Gulf Seafood: Trained Experts Use Smell To Test For Contamination (WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC DISPERSANT?)

[mod mom]

Article below says: ""We're being trained to detect different levels of taint, which in this case is oil," WHAT ABOUT THE NEUROTOXIC DISPERSANT THEY ARE USING? BP HAS ALREADY DUMPED OVER 1,000,000 GALLONS INTO THE GULF!


Gulf Seafood: Trained Experts Use Smell To Test For Contamination
First Posted: 06- 7-10 07:45 AM | Updated: 06- 7-10 09:52 AM

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (AP) -- William Mahan bends over a bowl of raw shrimp and inhales deeply, using his left hand to wave the scent up toward his nose. Deep breath. Exhale. Repeat. He clears his palate with a bowl of freshly cut watermelon before moving on to raw oysters. Deep breath. Exhale. Repeat.

He's one of about 40 inspectors trained recently at a federal fisheries lab in Pascagoula, Miss., to sniff out seafood tainted by oil in the Gulf of Mexico and make sure the product reaching consumers is safe to eat.

But with thousands of fishermen bringing in catch at countless docks across the four-state region, the task of inspectors, both sniffers and others, is daunting. It's certainly not fail-safe.

The first line of defense began with closing a third of federal waters to fishing and hundreds more square-miles of state waters. Now comes the nose.

-snip

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/07/gulf-seafood-t...

DISPERSANTS
Surface dispersant used: more than 765,000 gallons
Subsea dispersant used: more than 256,000 gallons
Total dispersant used: more than 1,021,000 gallons

-snip
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/589... /


In Gulf Spill, BP Using Dispersants Banned in U.K.
by Marian Wang, ProPublica - May 18, 2010 3:24 pm EDT


The two types of dispersants BP is spraying in the Gulf of Mexico are banned for use on oil spills in the U.K. As EPA-approved products, BP has been using them in greater quantities than dispersants have ever been used in the history of U.S. oil spills.

BP is using two products from a line of dispersants called Corexit, which EPA data appear to show is more toxic and less effective on South Louisiana crude than other available dispersants, according to Greenwire.

We learned about the U.K. ban from a mention on The New York Times’ website. (The reference was cut from later versions of the article, so we can’t link to the Times, but we found the piece elsewhere.) The Times flagged a letter that Rep. Edward Markey, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, sent to the EPA on Monday. The letter pointed out that both the Corexit products currently being used in the Gulf were removed from a list of approved treatments for oil spills in the U.K. more than a decade ago. (Here’s the letter.)

As we’ve reported, Corexit was also used after the Exxon Valdez disaster and was later linked with human health problems including respiratory, nervous system, liver, kidney and blood disorders. One of the two Corexit products also contains a compound that, in high doses, is associated with headaches, vomiting and reproductive problems.

-snip
http://www.propublica.org/ion/blog/item/In-Gulf-Spill-B...

[NightWatcher]

1. Use more Old Bay seasoning

sorry, running joke from Mobile Bay, AL just got back from the spill area

[FarCenter]

2. With raw oysters its a crap shoot at any time.

[flamingdem]

4. I would never eat Oysters. Especially this late in the season. VIBRIA can result nt

[global1]

3. The Government Ought To Be Damn Sure That The Seafood That Comes To Your Table......

is untainted and no health hazard. The last thing that Obama needs is that tainted seafood from this 'gusher in the Gulf' hits the dinner tables of American people. That would be devastating for his handling of this disaster.

[Karenina]

6. WHY? They don't do so with meat or vegetables or drugs!

[William Z. Foster]

13. strange way to phrase that

This is an issue of risks to public health, and you say it is "the last thing that Obama needs" because it would be "devastating for his handling of this disaster."

Isn't that backwards? Doesn't public health come before partisan political concerns?

[Angry Dragon]

5. I did the sniff test

and found that bp stinks like a pile of manure and the government smell is not much better

[Catherina]

7. I apologize to the fisherman who will lose their livelyhood

but Gulf seafood is off my list

[madmax]

9. +1

[mod mom]

11. I really hope the US holds BP responsible for loss of livelihood especially after

that 10.5 BILLION $ shareholders distribution!

[me b zola]

12. I feel the same way

I have-mailed all of my loved ones telling them to avoid seafood from the Gulf.

[obxhead]

8. The smell test....lovely

and probably just as effective as anything else the FDA inspects, which makes it even more disgusting.

[jus_the_facts]

10. The seafood will probably be sold regardless and put into processed foods.....

....bookmarked for future reference.

[TheKentuckian]

14. Even if there are no health concerns (doubtful as the sun not coming up in the west)

and hard as it will be on the fishing industry, shouldn't we be thinking of shutting down fishing probably for at least 4-5 years to avoid further depletion of stocks? It would seem potentially we will lose so much that harvest is irresponsible.

I figure the seafood will be potentially toxic for at least a couple of years and then much longer to reestablish stocks.