EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
- Corporate Win: Supreme Court Says Monsanto Has 'Control Over Product of Life'
- How the US Turned Three Pacifists into Violent Terrorists
- Cornel West: Obama 'Is a War Criminal'
- Revealed: How US State Department 'Twists Arms' on Monsanto's Behalf
- Victory in Seattle as Teachers Win Battle in Standardized Test Boycott
Popular content
Today's Top News
Lots of Inconvenient Truths -- Chemical Illness Epidemic in the Wake of the BP Blowout
Recently Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer overseeing the $20 billion Gulf Coast Claims Facility to "make it right" for people harmed by the British Petroleum oil blowout disaster, told a Louisiana House and Senate committee that he had not seen any claims, or any scientific evidence, linking BP's oil and dispersant release to chemical illnesses. Feinberg also stated that chemical illnesses take years to show up -- conveniently well after his tenure with the compensation fund.
Instead of tossing the media a juicy bone, Feinberg tossed a red herring. He is wrong at worst, or intentionally misleading at best, on all points.
The GCCF process makes it difficult for people to be compensated for medical claims or even raise illness claims, while making it easy to release claims and rights to future medical care and benefits for chemical illnesses or other medically-proven illness related to the BP blowout and disaster response.
In fact the GCCF process is so blatantly egregious in terms of protecting corporate liability at the expense of human rights and health that a bill was introduced in the Louisiana state legislature, specifically targeting the BP oil disaster, to declare such "contractual releases are invalid as against public policy" and the release of claims to future medical care and related benefits null and void. In Louisiana. BP lobbyists are reportedly out in force, trying to gut the legislation.
Further, the pro-industry bias in the GCCF process turned thousands of people away. Over 130,000-plus claimants have filed lawsuits, now consolidated in Louisiana federal court under Judge Carl Barbier. According to one of the law firms involved, many of these claimants have indicated concerns about health and desire medical monitoring.
Feinberg's downplay of chemical illnesses and other medical issues stemming from the BP oil disaster -- with full knowledge of the parallel court proceedings -- shows that he and his boss, BP, have no intention of "making it right" for people in the Gulf.
"Not recognizing that there is a problem -- that's the problem," said Joey Yerkes, a former Florida cast net fisherman who became sick from chemical exposure while doing cleanup work during summer 2010. He filed a medical illness claim for compensation through the GCCF in early 2011 despite the obstacles. He had to file all his paperwork for medical claims twice because the GCCF employees could not find his initial paperwork. Joey undertook a rigorous treatment under medical care to detoxify his body -- but he exhausted his finances before completing treatment. Now he is forced to wait for the BP-controlled GCCF to pay, while his health steadily deteriorates. It's all he can do, he says, "just to chase my 2-year-old daughter around the park when we play."
Unlike Joey Yerkes, Monette Wynne has not filed medical claims through the GCCF. Her entire family -- herself, husband, 4-year-old twins, and 6-year-old child -- all tested positive for oil in their blood after spending last summer in their seaside home in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Wynne was so upset about her sick family that she and her husband drove to Atlanta, Georgia, and presented the family's test results to seven toxicologists with the federal agency, Center for Disease Control.
"We were told the levels of oil were of no concern," Wynne said. The federal scientists told them their levels of oil in blood were typical of urban dwellers who breathe traffic exhaust. Wynne didn't believe it -- her family's blood work shows they have more oil in their blood than most people, and her family is all sick with symptoms like those of Joey Yerkes -- symptoms that became widespread in Gulf communities during summer 2010; symptoms that are not going away. Wynne is considering borrowing money to treat her family. She and her husband had exhausted their savings to buy their dream home, a home that is now for sale.
Unfortunately for Joey Yerkes and the Wynne family -- and the legions of other Gulf residents and visitors with similar medical issues from summer 2010, British Petroleum is the "responsible party" for its disaster, but BP is actually responsible, by law, to its shareholders, not the injured people in the Gulf. This inherent conflict of interest means Feinberg is nothing more than a well-paid sock puppet for BP. He can be expected to act to minimize liability and financial damages for the "responsible party" by covering up the chemical illness epidemic in the Gulf.
Further, the federal laws and regulations designed to protect public health, worker safety, and the environment from oil and chemical poisoning are so riddled with exemptions that they cannot deliver their promise of protection -- as people near oil drilling and hydrologic fracturing ("fracking") operations have discovered. Social documentaries such as Gaslands and Split Estate exposed chemical illnesses and symptoms similar to the Gulf injuries and independent studies documented groundwater contamination, but the federal government still denies there is a problem.
