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Cleanup workers, claiming poor health, tested for chemicals (VIDEO)

Thursday, March 24, 2011 18:35
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Cleanup workers, claiming poor health, tested for chemicals (VIDEO)

VIOLET, La. – A commercial fisherman by trade, Kim Alfonso says the BP oil spill didn’t just hurt his source of income. He believes it also impacted his health.

“I never had headaches before. Never did,” said Alfonso, an oil spill cleanup worker. “But I have them now.”

He hopes the hair sample he gave Wednesday night will reveal more about the possible toxins that may be in his body.

“If I’m sick and something’s in me, and it’s gonna get me sick, I want my family known to be taken care of,” Alfonso said.

Already around 40 people have given samples. It’s an effort spearheaded by activist Gary Burris of the Public Eyes Health Service. He believes the hair samples will prove fumes from the spill and the dispersants had an adverse effect on people’s health. They were taken mostly from those who live near affected areas or worked in cleanup efforts.

“More and more people are saying they started getting sick after the exposure, and it’s getting worse and worse. All these guys got headaches, their ears are ringing, and there’s a connection,” Burris said. “All these people aren’t crazy, and they’re not filing claims. They want to know something. They want to know what happened to them.”

Some saw their results Wednesday for the first time. Most of the hair samples showed high levels of chemicals like uranium, mercury or lead, but one doctor believes those toxic chemicals could have built up over time, and may be unrelated to the oil spill.

“This is important information to have so we can begin to look at some of the possible effects, but to attribute it to the oil spill is going to be very difficult,” said Dr. Ed Trapido, associate dean of the LSU School of Public Health.

There’s no way to compare the levels of toxins in people’s bodies before the spill, but Burris and many at the meeting believe the spill is the only explanation.

“All it is, is that big oil company, all they want to do is get this mess cleaned up, out of sight, out of mind, and they could care less what happens to the people,” said Warren Guiroz, a commercial fisherman who was hired by BP to help cleanup after the spill.

Burris is asking that BP set up a health fund for those feeling adverse effects. Meanwhile experts believe it could be decades before we see the full health effects of the BP oil spill.

See video here: http://www.wwltv.com/home/Cleanup-workers-claiming-poor-health-tested-for-chemicals-118552134.html

Cleanup workers, claiming poor health, tested for chemicals (VIDEO) ©, . This copying or redistribution of this material requires that this license must remain intact

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  • WE lived 14 miles from the Gulf of Mexico in Foley.
    Two days after the oil came to shore in Orange Beach [we were actually ON the beach at the time] a wave of stink came through out our home through the open windows.
    WIthin five minutes our eyes were itchy and goopy.
    In the morning we felt nauseous.
    From then on we also had diarehea, body ache/buzz.
    Also a HEADACHE 24/7 and lethargy.
    This started on June 9th and ended mud August after we
    had evacuated because we were SCARED.
    Yes – it is IN THE AIR.
    It is TOXIC – and our government knows it.
    Check my posts – I have been diligent about TRYING to spread the TRUTH – and still the BEACHES ARE OPEN — it is a genocide.

  • Alex
    Where have you been ? your site ? We missed you man ! Hope you all have been in good health.

  • They need to do the blood tests for Volatile Organic Solvents, they will find the markers for the Oil Spill there. They can’t NOT have them if they worked near the shore or where there was Deepwater Horizon oil or lived in the area.

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