Diane-Michel.com » Cancer Research http://diane-michel.com/blog Facilitating breakthrough medical research and health through collaborative research. Thu, 24 Jun 2010 04:31:23 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Papers and Articles on Toxic Chemicals and Health Effects of Oil Spills http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/17/papers-on-toxic-effects-of-oil-spills/ http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/17/papers-on-toxic-effects-of-oil-spills/#comments Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:19:48 +0000 Diane http://diane-michel.com/blog/?p=780 Continue reading →]]> Resource: CiteULike

A recent review of the popular research citation Website:
CiteULike has brought out over 800 papers written on the dangers of toxins with petroleum oil spills.

The following articles and papers are just a portion. Please visit the site for more detailed information:
High spatial resolution image object classification for terrestrial oil spill contamination mapping in West Siberia

]]> http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/17/papers-on-toxic-effects-of-oil-spills/feed/ 0 Benzene: Facts for those involved in Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/13/benzene-facts-for-those-involved-in-oil-spill-areas/ http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/13/benzene-facts-for-those-involved-in-oil-spill-areas/#comments Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:14:23 +0000 Diane http://diane-michel.com/blog/?p=744 Continue reading →]]> Benzene – Chemical Hazard Summary

Resource: United States Environmental Protection Agency

Benzene is commonly found in petroleum oil. It is present in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Accident of April 2010 that continues to emit oil to this day. The researchers at GlobalMedicalResearch.org present this information for workers or those involved near the scene can be informed about the dangers of being exposed to benzene whether it be from the water or burning off of oil.Benzene

71-43-2 Hazard Summary-Created in April 1992; Revised in January 2000

Benzene is found in the air from emissions from burning coal and oil, gasoline service stations, and motor vehicle exhaust. Acute (short-term) inhalation exposure of humans to benzene may cause drowsiness, dizziness, headaches, as well as eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritation, and, at high levels, unconsciousness. Chronic (long-term) inhalation exposure has caused various disorders in the blood, including reduced numbers of red blood cells and aplastic anemia, in occupational settings. Reproductive effects have been reported for women exposed by inhalation to high levels, and adverse effects on the developing fetus have been observed in animal tests. Increased incidence of leukemia (cancer of the tissues that form white blood cells) have been observed in humans occupationally exposed to benzene. EPA has classified benzene as a Group A, human carcinogen.

Please Note: The main sources of information for this fact sheet are the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s (ATSDR’s) Toxicological Profile for Benzene and EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), which contains information on the carcinogenic effects of benzene including the unit cancer risk for inhalation exposure. Uses

Benzene is used as a constituent in motor fuels; as a solvent for fats, waxes, resins, oils, inks, paints, plastics, and rubber; in the extraction of oils from seeds and nuts; and in photogravure printing. It is also used as a chemical intermediate. Benzene is also used in the manufacture of detergents, explosives, pharmaceuticals, and dyestuffs. (2,6)

Sources and Potential Exposure

Individuals employed in industries that manufacture or use benzene may be exposed to the highest levels of benzene. (1)

Benzene is found in emissions from burning coal and oil, motor vehicle exhaust, and evaporation from gasoline service stations and in industrial solvents. These sources contribute to elevated levels of benzene in the ambient air, which may subsequently be breathed by the public. (1)

Tobacco smoke contains benzene and accounts for nearly half the national exposure to benzene. (1)

Individuals may also be exposed to benzene by consuming contaminated water. (1)

Assessing Personal Exposure

Measurement of benzene in an individual’s breath or blood or the measurement of breakdown products in the urine (phenol) can estimate personal exposure. However, the tests must be done shortly after exposure and are not helpful for measuring low levels of benzene. (1)

Health Hazard Information

Acute Effects: Coexposure to benzene with ethanol (e.g., alcoholic beverages) can increase benzene toxicity in humans. (1)

Neurological symptoms of inhalation exposure to benzene include drowsiness, dizziness, headaches, and unconsciousness in humans. Ingestion of large amounts of benzene may result in vomiting, dizziness, and convulsions in humans. (1)

Exposure to liquid and vapor may irritate the skin, eyes, and upper respiratory tract in humans. Redness and blisters may result from dermal exposure to benzene. (1,2)

Animal studies show neurologic, immunologic, and hematologic effects from inhalation and oral exposure to benzene. (1)

Tests involving acute exposure of rats, mice, rabbits, and guinea pigs have demonstrated benzene to have low acute toxicity from inhalation, moderate acute toxicity from ingestion, and low or moderate acute toxicity from dermal exposure. (3)

Chronic Effects (Noncancer): Chronic inhalation of certain levels of benzene causes disorders in the blood in humans. Benzene specifically affects bone marrow (the tissues that produce blood cells). Aplastic anemia,(1) excessive bleeding, and damage to the immune system (by changes in blood levels of antibodies and loss of white blood cells) may develop. (1)

In animals, chronic inhalation and oral exposure to benzene produces the same effects as seen in humans. (1)

Benzene causes both structural and numerical chromosomal aberrations in humans. (1)

EPA has not established a Reference Concentration (RfC) or a Reference Dose (RfD) for benzene. (4)

The California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) has established a chronic reference exposure level of 0.06 milligrams per cubic meter (0.06 mg/m3) for benzene based on hematological effects in humans. The CalEPA reference exposure level is a concentration at or below which adverse health effects are not likely to occur. It is not a direct estimator of risk, but rather a reference point to gauge the potential effects. At lifetime exposures increasingly greater than the reference exposure level, the potential for adverse health effects increases. (5)

