From a PR vperspective it's probably a winner but in terms of the environment, spreading a layer of chemicals on top of an oil spill never sounded like a very good idea. Now it seems that it was an awful idea.
From Grist...
As of June 9, BP had applied at least 1.1 million gallons of toxic chemical dispersants to address its ongoing oil leak in the Gulf. That's the most that has been used in one place since 1979, when the Mexican government dropped between 1 million and 2.5 million gallons on a leak off the coast of Vera Cruz, the EPA reports.
The dispersant products, branded Corexit 9527A and Corexit 9500A, were made exclusively by a former Exxon subsidiary now owned by a company called Nalco. Exxon researchers had already acknowledged that they were significantly toxic for aquatic life. But just how toxic was mysterious -- particularly for humans. The publicly available data sheets for both products revealed that they have the "potential to bioconcentrate," but added this stunner: "No toxicity studies have been conducted on this product."
Information about their precise composition was also vague, clouded by a veil of secrecy based on "proprietary" concerns.
No comments:
Post a Comment