Society's Child

"Very Disturbing Findings" In Chemical Tests of Gulf Residents

KLFY TV-10 Eyewitness News
Fri, 28 Jan 2011 20:24 UTC

[A] new report just out has revealed some very disturbing findings. ... A blood study that was conducted on four males ages 3 to 43 and one female age 38 in December of last year. Subra says the results of those tests have revealed elevated levels of six toxic and potentially life threatening chemicals associated with crude oil, most notably Ethylbenzene which has been linked to kidney damage and cancer. ... UL Lafayette Professor Paul Klerks is an expert in the environmental toxicology and he says the high levels of ethyl benzene found in human patients is alarming but he doesn't believe its reason to panic just yet. "This is potentially cause for concern, but it's a very small sample size of five so it's really hard to tell with just a small sample size what it means as whole." ... [Their] problems included everything from trouble breathing, and bleeding from the ears, to swelling of the limbs and blood in the stool. Some of the more unusual cases include a commercial diver who is plagued by mysterious rash and the three year son of a fisherman who is suffering from kidney stones.

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Reader Comments

Ruth · 2011-01-31T01:27:27Z

An ultimatum?

Well, I'd say to the residents... leave or die. No one's going to 'fix' this for you. It's just going to kill you.

Appollynon · 2011-01-31T03:37:04Z

I'm a little confused as to the intention behind this comment. That's a rather pessimistic and defeatist attitude to display Ruth, and if I'm being honest, IMHO shows an almost complete lack of empathy for the plight of those facing this situation, and this is a trait you've been displaying more and more openly and often recently in your comments. Why so serious? I also found it funny that you titled your comment "An ultimatum", as ultimatums are usually given by those who speak in absolutes, and as many of us know, only a Sith speaks in absolutes ;o)

What of those resident's who can't afford to leave, or for whatever reasons are too sick, or frail to be moved, do they deserve to die because they can't move themselves? I think not. What of those who think they should be allowed to live wherever they want free from this sort of corporate tyranny and genocide, what of those who stay in a bid to help protect the dying wildlife in the area or to report on the ongoing auto-genocide from ground-zero? Do they all deserve to either leave or die as you have suggested? Again I think not, but that's just my humble opinion.

globalgrrl · 2011-01-31T20:25:57Z

Empathy

doesn't have anything to do with it Appollynon. It's about reality. No matter how bad I feel for those people, the fact of the matter is, they have to take matters into their own hands and decide to leave and live or stay and die. It really is the bottom line and the ultimate test of their use of free will. Their way of life is never coming back in their lifetime. I cried my eyes out for a week over the folk left devastated during Hurricane Katrina. My empathy and sympathy didn't help them at all - they had to decide for themselves that the options left open to them were leave, or suffer and perhaps die. Mother Nature speaks in absolutes, and a being can either adapt or die. She is relentless and unsympathetic. This is another way in which you and other people need to wake up. Wishing it was different ain't going to make it so - suck it up and adapt or die. Life isn't fair and very seldom pretty once we are awake.