ocean! It's an experimental chemical again they want to try out -
It would be horrible!
Overview: http://www.valdezlink.com/inipol/congress.htm
My opinion after finding out what was in the Inipol EAP 22 and speaking
to workers:
Inipol EAP 22 was purported to be a 'fertilizer'-type compound & was
supposed to bioremediate the crude oil of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill by
application with humans dispensing... who were over-exposed if they
breathed in the fumes &/or got in on their skin after only a short exposure.
Turns out that 2-butoxyethanol is classified as a poison & was a surfactant.
So strong that it was this surfactant quality that in lay terms, 'dry cleaned'
the beaches. Like using 'Spray 'n Wash' It did not bioremediate anything
other than maybe a little of the refined oil they put back into the water.
A hoax all the way.
With 2-butoxyethanol strong use and strong exposure, not a one of these
workers would have a chance of escaping the health damage: those that
worked say, 4 - 6 weeks in 1989 (Aug-Sept) ... that alone was enough to
cause the overexposure...workers had no appropriate protective gear, and
the sprayers leaked.... Some would have worked the summer of 1990, too.
But the tired-all-the-time blood damage would have been felt about 4
months after exposures
Ever heard the expression, "Haste Makes Waste?"
What was the hurry to cleanup the Exxon Valdez oil spill? ... they
didn't... they only appeared to & in the meantime, they damaged multi
hundreds of lives unnecessarily. They made a bad situation worse by
poisoning the oceans and the people with 2-butoxyethanol... maybe for
image sake... maybe for a money-maker 'miracle product' But in the end,
it was the winter storms of Alaska that cleaned the beaches of the oil.
Spain, If you want help... get the skimmer stuff & boom stuff & pick up
whatever oil you can -but keep your people home & spare their health... &
allow them to live a full life. Don't chemically poison them with either
the oil or the chemicals.
Legal battles: http://www.valdezlink.com/inipol/pages/interest.htm
http://www.valdezlink.com/inipol/pages/un_hazard-code.htm
http://www.valdezlink.com/inipol/pages/2-butoxy_msds.htm
More info - fact sheet on 2-butoxyethanol is very good.
Blood damage: in the case of 2-butoxyehanol it is hemolytic anemia
(Crude oil's benzene blood damage is aplastic anemia)
Skin Damage... 2-butoxyethanol defats the skin. One man mentioned his
ears couldn't be in the sun, the skin would crack; massive nose bleeding
that won't stop, from thin membranes; rash in the lining of the stomach
(Stomach cancer a few years later occurred in a man who only transported
the chemicals.. he said some spilled in his boat. He is now at death's
door with recurring stomach cancer and melanoma. Documented Central Nervous
System damage & low red blood cell count. He said Exxon lied to him;
the Inipol EAP 22 was not safe.)
Central Nervous System Damage: difficulty concentrating, extreme
irritability, clinic depression constantly, suicidal tendencies. (Once you
have damaged the Central Nervous System, it is said to be permanent. Can
you imagine living your whole life being clinically depressed * every
day, no matter what? Can you imagine how hard it would be to have good
interpersonal relationships & maintain a good marriage... be a good parent
to your children? Get an education? Keep a job?)
Dark urine: that is blood in the urine representative of kidney damage...
checking kidney and liver function levels for the rest of your life will
now be necessary. This is one of the admonitions the workers with Inipol
EAP 22 are faced with (Those who spray paint cars or work with
2-butoxyethanol exposures from other sources, too) Problem is, most of
them don't know it & will be close to kidney failure before they do.
Reproductive damage in men as well as women. Some will not be able to
have children. If they do, they could be born deformed. The next
generation could be affected, too.
http://www.valdezlink.com/inipol/pages/thelma.htm
A few years out, check for things like stomach cancer, melanoma, chronic
lymphocytic leukemia, bone cancer, liver cancer, lymph related cancers...
(They don't tell you this, because they say it hasn't been tested for in
humans.)
Sincerely,
Margaret Hirsh