Healthcare Crisis in the Gulf?

Last week, Gulf advocates and activists gathered for a Capitol Hill briefing on the on-going health impacts of the BP oil spill, dispersant and clean-up process for the Gulf Coast. The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights organized the briefing, and their President Kerry Kennedy presented the findings of a delegation that recently traveled the Gulf Coast meeting residents with health complaints in the wake of the spill. After their time spent attempting to understand the “scope of the emerging healthcare crisis in the wake of the BP drilling disaster,” Kerry and her team found that residents are sick and “don’t know what the exact cause of their illness is, but because they never suffered this way before the spill and they were all out on their fishing boats throughout the clean-up, they suspect this has something to do with the toxins.”

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade has done extensive surveys with impacted community members, finding “Coughing, respiratory irritation, and eye irritation were the most common” symptoms of potentially oil-related illness, and that a full 75% of those who thought they had encountered oil or dispersant reported health impacts. (more…)