How bad is the BP Oil Spill really?
Part of the problem is that conflicting opinions vary so widely, that it’s unlikely that this question can currently be answered definitively. Gregory Patin of the Orlando Independent review exposes the conflicting answers which range from 5,000 barrels a day (42 gallons per barrel), to 100,000 barrels a day. 5,000 and 100,000 are numbers so far apart it would be difficult to guess who is right, who is wrong, and how bad the damage is at this point.
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill of 1989 raised the country’s collective eyebrows with regards to the absolute devastation of plant and wildlife surrounding the spill. Wikipedia suggests: “It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters ever to occur in history.” By far, the BP Oil spill is looking likely to surpass the Exxon Valdez oil spill by a significant degree.
Those of us who remember the EVOS spill remember pleas for funds along with media images of penguins and birds covered in oil, gently being cleaned. If wildlife can be affected so harshly, what does that mean for humankind?
In 2001, Commondreams.org spoke about effects the EVOS had on the human workers. From cataracts to lung cancer, some men and women who were part of the cleanup shared symptoms that they could not attribute to anything else.
Headaches, respiratory and eye problems are just some of the believed results of exposure from these victims.