Similarly, the federal government is also in denial about the horrific-and-federally-sanctioned poisoning of the Gulf people and wildlife, despite prior and post knowledge of the extent of contamination and the health impacts of oil and chemicals used to drill or disperse oil.
As Joey pointed out, denial of the problem is the problem. At the root of the issue of oil and chemical poisoning in the Gulf and elsewhere in America lies the problem of corporate constitutional rights -- transnational corporations claiming human rights. The challenge for all Americans is to reclaim our democracy and end corporate rule.
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
38 Comments so far
Show AllAnd our government is allowing this to happen. Didn't I hear Obama say he was going to hold BP accountable for all damages resulting from the spill? That they were going to have to make this right. What's he saying today?
yeah, good one.
Oh, you mean that wasn't a joke? You mean you actually believed him when he said that? What in his history could possibly make you think he was going to do that?
I protest the use of the word "epidemic" without hard numbers to back the claim. This is as irresponsible as BP and our government.
Actually, this is a perfectly appropriate use of the word epidemic, as this spread of chemical disease definitely exceeds what could be reasonably expected. The definition is not tied to hard numbers or any corporate or government dissembling.
Otherwise, certainly, the irresponsible use of a word in one article is absolutely on par with allowing multiple people, including children, to stay sick and possibly die in order to protect your profits.
Like me, Dr. Ott is a science PhD. We are used to present numerical data to prove our hypotheses or theories. If we fail to do so our reviewers will advise against publishing our paper. This is precisely what CD should have done with this writing. Normally such oversight would not matter but in this case it concerns millions of worrying persons like me along the Mexican Gulf coast. We who live here are the ones that need good information about our lives which this is not. You, who live elsewhere ought to stop fanning the flames. It is for that reason why I call her paper irresponsible and I will not retract that qualification because it is irresponsible. Let her publish numbers that prove that there is even a potential epidemic. That may be the case. That may not be the case. If the numbers prove her point I will apologize for the word that I have used.
pwayne, you use the expression "what could be reasonably expected". No numbers again. Just words. Cheap. Irresponsible
Crowsnest, just wait a few more years then and you will see the epidemic. What did you think would happen when they sprayed Corexit over people and land? Nothing?
It is a very toxic chemical and it was known to make people sick. What do you think killed all the marine lives? I would think thousands of marine animals dying in mass amounts would qualify for an epidemic.
I knew from day one that people would end up getting sick. Hell, from day one people were complaining of many illnesses while they were trying to help BP clean up their mess.
Read a little of Dr. Ott. She predicted this too.
And if you want HARD numbers, all you have to do is some research. The truth is out there.
The truth may be *out there* - but it's not in this article. There's no evidence at present of an epidemic - of course that's not to say that there won't be in the future. But the article is a little misleading...
Dr. Ott is the epitome of credibility on environmental issues. She braved the entire Exxon Valdez mess and SCIENTIFICALLY documented the disease and deaths in her community. She knows of what she speaks.
If anything, she is being too conservative at this point. You can question her credibility until the cows come home. It just makes you look foolish, as well as slanderous.
Go play FUD (fear uncertainty doubt) someplace where people might fall for your bullshit.
The real problem here is that corporations don't have penises. If they did, and they could be photographed, or found that they were used in nefarious fashions the M$M would be all over them. For example, picture the headline; "BPs boner wreaking havoc across the Gulf of Mexico!" That is so much more of an attention getter than "BP's oil spill wreaking havoc across the Gulf of Mexico!"
I mean "seriously" think about it. All these big companies whoring around, forcing themselves on other weaker companies and individuals, and having their way with them. We need to get some compromising pictures of ATT trying to stick its corporate wiener in TMobile so they can be given to Breitbart for leaking to the M$M media whores.
Wee all need to push for boners for business, so these corporate bastards can be held accountable for their actions!
Thanks for the laugh, NC-Tom. You may be onto something (LOL).
Pwayne: Thank you for the humane response. It's amazing what some posters will come up with to protect the trespassers... using the ruse of inspiring a reasonable doubt. Fortunately many of us have developed thicker skins from watching our government lie to us, remain in bed with big business, and generally skirt the meaning and principle of established law so often as, I believe Chris Hedges put it, to make our nation qualify for the post-law status.
