From: Climate Progress
The people who worked to clean up the Gulf of Mexico after the 2010
Deepwater Horizon oil spill are at an increased risk of getting cancer,
leukemia, and a host of other illnesses, according to a new study released Tuesday in the American Journal of Medicine.
More than 170,000 workers were hired to clean up the nearly 5 million barrels
of oil that poured out of the ocean’s floor, rising to the surface in
oil slicks and globules. Not only were they exposed to the toxic oil
itself — as the report points out, oil contains the carcinogen benzene —
but they spent days working with the nearly 2 million gallons of dangerous dispersants used to break up the oil.
At the time of the spill, cleanup crews reported feeling dizzy and fatigued, suffering headaches and nausea. Workers have also reported increases in asthma and coughing up blood. Long term, those could be the least of their worries. MORE
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