BP oil spill Corexit dispersants suspected in widespread crop damage
Updated June 27th below:
A mysterious “disease” has caused widespread damage to plants from weeds to farmed organic and conventionally grown crops. There is very strong suspicion that ocean winds have blown Corexit aerosol plumes or droplets and that dispersants have caused the unexplained widespread damage or “disease”.
Yobie Benjamin SFGate June 10, 2010
Just when you thought the damages BP could cause was limited to beaches, marshes, oceans, people’s livelihoods, birds and marine life, there’s more.
BP’s favorite dispersant Corexit 9500 is being sprayed at the oil gusher on the ocean floor. Corexit is also being air sprayed across hundreds of miles of oil slicks all across the gulf. There have been widespread reports of oil cleanup crews reporting various injuries including respiratory distress, dizziness and headaches.
Corexit 9500 is a solvent originally developed by Exxon and now manufactured by the Nalco of Naperville, Illinois. Corexit is is four times more toxic than oil (oil is toxic at 11 ppm (parts per million), Corexit 9500 at only 2.61ppm).
In a report written by Anita George-Ares and James R. Clark for Exxon Biomedical Sciences, Inc. titled “Acute Aquatic Toxicity of Three Corexit Products: An Overview” Corexit 9500 was found to be one of the most toxic dispersal agents ever developed.
According to the Clark and George-Ares report, Corexit mixed with the higher gulf coast water temperatures becomes even more toxic. The UK’s Marine Management Organization has banned Corexit so if there was a spill in the UK’s North Sea, BP is banned from using Corexit.
The danger to humans can be expected. The warnings on the Corexit packaging is straightforward. Breathing in Corexit is not recommended.
It seems NALCO Corexit is also dangerous to crops.
VIDEO: AIR FORCE DELIVERING WIDE SPREAD AERIAL SPRAYING OF COREXIT
It seems like damage brought by the oil gusher has spread way beyond the ocean, coastal areas and beaches. Collateral damage now appears to include agricultural damage way inland Mississippi.
A mysterious “disease” has caused widespread damage to plants from weeds to farmed organic and conventionally grown crops. There is very strong suspicion that ocean winds have blown Corexit aerosol plumes or droplets and that dispersants have caused the unexplained widespread damage or “disease”.
PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO: WIDESPREAD MYSTERIOUS CROP DAMAGE IN GULF AREA
There is no other explanation for the crop damage. Everything points to something that has a widespread effect on plants and crops. While no one precisely knows, all the signs point to BP’s use of aerosolized Corexit brought inland by the ocean winds or rain.
Remember acid rain? Now it seems we could have toxic dispersant rain.
UPDATED: June 27, 2010 – Last May 24, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson promised, “We will conduct our own tests to determine the least toxic, most effective dispersant available in the volumes necessary for a crisis of this magnitude… I am not satisfied that BP has done an extensive enough analysis of other dispersant options.”
As of today, those tests have not been completed, according to the EPA. In the meantime, BP has dumped 1.4 million gallons of Corexit on the gulf. Next week, we could have a hurricane pushing Corexit inland.
Promises… promises…
Wake-up Call 
Read the lab study – that was NOT the conclusion.
You appear to have misread or misrepresent it. That report – it’s only one-page – did NOT say anything like “COREXIT 9500 was found to be one of the most toxic dispersant agents ever developed.” It reported the levels at which it and 9517, the other Nalco dispersant, are toxic to various forms of aquatic life. In tiny concentrations of just a few ppms, it is toxic to marine life, particularly mollusks and fish eggs, which is itself really shocking. There is no mention of its effects on land life forms, and may not have been tested for that. That would also be shocking.
But, please do not distort the meaning of the lab report.
P.S. – I am certainly no apologist for BP, Nalco or dispersants. Please see my diary at DailyKos/DU – http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×8560683
Credibility is everything, and I would like to continue citing you favorably, as I did in the discussion thread here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/6/15/876057/-A-Giant-Vat-of-Liquid-Smog-Mixed-with-Blood-Thinner-
– Mark
leveymg
June 17, 2010 at 6:36 am
SHILL…..
2sense
June 19, 2010 at 6:39 am
please play nice. If you have a comment please make it, don’t call names.
laudyms
June 19, 2010 at 11:29 am
The author of this article may have jumped from Corexit toxicity to the possibility that crops on land are being damaged, but I do think he makes that clear: “It seems like damage brought by the oil gusher has spread way beyond the ocean, coastal areas and beaches. Collateral damage now appears to include agricultural damage way inland Mississippi.”
You are correct that the reference does not specifically say “most toxic dispersal agent” but the EPA has labeled Corexit a “chronic and acute health hazard.” I searched for other more local items about the crop damage and the only other theories I found were solar radiation and a toxic leak at a Lucite plant in another state.