How long will it take before government and corporate employees and shareholders wake up to the fact that they are absolutely essential to continuity of abrogations perpetrated by a government no longer of the people but of the corporations?
The myth of 'advancement', 'moving up the ladder', 'paying your dues', 'security' 'golden years retirement', etc., are now incommensurate with creating a better life for coming generations. The corporate behemoths are an atavistic paradigm digging a grave. The downward spiral can be dissipated with the profound principle of 'cease and desist'. Removal of oneself from forwarding unethical, destructive practices in the costume/masquerade party.
I find it interesting to revisit career track admonitions applied as peer pressure such as 'there is no free lunch' in terms of food insecurity and how it is perpetrated by systemic distortions. The capitalist system has become a case study in 'end times' victimization.
Until the dignity and integrity of recognizing the psychological aspects of celebrating things like Columbus Day are in full conversation at the local level, we will have intrenched schizophrenic divisions that demand sacrifice of individual integrity reinforced in a cycle of kowtowing to false history and denial of a system dependent on genocide, usury, and externalization of costs.
This is the difference between the derailing of normative christianity by the Roman emperor Constantine/ Bablonian myth of Marduk and Tiamat, and the theology of liberation.
Kenneth Feinberg works for BP. Always has.
So does the Obombanation.
Hey Feinberg, we’re sure everything’s a-ok in the Gulf, just like you say. How about you and the family take a little vacation there? Enjoy that beautiful sand and surf. I bet Mr. Yerkes will let you use his condo.
If CNN or FOX does not cover it, then it is not happening.
the game is winners and losers, where the winners win and the losers die...
These kinds of results are actually fairly predictable, based upon public information. Corporations and so-called government overseers lie about these kind of events every single time that the health of a large population is involved. They follow the line of least corporate culpability rather than the line of greatest protection of residential well being, and people suffer and die for it -- every single time.
This information needs to be standardized and wrought in simple format, and it needs to be worked into public health curricula, particularly in a K-12 levels. Official state textbooks and so forth will not do that in any timely fashion, so individual educators must.
There are likely significant judgements that will require assembling data that hegemonic ownership of media has rendered obscure, but there is a very simple principle that can be communicated now: If there is a large petrochemical, coal, or radiation leak, everyone near and particularly downwind for some distance is in danger. Companies and local authorities will like about the dangers by as much as they can get away with, even temporarily. Locals will predictably either get out or get sick.
The response to Katrina and to the earthquake in Haiti was similar: law enforcement, military, and mercenary forces were sent to protect the interests of large property holders at the cost of individual lives and the expense of individual property holders.
The existing culture teaches children to trust authorities, particularly in matters that are not traditionally seen as relating to policy or value decisions, but rather "factual" or immediate well being matters. Perhaps sadly, this has to stop.
There is an article on CD about the next country that could have a nuclear power plant disaster (the comments are closed for some strange reason...). In that article, the conditions for this to occur are stated as, "a country where corruption is rampant, infrastructure is very poor, or the quality of security is in question. "
This is the case now in many places in the USA. The area where the BP oil disaster occurred definitely fits the bill. So a nuclear disaster is not the only kind of disaster that the above conditions invite. As you can see, any cursory examination of WHY the BP disaster has not been properly addressed in regard to the environment and the people clearly exposes the depth of corruption in our government.
It's not going to get better as long as corporations can profit off of government corruption. And as long as corporate lobbyists can bribe government officials, corporations will continue the "profit for them and pollution related disease for you" orgy.
In flag protocol, flying the flag upside down is a sign that your post is in distress and needs help. I suggest you fly old glory upside down and give your elected officials "what for" when they question you on it.
Who knows? It might go viral.
Slowly killing humanity and the ecosphere should not be considered an acceptable business practice, no matter how much money you make from it.
And for those like Crowsnest who are waiting for epidemiological studies and peer reviewed proof of deleterious health effects of the BP disaster, please understand that the corporations figured this "scientific" angle out long ago. That is why they FORCED doctors in Pennsylvania to avoid any mention of radiation in diagnosis after three mile island. That is why NO epidimiological studies have been done on Navajo communities with high cancer rates among the Uranium miners and their families living near the mines. That is why BP rushed to "fund" any university or scientist doing studies on the BP gulf disaster. The VERY FIRST THING in the agreement was disclosure control of publishing.
