If you are located in the southwest, gulf coast region of our country, then you are probably speaking with a lawyer about a potential lawsuit concerning the health effects the Deepwater Horizon oil spill may cause.
Several concerns are being raised about fisherman, workers, shrimpers and oyster-man who are going to be taking part in the clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. Many are asking what are the health risks for humans when it comes to an oil spill?
USA Today has helped spell out the fears about health effects. Usually when it comes to oil spills the threats are mainly for the ecology around the spill, not the humans. But dangerous gases from hydrocarbons in crude oils can rise into the air which might affect people. A higher dosage of hydrocarbons in the lungs can cause lung irritation, this is mostly a risk for the workers who will be helping with the clean-up.
Another source reported about 5,600 cases of upper-respiratory illness among workers who helped clean up the Exxon Valdez spill. Oil spill health risk symptoms are: dizziness, rash, cough, fatigue, headache and nausea. The biggest risk is for people who may come in direct contact with the oil, but as long as the workers take precautions they should be fine.
“Oil spills are ecological events, not human health events,” says LuAnn White, a toxicologist and director of Tulane University’s Center for Applied Environmental Public Health.
Worried about your lungs? Find a doctor near your home who can give you a lung scan.
Want to help the efforts for the oil spill clean up? Visit www.owcn.org to volunteer, donate or become informed!
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