This seems to be an open question for now. There is no question that Corexit ingredients are toxic, and until very recently were kept secret.
The larger issue may be credibility. This is one of many events where corporate influence, media superficiality, and scientific collusion cause people to distrust official explanations and speculate on their own.
BTW neither of the links you provided worked for me but I was able to find the “Liquid Smog” entry by searching. Thanks for the information
laudyms
June 17, 2010 at 8:34 am
hi there,
after reading a good deal of information regarding the background to the bp halliburton rig event, i find the information you provide here to be a next conclusion point. the future will no doubt pan out to show what damage will be done to agriculture and land based life both animal and human, particularly when a hurricane hits the area this season.
as a brit i feel that the press coverage of the indepth stories behind the event to be somewhat thin in telling only the edge of the story. there is suggestion that there are a number of reasons to why the rig went up as it did, and also suggestions to links with halliburton, boots and coots, bp, eastern shrimp companies, goldman sachs, and a plethora of other possibilities, but the one thing i notice is that when this oil event does decide to stop probably by it’s own choice, where will it leave the greater atlantic ocean, when taking into consideration the currents and winds of the coming season.
martin roberts.
martin roberts
June 18, 2010 at 11:08 am
The ineptitude of BP et al does not inspire confidence- indeed is really scary- especially when one reads that there was damage beneath the sea floor as early as February. See also:
Did BP Cronies Sell Stock Early Due to Insider Info?
laudyms
June 18, 2010 at 11:37 am
You fail to mention the “AGENT ORANGE of 2010”, that being COREXIT 9527 !The sick workers, fishermen (caused by lack of proper training or proper breathing aparatus). Next the crop damage FROM AIREAL DRIFT.. COREXIT 9500 is a lesser villan.The EPA has requested BP report back with the chemical formulation of COREXIT 9527? WOW !Check out “COREXIT 9527” on New Jerseys’ “HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL LIST” for warnings & chemical composition ie.>2-BUTOXY ETHANOL(38% BY WT. OR VOLUME)< Earlier contacts included Gov. Bobby Jindal's Office,Wilma Suba of Subra Company LA,The Louisiana Shrimpper's Assoc., The Louisiana Seafood Assoc., Anderson Cooper/CNN,Fox News & others.
After viewing the informative videos, we might consider a moritorium on spraying & subsea injection of "COREXIT PRODUCTS"! Until all results are in!
Bill Kinner
June 29, 2010 at 5:09 am
Two videos that address COREXIT dangers:
CNN: Almost All Exxon Valdez Cleanup Crew Dead!!!
COREXIT is Eating Through Boats in the Gulf!
laudyms
June 29, 2010 at 8:37 am
[…] air quality info, very scary! Scary to know the potential problems, to coastal areas, beaches, inland, etc! BP oil spill Corexit dispersants suspected in widespread crop damage ? Wake-up Call […]
Oil Dispersants - Page 2 - SoWal Beaches Forum
June 30, 2010 at 4:39 pm
[…] BP oil spill Corexit dispersants suspected in widespread crop damage […]
The Mexican Gulf Crisis is deepening… « Living Journey
July 6, 2010 at 2:36 pm
We are vacationing on Don Pedro Island off Englewood Florida. This is a pristine wildlife sanctuary. Last night there was a storm and strong waves washed up on the shore. Today it is sunny and a there is a large amount of foam in the water that is leaving behind a brownish yellowish stain on the sand.
Why, you might ask, was BP able to pump the Gulf full of chemicals that have never been tested for their human and environmental safety? The answer lies, in part, in the Toxic Substances Control Act, the 34-year-old law that governs the use of tens of thousands of hazardous chemicals. Under the act, companies don’t have to prove that substances they release into the air or water are safe—or in most cases even reveal what’s in their products.
WHY HAVE AN EPA WITH A LAW LIKE THIS. THIS IS JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW HARMFUL A CORRUPT GOVERNMENT CAN BE.
One Corexit ingredient is 2-butoxyethanol, a chemical that can cause liver and kidney damage.
Does every one in congress think they are immune? This act is a serious violation of the health, safety and welfare of the American people!
Without responsible regulation chemical and oil companies will destroy the Earth along with our oceans which is happening now!
Varda
January 7, 2011 at 9:23 am
Thanks for your first-hand report. Government no longer regulates corporate predations- they facilitate them. The Corporate State is an established fact.
It’s interesting that in France a 13 page book written by a 93-year-old war hero is sweeping the country.
According to the Independent, “Indignez vous! (Cry out!), a slim pamphlet by a wartime French resistance hero, Stéphane Hessel, is smashing all publishing records in France. The book urges the French, and everyone else, to recapture the wartime spirit of resistance to the Nazis by rejecting the “insolent, selfish” power of money and markets and by defending the social “values of modern democracy”.”
We need our own Alarm here!
laudyms
January 7, 2011 at 9:40 am