WAKE UP, Crowsnest! If you truly are a scientist, you will communicate with Dr. Ott and she will provide you with proof of how scientists are coopted or prevented from publishing any objective studies. As a scientist, you, of all people, should understand that mens rea is anathema to scientific objectivity. Since you know that BP and most large corporations don't give a tinker's damn about truth as long as they make a profit, you should be the first to question their public proclamations of "everything is hunky jake in the Gulf of Mexico".
MENS REA. Look it up.
"Comments Closed" on two climate change articles:
-- Hot America? Climate Scientists Say 'Get Used to It'
-- International Transaction Tax Could Fight Global Warming
and also for:
-- Critics: Obama's Record Worst Ever For Whistleblowers
Yes, why are the comments being closed on some of these articles? I saw nothing that was any more controversial or disrespectful than any comment sections here usually are. But I can't find anywhere as to why.
I noticed that, too. Should we start a new forum called comments closed? Posting new articles shouldn't be difficult.
The comments are (open) now... Maybe a computer glitch?
Agelbert & Bardamu: Thank you for your intelligent posts. It's good to know that some in this forum are not here to push the agenda of big business by fogging the facts.
I had to drive to Gainesville today and the air is THICK with smoke. We have fires in Northern Florida, too.
I was thinking of all the fundamentalists in this town, smelling the foul burning air, and still trying to believe there's no such thing as global warming.
So the idea came to me for the following cartoon; and if there is a cartoonist in the house, feel free to sketch it and see if you can get it into print.
First scene:
A woman is talking on a cell-phone as a tsunami rises behind her.
Caption, "Of course there's no such thing as global warming.
Second scene:
The person on the receiving end of her call, has fires out of control behind her
home.
Caption, "I know. I can't imagine why everyone is talking about it."
Third scene:
A boat is heading to rescue a family and their dog from the roof of their home. Flood waters have risen.
Caption: "I'm tired of all these liberals talking about global warming!"
Or something along those lines. The conditioning that's gone on in this nation, through a 24/7 Bernays'-style media, added to the authoritarian controls in public schools, added to the religious endorsement of showing respect for authority figures makes a helluva lot of people unable to TRUST their own senses! Until "the authority" on TV says it's global warming, they may instead believe that all of these events are either anomalies, or that End Times have come.
I got the feeling today that Mother Nature would send fire, flood, famine to town after town, until human beings put down the weapons, and learn to work together. Key to this process is caring... caring about the earth, one another, and our selves. So long as weapons & war take top priority, caring ends up on the back BURNER.
Where there's smoke. There's fire... things are burning around here.
Siouxrose,
Your are welcome. I think that things will have to get a lot worse before the religious right cries uncle. In the meantime the greed just grows in the corporate world.
I just heard in Democracy Now with Amy Goodman how the governor of Puerto Rico, who campaigned against a natural gas pipeline on the island, is fast tracking it AND using government funds to popularize the pipeline by paying millions to a PR firm (70% of the population is against it). And get this. The governor's skying buddy will get the pipeline contract. This construction firm of the gov's buddy admits they don't know beans about pipelines so he is subcontracting the bid to an outfit in Florida! Finally, the Spanish firm that will receive the natural gas at the pipeline port has no contract to receive gas for at least 8 years! In other words, the pipeline gets built for chronies crossing over 30 rivers and through the habitats of over 20 endangered species on a 100 by 35 mile island (the pipeline is projected to be 90 miles long!) even though the pipeline will have no natural gas in it for at least 7 years.
As if all that wasn't bad enough, there is a plan afoot to use natural gas obtained by fracking in the USA.
This is horrible, stupid and criminal.
You'll never guess who is going to Puerto Rico to help push the deal.
President Obama.
The whole sordid tale can be heard at:
http://www.democracynow.org/
AGEL: I can't exactly say thanks for THIS news. My grandchildren are there. I figure it's safer than them going to the beach at Clearwater. Just the other night I had dinner on the water and a fisherman rode up in his boat. I've spoken with him before. I asked, "Would you eat the catch from out there?" He laughed and said "of course."
People really have been led to believe that the BP DISASTER and the Cor-exit exposure are over, done with, taken care of, healed, out of sight/out of mind, etc.
If history survives, I would expect this era to be known as that of the Great Cover-up.
You do know that there's a HUGE trench off the coast of Puerto Rico? If Haiti could deal with a massive quake, and the fools start messing with the ocean around the Isla de Enchanta, (P.R), then there's no telling how Earth Mother will react. My daughter has had tidal wave dreams (as have I), and she told me in her mind (fire-drill style), she practices how fast she can get the kids up to the top of the building.