ATSDR has established an acute inhalation minimal risk level (MRL) of 0.2 mg/m3 (0.05 parts per million [ppm]) based on immunological effects in mice and an intermediate MRL of 0.01 mg/m3 (0.004 ppm) based on neurological effects in mice. The MRL is an estimate of the daily human exposure to a hazardous substance that is likely to be without appreciable risk of adverse noncancer health effects over a specified duration of exposure. (1)

Reproductive/Developmental Effects: Several occupational studies suggest that benzene may impair fertility in women exposed to high levels. However, these studies are limited due to lack of exposure history, simultaneous exposure to other substances, and lack of followup. (1)

Available human data on the developmental effects of benzene are inconclusive due to concomitant exposure to other chemicals, inadequate sample size, and lack of quantitative exposure data. (1)

Adverse effects on the fetus, including low birth weight, delayed bone formation, and bone marrow damage, have been observed where pregnant animals were exposed to benzene by inhalation. (1)

Cancer Risk: Increased incidence of leukemia (cancer of the tissues that form white blood cells) has been observed in humans occupationally exposed to benzene. (1,4)

EPA has classified benzene as a Group A, known human carcinogen. (4)

EPA uses mathematical models, based on human and animal studies, to estimate the probability of a person developing cancer from breathing air containing a specified concentration of a chemical. EPA calculated a range of 2.2 x 10-6 to 7.8 x 10-6 as the increase in the lifetime risk of an individual who is continuously exposed to 1 µg/m3 of benzene in the air over their lifetime. EPA estimates that, if an individual were to continuously breathe air containing benzene at an average of 0.13 to 0.45 µg/m3 (1.3 x 10-4 to 4.5 x 10-4 mg/m3) over his or her entire lifetime, that person would theoretically have no more than a one-in-a-million increased chance of developing cancer as a direct result of continuously breathing air containing this chemical. Similarly, EPA estimates that continuously breathing air containing 1.3 to 4.5 µg/m3 (1.3 x 10-3 to 4.5 x 10-3 mg/m3) would result in not greater than a one-in-a-hundred thousand increased chance of developing cancer, and air containing 13 to 45 µg/m3 (1.3 x 10-2 to 4.5 x 10-2 mg/m3) would result in not greater than a one-in-ten thousand increased chance of developing cancer. For a detailed discussion of confidence in the potency estimates, please see IRIS. (4)

EPA has calculated an oral cancer slope factor ranging from 1.5 x 10-2 to 5.5 x 10-2 (mg/kg/d)-1 and is an extrapolation from inhalation dose-response data. (4)

Physical Properties

The chemical formula for benzene is C6H6, and it has a molecular weight of 78.11 g/mol. (4)

Benzene occurs as a volatile, colorless, highly flammable liquid that dissolves easily in water. (1,7)

Benzene has a sweet odor with an ASTDR reported odor threshold of 1.5 ppm (5 mg/m3).

The vapor pressure for benzene is 95.2 mm Hg at 25 °C, and it has a log octanol/water partition coefficient (log Kow) of 2.13. (1)

Conversion Factors (only for the gaseous form): To convert concentrations in air (at 25°C) from ppm to mg/m3: mg/m3 = (ppm) × (molecular weight of the compound)/(24.45). For benzene: 1 ppm = 3.19 mg/m3. To convert concentrations in air from µg/m3 to mg/m3: mg/m3 = (µg/m3) × (1 mg/1,000 µg). Health Data from Inhalation Exposure

ACGIH STEL–American Conference of Governmental and Industrial Hygienists’ short-term exposure limit.

ACGIH TLV–American Conference of Governmental and Industrial Hygienists’ threshold limit value expressed as a time-weighted average; the concentration of a substance to which most workers can be exposed without adverse effects.

AIHA ERPG–American Industrial Hygiene Association’s emergency response planning guidelines.

ERPG 1 is the maximum airborne concentration below which it is believed nearly all individuals could be exposed up to one hour without experiencing other than mild transient adverse health effects or perceiving a clearly defined objectionable odor;

ERPG 2 is the maximum airborne concentration below which it is believed nearly all individuals could be exposed up to one hour without experiencing or developing irreversible or other serious health effects that could impair their abilities to take protective action.

The American Industrial Hygiene Association’s detection and recognition odor thresholds for benzene are 61 ppm and 97 ppm, respectively. LC50 (Lethal Concentration50)–A calculated concentration of a chemical in air to which exposure for a specific length of time is expected to cause death in 50% of a defined experimental animal population.

NIOSH REL–National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health’s recommended exposure limit; NIOSH-recommended exposure limit for an 8- or 10-h time-weighted-average exposure and/or ceiling. NIOSH STEL–NIOSH’s short term exposure limit; NIOSH recommended exposure limit for a 15-minute period.

OSHA PEL–Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s permissible exposure limit expressed as a time-weighted average; the concentration of a substance to which most workers can be exposed without adverse effect averaged over a normal 8-h workday or a 40-h workweek.

OSHA STEL–Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s short-term exposure limit.The health and regulatory values cited in this graph were obtained in December 1999.

aHealth numbers are toxicological numbers from animal testing or risk assessment values developed by EPA.

bRegulatory numbers are values that have been incorporated in Government regulations, while advisory numbers are nonregulatory values provided by the Government or other groups as advice. OSHA numbers are regulatory, whereas NIOSH, ACGIH, and AIHA numbers are advisory.

c The NOAEL is from the critical study used as the basis for the CalEPA chronic reference exposure level.

References

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Toxicological Profile for Benzene (Draft). U.S. Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, GA. 1997.

