Research: Gulf Shrimp Widely Contaminated With Carcinogens-IMPORTANT

More fallout from the BP oil disaster..
Source

Conservative estimates indicate that the 2010 BP oil disaster released over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf, followed by at least 1.8 million gallons of dispersants. While the use of dispersants helped mitigate the public relations disaster by preventing the persistent formation of surface oil, as well as keeping many beaches visibly untouched, they also drove the oil deeper into the water column (and food chain) rendering a 2-dimensional problem (surface oil) into a 3-dimensional one. Additionally, research indicates that dispersants prevent the biodegradation of toxic oil components, as well as increasing dispersant absorption into fish from between 6 to 1100 fold higher levels.

Since the event, both the mainstream media and the government have acted as if the oil disappeared, and that no significant health risks remain for the millions still consuming contaminated seafood from the Gulf.*

Now, a new study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives has revealed that the 2010 BP Gulf oil disaster resulted in widespread contamination of Gulf Coast seafood with toxic components from crude oil.1 In fact, levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in shrimp were found to exceed the FDA’s established thresholds for allowable levels [levels of concern (LOCs)] for pregnant women in up to 53% of Gulf shrimp sampled.

PAHs are well-known carcinogens and developmental toxicants, which is why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is obligated to set risk criteria and thresholds for allowable levels of exposure to them.**

Up to 53% test exceeded threshold levels for preganant women.. that is a lot!
I feel this is just the start of problems were are going to see with this disaster.. These carcinogens found in this test are from toxins within the crude oil that was released. Are you going to stop eating shrimp?! This disaster has obviously affected the creatures within the gulf and it WILL transfer to the human food sources eventually! and probably in much more toxic levels than the shrimp are right now.
I believe that the dispersal used to 'save the gulf', COREXIT, is also causing a lot of damage that is crucial to know..
But, apparently you can't test for COREXIT and talk about it?
According to ATS member , getreadyalready,

Another ATSer got involved with several universities and created a nationwide network of testing stations and put out considerable personal expense to test the rain (testtherain.com), and all that went for nothing because every university with the capability to do the detailed testing and identify Corexit was already under contract with BP and those contracts included non-disclosure agreements. They could test the rainwater, but they could not publish the results.

AND, on top of that, only a very few select researchers had access to the secret proprietary ingredients that distinguish Corexit from all the other dispersants

This was in response to this thread,
BP oil spill toxins from Gulf of Mexico found in eggs of pelicans nesting in Minnesota from a little while back.

If thats true, its VERY Scary! BP, imo, was not punished nearly enough for what happened! there are still many questions and controversy regarding the disaster that are unanswered..


So, stop eating shrimp?!?!
What else is going to be affected by this that we are eating and don't know about yet?

Thoughts?!

reply to post by Nspekta


Between the Gulf and the Japan accidents, we are facing disasters that will take decades to fully understand. I've often argued that the oil itself is not as harmful as people like to believe, and also that the dispersant dangers are blown out of proportion because it is not all that much different than regular soaps, BUT..... we are doing so much damage on such a wide scale that the results could be profoundly earth-shattering as time marches on.

Anything that affects the bottom of the food chain will eventually affect the top. So far my friends that fish the Gulf have been having a good year, but at some point they are surely going to notice less and less fish to catch, and the fish that are caught will likely be less and less healthy as the shrimp and feeder fish become more scarce.

We also have the pharmaceuticals in the fresh water, and the fracking, and the runoffs that no longer soak into the ground, but are instead hastened down concrete drains directly into waterways. Fresh water is becoming more scarce, fresh water fish are becoming emasculated and less interested in breeding, and at the same time the oil, dispersants, and radiation are killing large areas of breeding grounds for feeder fish.

With 25 years, it is extremely plausible that we could be facing a food shortage of biblical proportions.

reply to post by getreadyalready


I agree that we face the danger of a potential food shortage due to our ignorance of dumping toxins, oil spills like this, etc that have much farther reaching consequences that we have no idea about yet. For example this stury, if the shrimp are full of carcinogens, how long will that take to transfer to other species?! I would bet not long.. Not only are humans consuming this shrimp, but other animals eat them, and in turn other animals eat them, and so on and so on. I know you question the research in the other thread, and thats commendable.. it still hasn;t been published as far as i can find, but I don't see it as that far fetched. It won't be long until other species are found to be contaminated due to disasters caused by human negligence, ignorance and greed.