I see a lot of pregnant women. It's hard to imagine WHY souls would come in now, unless the destruction of the planet is The Exciting Event of all time... and a lot of spirits want to be present to watch it in motion.
After what happened in Vieques, the cancers as legacy from certain military tests, I PRAY that the Puerto Ricans use their protest power to impede this latest insanity and travesty to the Great Mother.
Evo Morales ought to fly over and read them the riot act!
Puerto Rico is VERY dependent on U.S. funds. In a lot of bars there, signs are posted that no one is allowed to talk about politics. Put a little alcohol in people and violence can quickly brew. Politics is one subject that ignites the dry embers. Not hard to tell why... when sociopaths manage to wrestle their way into positions of influence, with all but a few rare exceptions, they all seem intent upon selling out the welfare of The People... sometimes one ecosystem at a time.
Do you hear the web of life imploding?
"Do you hear the web of life imploding?"
Yes Siouxrose,,, and I see it too.
Btw, the other day I wrote "Exxon and Wal Mart don't appreciate your type",, That was a typo, it was supposed to be OUR type... I don't buy much gasoline or stuff anymore either, mostly necessities.
Siouxrose,
Yes, I can feel so much life ebbing away.
As far as Puerto Rico is concerned, I hope your grandchildren come through the coming troubles okay. I have a google earth earthquake add-on so I can see the quakes all over the globe. Puerto Rico has a lot of small earthquakes in comparison to most of the planet. Something keeps shaking it regularly. Maybe that's a good thing because it avoids a big one.
At any rate, with all the sun, wind and wave power available down there, there is no reason for a natural gas pipeline. It's crazy.
I noticed that, too. Should we start a new forum called comments closed? Posting new articles shouldn't be difficult.
Most of us knew the BP Blowout pollution was much worse than we were told. I am sure the radiation leak in Japan is much worse than anyone knows. I hope I am wrong. No offshore drilling and no nuclear energy plants or weapons. The inconvenient truths not revealed will be the death of us yet. Will Americans do anything if they learn the truth about the extent and danger of pollution in the U.S. or are they too busy killing people in other countries trying to keep themselves safe from terrorist?
I look forward to learning why comments were closed for certain CD articles.
I was pretty young when Chernobyl happened. At that time I realized that there was only one thing I could know for sure: that the government is lying. At least we can count on that constant.
You should consider revising your constant: corporations lie, and that includes their wholly owned subsidiaries: governments*
*where applicable, almost, but not quite, everywhere.
"The challenge for all Americans is to reclaim our democracy and end corporate rule."
Before Americans can reclaim democracy, they have to dump representative government.
Direct democracy
(* The comments are NOW OPEN on those threads*).
Fienberg is corrupt, he is a pitiful disgrace for the human race. There is nothing good about the man... Nothing!
If the chemiclas, "corexit" in the gulf waters' are killing sea life and they are, it will kill human life as well, not as quickly or as many; as most of the humans who live along the gulf are not swimming in the water. They are "hanging their clothes on a hickory branch but don't go near the water". Most aren't eating any gulf seafood either, even though some (may) be alright.
All of the newborn dolphins and many adult this year probably died or were still born. Coastguard officers have stated they have not seen a young dolphin in the gulf this year, none alive, nor many adults. That is not at all normal. That is just one example.
OIl is just one of thousands of toxic chems going totally unregulated by the farce called the EPA. The truth is the environment is more polluted then ever and nothing and no one now stands in the way of these brutes. ( Int'l Corps.) The Gov't is for all practical purposes a wholly owned subsidiary of these companies and the pols are mostly little more then their highly paid shills and flunkies.
At least BP's former chief executive Tony Hayward is getting his "...life back".
"http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/
rothschild-helps-former-bp-boss-get-his-life-back-2295450.html"
(space inserted before rothschild to fit CD formatting)
Excerpt:"The former BP chief executive and Mr Rothschild, scion of the legendary banking dynasty, are seeking to raise £1bn by listing Vallares, a shell company, on the London Stock Exchange's main market.
The company will then buy or set up a business with major operations in the oil and gas sector to tap into the increasing global demand for commodities."
More "Inconveniences" to come.
this one,
just came out:
http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/06/11/242917/nih-carcinogen-koch-industries/