M. Sittig. Handbook of Toxic and Hazardous Chemicals and Carcinogens. 2nd ed. Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, NJ. 1985.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS, online database). National Toxicology Information Program, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD. 1993.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) on Benzene. National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC. 2002.

California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA). Air Toxics Hot Spots Program Risk Assessment Guidelines: Part III. Technical Support Document for the Determination of Noncancer Chronic Reference Exposure Levels. SRP Draft. Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, Berkeley, CA. 1999.

The Merck Index. An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals. 11th ed. Ed. S. Budavari. Merck and Co. Inc., Rahway, NJ. 1989.

American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). 1999 TLVs and BEIs. Threshold Limit Values for Chemical Substances and Physical Agents. Biological Exposure Indices. Cincinnati, OH. 1999.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Occupational Safety and Health Standards, Toxic and Hazardous Substances. Code of Federal Regulations. 29 CFR 1910.1000. 1998.

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cincinnati, OH. 1997.

1. *Aplastic anemia is a risk factor for developing acute nonlymphocytic leukemia.

 

Reference:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:  Technology Transfer Network
Air Toxics Web Site (2008, February) Benzene.  Retrieved June 13, 2010 from http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/benzene.html

]]> http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/13/benzene-facts-for-those-involved-in-oil-spill-areas/feed/ 0 Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill: Admiral Thad Allen Press Briefing June 11, 2010 http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/12/deep-water-horizon-oil-spill-admiral-thad-allen-press-briefing-june-11-2010/ http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/12/deep-water-horizon-oil-spill-admiral-thad-allen-press-briefing-june-11-2010/#comments Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:11:11 +0000 Diane http://diane-michel.com/blog/?p=648 Continue reading →]]> Resource: DeepWaterHorizonResponse.com