Also, I would like to know more info about the 'cover-up' of COREXIT chemicals.. maybe you can ask the ATS member you referred to in your quote above to comment on this thread.. I would like to get more opinions as I feel this study is very important, and hasn;t gained much attention here, even though it affects the health of people not only around the gulf but anyone eating shrimp that comes from the gulf!

Thx for the response!

reply to post by Nspekta


I can tell you everything I know about the cover up. There were two ATSers that organized the Test the rain website and project. (ETA: Apparently that website is now defunct. It used to be as good as FloridaOilSpillLaw.com) They put together a lot of material, and a lot of out of pocket expense, and they had a project worthy of university status and peer-reviewed publication. It was a monumental undertaking, but they pulled it off. They contracted with a couple of chemistry professors and grad students but soon learned they would not be able to complete the testing.

There were several hurdles.
*Number 1, to test specifically for Corexit, you have to have their trade secrets. There are specific ingredients that would identify Corexit compared to other dispersants and soaps like you might find in any typical car wash. They miraculously covered that hurdle and found the specific secret chemicals.

*Next hurdle was finding a lab with sensitive mass spectrometry equipment that could test for those specific chemicals. They cleared that hurdle and found several.

*The last hurdle was getting the results released back to them, and that hurdle kept jumping up and tripping them. They were able to find the labs with willing participants, but BP was finding the same labs at the same times and contracting with the Universities to also test the waters of the Gulf. The BP contracts seemed like they were trying to do the right thing in testing the waters, but the contracts all included non-disclosure agreements. Obviously BP was paying a lot more lucratively than the little "test the rain" project, and BP was also selling themselves as the good guys trying to get good results as fast as possible to mitigate the disaster. Big corporations like BP are very, very smart and resourceful.

So, the rainwater results were very difficult to get back. They actually got a few results. The sample I sent in was tested. I sent in some Gulf water, and some rainwater. They didn't find Corexit in my samples, but they did find low levels of less specific dispersant, and they also found coc aine? No wonder the beach makes me feel so good.

My wife works part time at a local seafood market along the Gulf coast and she has been keeping me abreast of things that she sees or hears of. Apparently both shrimp and blue crabs have all but vanished from that area of the Gulf of Mexico. Most shrimpers and crabbers don't even bother going out any longer. About the last crab house (where packaged crab meat comes from) will soon be closing their doors for good.

Most seafood you get these days along the Gulf of Mexico is imported from out of the country. Anyone saying they are selling you fresh Gulf shrimp should be looked at with a jaundiced eye. The one seafood market in the area supposedly selling only "local" Gulf seafood gets their shrimp from Jacksonville, FL.

Yeah, it's taking a while, but I think the pigeons are coming home to roost now. Breaks my damned heart, because one of the main reasons my wife and I moved down here was for the Gulf of Mexico and all the bounties it used to offer on so many levels.

Seriously, if most of the shrimp and crabs have apparently died, are the ones still alive there going to be fit to eat?

Where are all of the studies that should be ongoing in the area by biologists? Is EVERYONE lying about and ignoring what appears to be the death throes of the Gulf of Mexico?

I'm not a fear monger by any stretch. Something ugly is definitely going on and being studiously ignored. This is our PLANET, our HOME, for God's sake, that is being destroyed.

reply to post by Rich Z


Hi Rich!

I'm in Tallahassee also, and I just found out last week that our Po' Boys restaurant is no longer selling Oysters. Barnacle Bills is still selling Gulf Oysters, but I think they might be getting farm-raised ones instead of the Apalachicola ones. I know a couple of boat captains that made a bunch of money contracting for the oil companies last year, and they haven't been fishing much this year at all.

It breaks my heart too. I think it will get continually worse for a few more years and then hopefully start to recover.

BUT, from my buddy that runs the Gulf Coast Specimen Lab down in Panacea, he says the sea life looks healthy, and he is still finding plenty of specimens, and he is still using the sea water. He dives the Gulf 3 or 4 times per week. He's seen the oil plume off shore here first hand, but he claims that so far everything looks healthy. He uses the Sea Urchin larvae as his indicator of sea water health, and so far it has been fine.

Looks like the Commerical Shrimp Season just began....Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Season to Open July 15

Source

AUSTIN — The Gulf of Mexico commercial shrimp season for both state and federal waters will open 30 minutes after sunset Sunday, July 15, 2012. The opening date is based on an evaluation of the biological, social and economic information to maximize the benefits to the industry and the public.

Gave my Grandbaby his first taste of Shrimp the other nite.... 1st night coconut shrimp..all good....then the second nite kroger breaded butterfly shrimp...unforunately it made him get a skin rash...Going to have to stick with the coconut shrimp...if that.