NOAA Admits Toxic Corexit Dispersants May Be In BP Gulf Oil Spill Seafood

Posted by Alexander Higgins – July 16, 2010 at 2:18 am –

I originally wrote about an investigation into the safety of Gulf seafood that raised some shocking concerns on July 2nd.

I followed up on that with a warning from CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta who warned us that contrary to the Government’s claims no one can assure as that Gulf seafood is safe.

Today at a congressional hearing NOAA admitted that the neurotoxin pesticide Corexit that BP has used to disperse the Gulf oil spill may be in Gulf seafood and that the organization really does not care to much about testing for it.

During the hearing NOAA also admitted that unlike previously reported that the toxic dispersants bioaccumulate in the food chain.

Here is a transcript of the start of video below retrieved from Florida Oil Spill Law.

Rush Transcript Excerpts (Apologies for all caps)

Senator Lisa Murkowsi (R-AK):

HAVE YOU DETECTED ANYTHING THAT IS NOTICEABLE OR REPORTABLE IN THE SEAFOOD THAT YOU’VE BEEN TESTING?

Larry Robinson, assistant secretary of Commerce for oceans and atmosphere/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):

OUR SEAFOOD TESTS ARE MORE ALL — IT’S WHAT IS DISPERSED ON OUR PROTOCOLS ARE NOT SPECIFICALLY LOOKING AT DISPERSANTS OR THE BYPRODUCTS OF DISPERSANTS.

Senator Murkowski:

ARE YOU INTENDING TO DO THAT [testing seafood for dispersants]?

NOAA Assistant Secretary:

I THINK THAT WOULD BE AN EXCELLENT THING TO CONSIDER BECAUSE WE’RE LEARNED FROM THIS SITUATION THAT THERE ARE OTHER POTENTIALS HERE, PERHAPS EVEN FROM BIOACCUMULATION OF DISPERSANTS AND THEIR BYPRODUCTS INTO SEAFOOD. SO THAT’S SOMETHING WE HAVE ON OUR LIST OF THINGS THAT WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT.

Senator Murkowski:

IS FDA TESTING THIS… ARE THEY TESTING FOR DISPERSANTS?

NOAA Assistant Secretary:

I DON’T THINK THE PROTOCOLS, PRESENTLY CALL FOR THE TESTING OF SEAFOOD, WITH REGARD TO SEAFOOD SAFETY WITH REGARD TO DISPERSANTS OR BYPRODUCTS.

IT’S REALLY THE OIL THAT WE’RE — AND THE OIL BIPRODUCTS THAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR IN SEAFOOD AT THE MOMENT.

Picking up the transcript where the the previous transcript left off.

Senator Murkowski:

Then how can we give the consumer the assurance that the seafood that is coming from the Gulf in these waters is safe for consumption?

NOAA Assistant Secretary:

The evidence that we presently have is that the dispersents are broken down rather quickly and biodegrades fairly quickly.

Rather quickly? I don’t consider the reported 28 days it takes to break down to be fairly quickly.

NOAA Assistant Secretary:

We don’t know with absolute certainty senator that there are no traces of dispersant in seafood.

Our tests, however, looking at the more toxic agents in seafood focused on the oil and the oil by products.

More toxic? Corexit is far more toxic than oil and so is the arsenic that scientists are sounding the alarm is on the rise in the Gulf of Mexico because of the BP Gulf Oil Spill.

In fact a fisherman merely splashed with Corexit sufferred from rectal bleeding and G4 has reported that Corexit is eating through boat hulls as well causing damage to internal organs.

Senator Murkowski:

I understand that but it seems to me that we have got an issue here where we are not certain.

I mean the administrator was not able to tell me with certainity wether or not that we consider these dispersants as pollutants if they get into that food chain at whatever level.

Seriously, NOAA will not even admit that Corexit is a pollutant. Amazing.

Senator Murkowski:

Are we testing for this?

It sounds like at this point in time, NO.

We are looking for the oil products on the fish, that’s one thing most certainly.

But it would seem to me as we to the reasearch on the effectiveness on these dispersants and the trade off YOU HAVE to consider the impact to our fisheries, to mariculture as a whole when we are looking at this.

I want to be able to give a level of assurance that whether your are eating wild Alaska salmon from Prince William Sound or wether you are taking it from the Gulf that the dispersants have not had an impact on the safety.

So if we are not testing for that I would certainly hope that we be doing that now, yesterday.

That is something, a level of assurance, that we need to be able to provide the consumer and give them that certainty.

These dispersants, the purpose of them, is to disperse the oil quickly.

If we have dispersed the oil but we have replaced it with another substance that has toxicity levels that impact that seafood that is something that we all need to be concerned about.

Special thanks to Erika Biddle