Resource: DeepWaterHorizonResponse.com

BP NORTH AMERICA
Moderator: Thad Allen
06-11-10/9:00 a.m. CT
Confirmation # 81663600
Page 1
BP NORTH AMERICA
June 11, 2010
9:00 a.m. CT
MODERATOR: Good morning. Welcome to today’s briefing. We’ll follow the standard format
today. Admiral [Thad] Allen will give the daily update and then we’ll take 10 minutes of
questions from the floor and 10 minutes from the phone. Admiral?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Thank you. Good morning. Since it’s Friday, I thought I’d review some
of the basic numbers of the response and talk a little bit about some strategic issues regarding the
skimmers which are becoming increasingly important in this response as it spreads out
(inaudible). Be glad to answer any questions you may have for me at that point.
Just to summarize where we’re at on this Friday regarding people—about 25,000 are on the
ground down there. This has become the largest oil spill response in our nation’s history. We
have over 1,200 Coast Guardsmen, 1,400 National Guardsmen, 21,000 contractors and 700
volunteers.
A tremendous amount of equipment has flowed into the area. Most notably, we now have 400
skimmers on duty and around the gulf, 500 barges, 2,500 government and contract vessels and
more than 2,000 vessels of opportunity utilizing local watermen and their knowledge and their
vessels, 64 aircraft and 2.7 million feet of boom either deployed or staged and ready to deploy.
We’re also removing as much oil as we can from the surface around the well site as you know
and then further out as we get towards shore, significantly increasing our skimming capability.
We have skimmed, to date, about 18 million gallons of oily water—the oil has to be decanted
from that [and] our yield is usually somewhere around 10 or 15 percent on that. We have burned
3.8 million gallons of oil. We’ve applied over a million gallons of dispersant.
We’re starting to limit the dispersants on the surface to where we need it for safety reasons—for
putting down volatile organic compounds or when we have a spill of such magnitude where
dispersants have a direct affect in trying to limit our dispersant application to the subsea
injections and over 4 million gallons have been recovered either through the riser insertion tube
or our containment cap so far.
BP NORTH AMERICA
Moderator: Thad Allen
06-11-10/9:00 a.m. CT
Confirmation # 81663600
Page 2
We continue to try and mobilize resources. I’ve impaneled a strategic resource team to take a
look at our assets completely around the—all around the country. They’ve been working on this
for several weeks. Just to give you an idea of what’s in the national inventory and we’re going to
have some meetings later on today and through the week in about how we might want to
redeploy assets and how that might happen in the country.
Nationally there are a little over 2,000 skimmers or skimming type vehicles out there that we—
that are potentially available for use. Probably a little over 430,000 feet of ocean boom that is a
heavy duty boom and probably about 3.1 million feet of near-coastal boom listed in the oil spill
response organizations are required to be on an index that the Coast Guard maintains.
What we’re going to be doing over the next couple of days is doing the risk analysis. What we
can bring to the area and also the international assets that were seeking, and try and come up—
the way to mass our forces more effectively, especially in the area between the shoreline out to
about 50 miles. As the oil gets—or disaggregates into smaller flows and we’re trying to figure
out how to attack that with more skimming capacity and capability moving forward.
As you know, we’ve got part of the work done out of the flow rate technical group. The work
continues and we’re going to be aggregating that plus making adjustments for the—whatever
increase there might have been after the cut in the riser pipe.
We also are looking to put pressure gauges down on the blow out preventer and see if we can
come up with an actual empirical way to take data from the pressure readings and corroborate
what might have happened and the difference between the flow before and after the riser cut.
And that will all continue and, as I said, immense operation going on down there and we are also
deploying teams today—and will be next week—under Tracy Wareing, [head of] our integrated
services team, to take a look at the claims processing, and that continues with our oversight and
work with BP.
With that, I’d be glad to take questions.
Q: Admiral, thank you for taking our questions. At the briefing on Monday you topped it off by
saying that the Discovery Enterprise and the Q4000, which is in route right now, will have a
combined production capability—or capacity of 20,000 barrels per day. Now your scientists are
estimating that the flow of oil is at least 25,000 and 30,000 barrels and maybe 40,000 barrels
today. Isn’t it true that today, 50 days after the leak was discovered, if you had a perfect seal, in
fact if you were getting everything through that pipe (inaudible) that you could, you still don’t
have the capacity topside to deal with that?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, first of all, I think we’re still dealing with the flow estimate and
we’re still trying to refine those numbers. One portion of the work as we’ve just indicated came
up with a higher flow rate.
BP NORTH AMERICA
Moderator: Thad Allen
06-11-10/9:00 a.m. CT
Confirmation # 81663600
Page 3
As it stands right now, the actual production capability at optimum for the Discovery Enterprise
and the Q4000—if they’re operating at maximum efficiency—is 18,000 and 10,000 so that’s
28,000.
We have directed BP to provide us a plan to increase capacity and also to reach redundancy. We
got that plan as I told you—or we’ll be completing the review of that today and later on today we
will put out a statement regarding our review of that plan and the way to move forward. But we
have told BP that we need to not only increase capacity as we’re able to bring the flow rate up,
but also redundancy.
We hope to—by the time we get to the new system put in and then—I talked yesterday about the
floating riser pipe and new production tankers, we should be in the range of somewhere between
40 and 50,000 barrels a day with that system once it’s in place. The issue is for BP to move
quickly to establish capacity and redundancy so as we’re able to increase the flow, they’ve got
the capacity to produce it.
Q: So if you had had these numbers earlier, perhaps, wouldn’t it make sense to have that capacity
there now?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: When we brought the capacity to scene that was available the actually—
the tankers that have the dynamic positioning system they can use with this floating production
platform that we talked about are actually being brought from the North Sea, but because the
way they produce oil in the gulf—and that a lot of it is piped in—we don’t use the same type of
shuttle tankers that they do in the North Sea and they’re going to be required to kind of handle
this production, that’s the reasons (inaudible) brought from other parts of the world. I say we—
it’s collectively this industry, everybody.
Q: Admiral?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Yes.
Q: I have a series of question about the skimmers.
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Yes.
Q: Are you—are you using—are you over (inaudible) that are sort of been (inaudible) and what
requirements are—what criteria are you using to decide which ones you are using?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: That’s exactly what we’re doing. We call these vessels of opportunity. A
lot of the—when you look at skimmers, some skimmers are what I call self-contained, it’s
actually a vessel that has skimming capability, but other systems are booming systems that you
tow behind any vessel, you just have a way to evacuate it. And what we’re trying to do is get
these skimming—this skimming equipment in the hands of the vessels of opportunity operating
out there and as you know, we have over 2,000 operating and then have a collection barge or a
vessel nearby that can come over and basically vacuum the oil out and they can continue
working. That’s exactly what we want to do.
BP NORTH AMERICA
Moderator: Thad Allen
06-11-10/9:00 a.m. CT
Confirmation # 81663600
Page 4
So it depends on the type of boat—we’ve got the capability to tow the equipment we need,
there’s some training of the operator and how to deploy the boom, there’s also some safety
training related to how you work around that type of oil, but that is exactly what we’re about.
Q: (Inaudible) …
ADMIRAL ALLEN: (Inaudible), we’ll get back (inaudible).
Q: Do you still trust Tony Hayward?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: You know I get the trust word all the time. The fact of the matter is we
have to have a cooperative, productive relationship for this thing to work moving forward.
When I talk to them [and] I ask for answers, I get them. You could characterize that as trust,
partnership, cooperation, collaboration or whatever, but this has to be a unified effort moving
forward if we’re going to get this thing solved.
Q: So yes?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: If you call that trust, yes.
Q: (Inaudible) yesterday local Louisiana officials told the Senate subcommittee [about]
frustrations with the federal government’s response, the mayor had to choke back tears
describing his frustration and the parish president said he still didn’t know who was in charge,
BP or the Coast Guard. Said that he spent more time fighting BP officials and Coast Guard
officials (inaudible) to oil. What’s going on with the command structure?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Several weeks ago we deployed Coast Guard liaison officers to every
parish president. So any time one of those parish presidents has a problem, he can turn to a
Coast Guard officer who has direct contact with the incident command posts at (inaudible) and
can get whatever he needs solved. They also have connection to the BP folks whether it’s
regarding planes or anything else.
So I would [advise these] gentlemen—say, give me what your problem was, who did you ask
