Gulf oil spill threatens public health

Gulf oil spill threatens public health

By E. Galen
WSWS.org
10 May 2010

EXCERPT...

Major oil spills have caused billions of gallons of oil to pour into the environment in the last several decades. As the World Health Organization has pointed out, there are hardly any studies following the effects on the health of residents who live near those spills.

Oil is a mix of complex chemicals. It contains hydrocarbon compounds, some of them cancer-causing, others causing neurological and reproductive damage, as well as skin and lung problems. Sometimes crude oil has traces of mercury, lead and arsenic.

There are several ways an oil spill is harmful to human health. From evaporation or smoke as oil is burned, people can inhale volatile organic compounds and other hydrocarbons. Oil vapors can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, eye and throat irritation, and breathing difficulties. People who inhale large amounts of fumes are in danger of a chemical poisoning called hydrocarbon pneumonia.

“Smoke from burning oil contains many chemicals; some are potentially lethal poisons and some are nuisance irritants, but even these nuisance irritants can trigger breathing problems in people with asthma or emphysema or other lung disease,” stated Dr. Marcel Casavant, chief of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

The smoke from burning oil contains carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), hydrogen sulfide acidic aerosols and soot, solid particles embedded in tar. Particulate matter is very harmful to the lungs. Once inhaled, these particles can damage the heart and cause other serious health effects, including premature death in people with heart or lung disease.

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/may2010/oilh-m10.shtml

Keeping the profit in oil and persistent war

By Peter Chamberlin
Online Journal Contributing Writer
May 7, 2010, 00:16

The accelerating pace of events in south and central Asia suggest that we are nearing the end of the “nice guy” phase in the “terror war,” where the need to keep-up appearances is overridden by military considerations.

SNIP...

Concerning the issue of the pipeline wars, every nation that is involved in any way is destined for a great disappointment if American plans for them bear fruit. Who knows, tomorrow they might actually get the pleasure of seeing American oil companies drowning in oil and gas profits in a devastated world where the majority of people worry more about food than fuel. In exchange for enduring World War III, very few nations will profit. With or without Unocal’s new pipelines, there will be gas at the pumps, priced as high as the market will bear.

The US military has invested heavily in creating a panic atmosphere, concerning the so-called “peak oil” issue. Because the American military seems to be worried about tomorrow’s fuel, “peak oil” concerns are given legitimacy and a personal sense of urgency that would not otherwise be possible. Military leaders seem more concerned with ensuring that war remains profitable than in filling an actual need. When the time for the big military push comes, many people will accept it as a necessary evil, even though common sense would otherwise tell them to resist war aggression.

The planned pipelines from Georgia to Turkey and from Turkmenistan to Pakistan rely on achieving a balance between bribery and intimidation, to maintain an image of American benevolence, in order to gain the permission of every potential pipeline country government just long enough to build the energy conduit and establish security. After that, resistance will be impossible. This plan cannot succeed by diplomacy alone, because of the natural divisions of tribes, nationalities and religion. For this reason, the military must have its big push, its “surge,” to grab the great prize.

So you have the two tracks of military force and diplomacy coercing and cajoling the targeted nations into compliance with our plans. The message that is communicated between them is: “Deal with us, or be broken.” It is that simple, yet it is so complex. Pakistan, more than any other nation, understands the two faces of America. American aid comes with the understanding that the Pakistani Army would wage war upon its own people. In order to gain access to American aid, Pakistan supports a “war on terror” that intends to divide and occupy large sections of the country along the transit route.

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http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5850.shtml