Deep Throat, or the Deep Pockets of British Petroleum: Mounting Health Issues

It turns out oil spills and the resulting cleanup efforts are affecting more than the environment, the economy, and the very lively hoods of those who live in the vast areas they cover.
In the BP oil spill, health concerns because of exposure to toxic chemicals are coming to the attention the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. Symptoms include upset stomach, vomiting, and diarrhea. According to the Centers for Disease Control, long-term exposure to dispersants, however, can cause central nervous system problems or do damage to blood, kidneys or livers. One worker on a crew burning oil, has purported that planes were spraying dispersant chemicals in the middle of the night. Although workers are provided with protective gear, criticism is mounting that it lacks the critical use of respirators.
These harsh realities stretch beyond the actual workers and into the communities in the spill area. Although very few documented long term studies have been done on the results of health-impacted issues in the Valdez incident, one 1993 study on the mental health fallout of the spill on workers and communities was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. It concluded that people living in Alaska communities touched by the spill were more likely to suffer generalized anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
One such victim, Gary Stubblefield, spent four months lifting workers in a crane for 18 hours a day as they sprayed the oil-slicked beaches with hot water, which created an oily mist. Even though he had to wipe clean his windshield twice a day, Stubblefield said it never occurred to him that the mixture might be harming his lungs.
Within weeks, he and others, who wore little to no protective gear, were coughing and experiencing other symptoms that were eventually, nicknamed Valdez crud. Now 60, Stubblefield cannot get through a short conversation without coughing and gasping for breath like a drowning man. He sometimes needs the help of a breathing machine and inhalers, and has to be careful not to choke when he drinks and eats and requires assisted living services.
Court records show more than 6,700 workers involved in the Exxon Valdez clean up suffered respiratory problems, which the company attributed to a viral illness, not chemical, poisoning.

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