and what happened and I’d be able to respond to you. But we’ve had Coast Guard officers
standing next to those guys for three weeks.
Q: You’re not hearing any of this frustration?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: We have a call every evening with all of those parish liaison officers,
specifically in Louisiana, and we work the issues overnight—they have a conduit to us—the
parish presidents have a conduit directly in to the national incident command and the
administration every night on a conference call. Okay?
So I’d be glad to deal with the specific issues that they raised, but I met with them, I met with the
President—we’ve been responsive, we’re proud of the Coast Guard officers there and if they
have specific issues they’d like to raise with me I’d be happy to do that.
BP NORTH AMERICA
Moderator: Thad Allen
06-11-10/9:00 a.m. CT
Confirmation # 81663600
Page 5
Q: Admiral, back on skimmers, in terms of the Jones Act …
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Yes.
Q: Have you waived that? Are you using foreign vessels?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Whether it’s involving skimming capability, offshore supply vessels or
tankers or whatever we need and dredges for Louisiana, we are more than willing to consider
Jones Act waivers, but we need to have a little bit of homework done upfront—has there been an
assessment of national inventory, are there any other alternative methods to provide those
platforms? Are there issues regarding crewing or anything else? And nobody has come to me
for a Jones Act waiver yet, but I’ve told everyone we are prepared to consider them should that
become necessary.
Q: Is there an element of too many vessels in the water, maybe running into each other?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: I’d say right at the well site itself there’s a limit to how much activity you
can bring there, because we’ve got the Discover Enterprise—it’s actually producing oil. We’re
going to have the Q4000 offset, that’s a mobile drilling unit. We’ve got Development Driller III
which is doing the primary relief well [and] we’ve got the Development Driller II drilling the
second relief well. All of those platforms use Remotely Operated Vehicles [ROVs], so any one
particular time you could have 16 to 20 ROVs, and every ROV has a platform above it that’s
being operated from and, having been out there on many occasions, you can have anywhere from
25 to 30 vessels about two square miles so there is an issue about deconfliction of that space.
There’s an issue about deconfliction of the space on the sea flow regarding ROVs. When you
move beyond that we’re not constrained and therefore as much skimming capacity as we could
bring there anyplace else is what we would want to do.
Q: Can you just clarify? You said you were planning—you were hoping to capture 40 to 50,000
barrels of oil a day by what period of time and how much of that would (inaudible) …
ADMIRAL ALLEN: They’re incrementally building it out. The proposal was given to us by
BP—[it] is an incremental build-out of capacity, including bringing in production facilities and
shuttle tankers that are not normally used in the Gulf of Mexico to the scene. In fact they’re in
route right now.
So between the middle of June and the first week or so of July, we’re going to start incrementally
building out a new mooring system and then production vessels that will be linked to shuttle
tankers that can accommodate a greater flow rate and at that point, once we know we can do that,
we will probably shift from the containment cap we have right now to a more hard cap which
will help us to capture more if not all of the oil that’s coming out of the well head.
Q: Can you give a slightly better idea of timing and (inaudible) …
BP NORTH AMERICA
Moderator: Thad Allen
06-11-10/9:00 a.m. CT
Confirmation # 81663600
Page 6
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, we’re in the process of giving them feedback on their timelines and
their proposal right now. That was the letter that we required them to have to us in 72 hours.
We got that night before last and we’ll probably be [looking] again later today once we—once
[Department of Interior] Secretary [Ken] Salazar and [Department of Energy] Secretary [Steven]
Chu are looking at it this morning—we’re having a conference call later on, to make sure we
understand the time elements, is it soon enough, do we want them to do it quicker, the capacity
(inaudible) the new flow estimates and then properly tasking them out.
Q: But BP is estimating 40 to 50,000 barrels a day then?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Capacity at the end.
Q: Capacity or production?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: I’m sorry, production, yes.
Q: They expect to capture that much to do that?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Yes, and they need the shuttle tankers because the production platforms
are going to have to ship it by hose over to the shuttle tanker and then you have to be going
ashore.
Q: So we assume that 40 or 50,000 is their assessment of the flow now?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: That’s what they’ve proffered in the plan that we are reviewing because we
asked them for it. We’re not reconciling what they gave us against the flow rate numbers, the
timelines, reconciling all that to see if the plan they’ve given us is appropriate and meets the
requirements.
And we will probably also require them to be flexible in the future as we get better—we’re going
to continue to refine the flow rate numbers.
Q: Well, where did they get that 40 to 50 number then?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: They brought in systems that had a generic capacity of X, which in this
case was 40 to 50, and that was well over and above what the flow rate numbers were. As the
flow rate numbers approach that, we’re going to have to be flexible and adaptable in the amount
of production capability they’re going to have.
Q: So can you tell us a little bit about the letters you wrote to BP inviting us to this White House
meeting? A that the president’s idea? Was that his order to you? And Tony Hayward responded
to that and neglected to be there?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, I’ve had several conversations with Tony Hayward about it. In fact
there’ll be some more conversations, they’ll start laying out the agenda, what will be specifically
discussed—there are issues on both sides [and we] want [it] to be a very focused meeting—want
BP NORTH AMERICA
Moderator: Thad Allen
06-11-10/9:00 a.m. CT
Confirmation # 81663600
Page 7
to come out with some measureable outcomes related to advancing the issues that both BP and
the administration have, and that continues to be a work in progress right now and I’m in contact
with BP.
Q: Was it the President’s idea to have this meeting?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, I think we all collectively decided it was time to sit down and talk. I
think—I’ve been interacting with the board of directors and Tony Hayward routinely. If it’s not
Tony, I deal with [Robert Dudley], who is the managing director on the board and I think
everybody thought it was an appropriate time to sit down and talk about the issues and that’s
what we’re going to do.
Q: But—but BP has RSVP’d yes?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Yes, we’re working on it.
Q: Is it your assumption that the riser cut has dramatically increased the flow?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: You know there’s conflicting opinions—we actually have scientific
groups that some say negligible and some say maybe more than we thought. That’s the reason
what we want to do is put these sensors down there and get the pressure readings and that’s being
dealt with by Secretary Salazar and (inaudible) with the BP folks. They actually want to deploy
those with an ROV in the next few days and get pressure readings that can validate what we
think is actually coming out of the riser pipe. Get some empirical data then.
Q: So when Salazar said four or five percent, he didn’t really have any research or evidence?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, if you look at the pressure readings we were taking before the top kill
exercise, what we need to do is we need to go down and retake the pressure readings. After we
finish the top kill we were all about the pressure readings, if you remember at that point. When
we went to the containment—went to production, we want to go down and get another set of
pressure readings and see where we’re at and that will give us better information on it as far as
estimating the flow based on actual empirical measures of pressure.
Q: Sorry, I don’t want to harp on this, but how many vents are now exposed when that’s
(inaudible) …
ADMIRAL ALLEN: One.
Q: Just one? And the reason that it’s only one to this remains because..?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Some concerns about the stability of the cap itself—what they call chatter.
The amount of pressure that might build up in there, also not wanting to create some kind of
(inaudible) differential that will cause a problem with hydrates and they’re slowly again
ratcheting the choke up.
BP NORTH AMERICA
Moderator: Thad Allen
06-11-10/9:00 a.m. CT
Confirmation # 81663600
Page 8
Q: But it’s not—but it’s not because they can’t handle the flow of …
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, they can handle more production. They can (inaudible).
MODERATOR: Last question here.
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Let’s go to the phone. Operator, you can begin.
Operator: The first question comes from the line of Joseph Michaels with (inaudible).
Q: Good morning. We asked the question earlier in the week about—just very quickly, how
many birds and other animals had been cleaned and treated thus far and I was wondering when
you might have an update for that and also there were reports and video yesterday about a whale
that washed up on a beach in New York, and I wanted to know what you know about the
possibility that that is oil spill related and then finally, what the chances are that you will attend
next week’s White House meeting with President Obama and the BP officials and if so, what do
you and the President hope to learn from that meeting that you do not already know now? Thank
you.
ADMIRAL ALLEN: First of all, we’ll give you an update on the list—I didn’t bring the wildlife
numbers with me. Any time we have a marine mammal death anywhere in the vicinity of this
event there are always concerns about whether or not it was related to hydrocarbons. So they
said there’s a necropsy going on with that whale.
I will reach out actually through (inaudible) and NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration] and see if we can ascertain if there’s any causality between the spill, but I would
say, if it’s in New York that would probably be a low probability but if there’s any concern about
it we will—we will of course check it out.
Regarding the meeting, I would anticipate I would be involved in that meeting and the agenda is
being developed. There are a list of concerns on both sides and we’re working through that
today so it would be a little premature at this point to exactly say how the meeting will be
focused because it’s going to have to be a combination of BP issues and the issues we want to
raise and that’s a work in progress and that’s on my work list for today, as a matter of fact.
Next question?
OPERATOR: Your next question comes from the line of (inaudible) from Bloomberg.
Q: Hi, thank you yes. This is (inaudible) from Bloomberg. I wanted to ask about the estimates
for the cleanup costs. How much do you think has been spent on clean up so far? And I mean
everything, like the (inaudible) and the skimmers and clean the beaches and how much do you
think it might cost in total? Thank you.
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Thank you. Well, I can tell you the federal costs incurred that are being
paid for also (inaudible) trust fund are approaching about $130, $140 million right now. As far
BP NORTH AMERICA
Moderator: Thad Allen
06-11-10/9:00 a.m. CT
Confirmation # 81663600
Page 9
as BP’s cost, I think those are available, I just don’t happen to have those with me and I think as
far as estimating overall costs of the response, as long as we don’t have that well capped, we’re
going to keep pouring assets in there. So I think at this point it’s—I would call it indeterminate,
but as—we will update the figures and get those to you. Thank you.
OPERATOR: Your next question comes from the line of (inaudible) from (inaudible).
Q: Hi, I’d like to know where is the oil going to be taken to and dropped off at and you know at
which refineries will they go to—will it go to and will the crew that needs—that goes to these
refineries need to be specially treated for example to get the water out?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, the way the—the way the oil produced is it’s brought to the surface
in the Discover Enterprise and at that point the natural gas is separated from and it is flared off.
There’s—it’s like a Bunsen burner basically. And then the rest of the oil is separated from water
and sediment and then it is shifted to a tanker and taken to shore in a refinery. I do not know the
exact refiner and how that is done, but by the time it leaves the Discover Enterprise, it is crude
oil basically ready for delivery at the refinery and further production and I will find out where
they’re actually having it produced in and get that back to you. My guess is it probably depends
on the capacity of the refineries and it may not be the same one every time, but we’ll get that
information to you.
Q: Thanks.
MODERATOR: Operator, this will have to be the last question.
OPERATOR: Your next question comes from the line of (inaudible) from Reuters.
Q: Good morning, Admiral. Thanks for taking my call. I want to go back to the 40,000/50,000
barrel per day capacity. I think what I’m getting from what you said this morning is that the
vessels that are coming—that will add that—they will provide that capacity, is that the hurricaneready
system—the Toisa Pisces and the Loch Rannoch?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: That is correct. I wouldn’t say hurricane ready, I would say they’re more
hurricane durable than the current system. We’re going to have to make a critical decision at
some point whether or not we keep production going.
Let me walk you through immediate timeline, little summary might be easier to understand.
Right now from the Discover Enterprise, we’re operating in a range of 15 to 18,000 barrels a day
of capacity. We’re right about 15,000 barrels—they are rated at their most efficient operation at
18. The Q4000 we’re anticipating will bring 5,000 barrels on but it has the capacity to go to 10.
So the potential capacity between those tow which will be operational by the end of next week
will be 28,000 barrels per day.
BP NORTH AMERICA
Moderator: Thad Allen
06-11-10/9:00 a.m. CT
Confirmation # 81663600
Page 10
We’ve additionally asked them to bring in a second processing vessel to be able to work with the
Q4000. It’s a vessel called the clear leader, that will add additional 10,000 capacity a day. So
towards the end of the month of June, we will be up at around 38,000 barrels a day capacity.
That will ultimately be replaced by the new containment system, which will consist of the new
riser (inaudible) system and the flexible hoses which will allow us greater capacity but also the
ability to disconnect quickly in the case of heavy weather and that will be the Toisa Pisces and
the Loch Rannoch. The Loch Rannoch will be the shuttle tanker, that’s in route to the North Sea
right now. The Toisa Pisces is being converted for production and again, they’ll be flaring gas
off and producing oil and transferring it to the shuttle tanker.
There will be another pair of a producer and a shuttle tanker being acquired because we require
redundancy and that will be the Helix Producer and the tanker has yet to be identified. Between
the two of them, they will have a capacity between 20 and 25,000 barrels a day. If you add that
up, it’s between 40 and 50. That takes you from now to approximately mid July to build that
second system out. Is that responsive?
Q: Yes, yes. Thank you, Admiral. I just want to make one more sure thing I’m clear on.
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Yes.
Q: So the combination of the Toisa Pisces and the Loch Rannoch will replace the Discover
Enterprise and Q4000 and the (inaudible)?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: That’s correct. We …
Q: Okay.
ADMIRAL ALLEN: The reason we’re replacing it—let me explain it because it is a little
confusing, the current production structure has a fixed riser pipe coming from the well headed up
to the Discover Enterprise and we’re going to increase the capacity we have right now by taking
those choke and kill lines that we were forcing mud down during the top kill operation, we’re
going to reverse the flow and suck oil out of them and we’re going to bring that up to the Q4000
and that’s how we’re going to increase production without having to get away from the fixed
riser pipe. We’re actually going to create a hose that comes off to the side and goes up to the
Q4000.
Ultimately, we don’t want a fixed riser pipe. The Discover Enterprise is basically locked to the
bottom of the sea by the riser pipe and the containment cap to the well head. And what we are
constructing for the next containment strategy is a riser pipe that is anchored to the bottom of the
ocean and then a buoy on the top, but it doesn’t go quite to the surface, so we have a subsea
section of riser, about 4000 feet long and we have a flexible cable from the bottom of that that
goes over to the well head through a permanent cap and then a flexible hose that comes off the
top up to the production vessel or vessels when there’s two of them, and then they will process
and offload the tankers.
BP NORTH AMERICA
Moderator: Thad Allen
06-11-10/9:00 a.m. CT
Confirmation # 81663600
Page 11
These will be larger vessels with better sea keeping capability and in particular, the Loch
Rannoch has what we call dynamic positioning capability. That is the same capability that is on
the drill rigs that keeps them right over the spot when they’re drilling with a bunch of thrusters
that are connected to GPS and computers. They need that because if they’re going to continually
transfer to the tanker as the source of storage, that tanker has to be right beside them and can’t
move very far. That’s the reason these are being brought from the North Sea because that is not
the usual form of transfer in the Gulf. Was that helpful?
Q: Yes, yes. And I’m sorry, Admiral, just one more. The Clear Leader, that’s a drill ship,
correct?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: The Clear Leader—yes it’s a—yes, it’s very similar to the Discover
Enterprise, that’s correct.
Q: OK, OK. And will the Clear Leader stay onsite? Is—I’m—one thing I’m—last thing I’m
confused about is we’ve got the Toisa Pisces …
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Right.
Q: And the Loch Rannoch coming and that’s going to be part of the floating riser system. So
that—the Q4000 will no longer be used at that point. But will either of the drill ships still be
used?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: No, at some point we’ll make a transition and it will be a time where it’s
going to be pretty crowded out there, as you can imagine, this is going to be very, very carefully
staged and sequenced. But we will move from the two production vessels, the Discover
Enterprise and the Clear Leader and the Q4000 will be removed and the Helix Producer and the
tanker, yet to be named, and the Toisa Pisces and the Loch Rannoch will replace that with two
production platforms and two tankers to off load to, that’s the redundancy and the capacity we
require due to the floating riser system. That better?
Q: Okay, thank you so—yes, that’s wonderful Admiral. Thank you so much. So the actual
burning off of oil at the Q4000l, that’s not going to last very long, maybe a couple of weeks.
ADMIRAL ALLEN: That is the strategy, to increase capacity and create redundancy for the
Discover Enterprise, that’s correct.
Q: Okay, thank you so much, appreciate it.
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Thank you.
MODERATOR: Thank you, everyone.
END

]]> http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/12/deep-water-horizon-oil-spill-admiral-thad-allen-press-briefing-june-11-2010/feed/ 2 Health facts about Benzene – a chemical present in oil spills. http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/11/health-facts-about-benzene-a-chemical-present-in-oil-spills/ http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/11/health-facts-about-benzene-a-chemical-present-in-oil-spills/#comments Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:36:05 +0000 Diane http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/11/health-facts-about-benzene-a-chemical-present-in-oil-spills/ Continue reading →]]> Resource: CDC

What benzene is

  • Benzene is a chemical that is a colorless or light yellow liquid at room temperature. It has a sweet odor and is highly flammable.
  • Benzene evaporates into the air very quickly. Its vapor is heavier than air and may sink into low-lying areas.
  • Benzene dissolves only slightly in water and will float on top of water.

Where benzene is found and how it is used

  • Benzene is formed from both natural processes and human activities.
  • Natural sources of benzene include volcanoes and forest fires. Benzene is also a natural part of crude oil, gasoline, and cigarette smoke.
  • Benzene is widely used in the United States . It ranks in the top 20 chemicals for production volume.
  • Some industries use benzene to make other chemicals that are used to make plastics, resins, and nylon and synthetic fibers. Benzene is also used to make some types of lubricants, rubbers, dyes, detergents, drugs, and pesticides.

How you could be exposed to benzene

  • Outdoor air contains low levels of benzene from tobacco smoke, gas stations, motor vehicle exhaust, and industrial emissions.
  • Indoor air generally contains levels of benzene higher than those in outdoor air. The benzene in indoor air comes from products that contain benzene such as glues, paints, furniture wax, and detergents.
  • The air around hazardous waste sites or gas stations can contain higher levels of benzene than in other areas.
  • Benzene leaks from underground storage tanks or from hazardous waste sites containing benzene can contaminate well water.
  • People working in industries that make or use benzene may be exposed to the highest levels of it.
  • A major source of benzene exposure is tobacco smoke.

How benzene works

  • Benzene works by causing cells not to work correctly. For example, it can cause bone marrow not to produce enough red blood cells, which can lead to anemia. Also, it can damage the immune system by changing blood levels of antibodies and causing the loss of white blood cells.
  • The seriousness of poisoning caused by benzene depends on the amount, route, and length of time of exposure, as well as the age and preexisting medical condition of the exposed person.

Immediate signs and symptoms of exposure to benzene

  • People who breathe in high levels of benzene may develop the following signs and symptoms within minutes to several hours:
    • Drowsiness
    • Dizziness
    • Rapid or irregular heartbeat
    • Headaches
    • Tremors
    • Confusion
    • Unconsciousness
    • Death (at very high levels)
  • Eating foods or drinking beverages containing high levels of benzene can cause the following symptoms within minutes to several hours:
    • Vomiting
    • Irritation of the stomach
    • Dizziness
    • Sleepiness
    • Convulsions
    • Rapid or irregular heartbeat
    • Death (at very high levels)
  • If a person vomits because of swallowing foods or beverages containing benzene, the vomit could be sucked into the lungs and cause breathing problems and coughing.
  • Direct exposure of the eyes, skin, or lungs to benzene can cause tissue injury and irritation.
  • Showing these signs and symptoms does not necessarily mean that a person has been exposed to benzene.

Long-term health effects of exposure to benzene

  • The major effect of benzene from long-term exposure is on the blood. (Long-term exposure means exposure of a year or more.) Benzene causes harmful effects on the bone marrow and can cause a decrease in red blood cells, leading to anemia. It can also cause excessive bleeding and can affect the immune system, increasing the chance for infection.
  • Some women who breathed high levels of benzene for many months had irregular menstrual periods and a decrease in the size of their ovaries. It is not known whether benzene exposure affects the developing fetus in pregnant women or fertility in men.
  • Animal studies have shown low birth weights, delayed bone formation, and bone marrow damage when pregnant animals breathed benzene.
  • The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that benzene causes cancer in humans. Long-term exposure to high levels of benzene in the air can cause leukemia, cancer of the blood-forming organs.

How you can protect yourself, and what to do if you are exposed to benzene

  • First, if the benzene was released into the air, get fresh air by leaving the area where the benzene was released. Moving to an area with fresh air is a good way to reduce the possibility of death from exposure to benzene in the air.
    • If the benzene release was outside, move away from the area where the benzene was released.
    • If the benzene release was indoors, get out of the building.
  • If you are near a release of benzene, emergency coordinators may tell you to either evacuate the area or to “shelter in place” inside a building to avoid being exposed to the chemical. For more information on evacuation during a chemical emergency, see “Facts About Evacuation” at http://emergency.cdc.gov/planning/evacuationfacts.asp . For more information on sheltering in place during a chemical emergency, see “Facts About Sheltering in Place” at http://emergency.cdc.gov/planning/Shelteringfacts.asp .
  • If you think you may have been exposed to benzene, you should remove your clothing, rapidly wash your entire body with soap and water, and get medical care as quickly as possible.
  • Removing your clothing
    • Quickly take off clothing that may have benzene on it. Any clothing that has to be pulled over the head should be cut off the body instead of pulled over the head.
    • If you are helping other people remove their clothing, try to avoid touching any contaminated areas, and remove the clothing as quickly as possible.
  • Washing yourself
    • As quickly as possible, wash any benzene from your skin with large amounts of soap and water. Washing with soap and water will help protect people from any chemicals on their bodies.
    • If your eyes are burning or your vision is blurred, rinse your eyes with plain water for 10 to 15 minutes. If you wear contacts, remove them after washing your hands and put them with the contaminated clothing. Do not put the contacts back in your eyes (even if they are not disposable contacts). If you wear eyeglasses, wash them with soap and water. You can put your eyeglasses back on after you wash them.
  • Disposing of your clothes
    • After you have washed yourself, place your clothing inside a plastic bag. Avoid touching contaminated areas of the clothing. If you can’t avoid touching contaminated areas, or you aren’t sure where the contaminated areas are, wear rubber gloves or put the clothing in the bag using tongs, tool handles, sticks, or similar objects. Anything that touches the contaminated clothing should also be placed in the bag.
    • Seal the bag, and then seal that bag inside another plastic bag. Disposing of your clothing in this way will help protect you and other people from any chemicals that might be on your clothes.
    • When the local or state health department or emergency personnel arrive, tell them what you did with your clothes. The health department or emergency personnel will arrange for further disposal. Do not handle the plastic bags yourself.
  • For more information about cleaning your body and disposing of your clothes after a chemical release, see “Chemical Agents: Facts About Personal Cleaning and Disposal of Contaminated Clothing” at http://emergency.cdc.gov/planning/personalcleaningfacts.asp .
  • If you think your water supply may have benzene in it, drink bottled water until you are sure your water supply is safe.
  • If someone has swallowed benzene, do not try to make them vomit or give them fluids to drink. Also, if you are sure the person has swallowed benzene, do not attempt CPR. Performing CPR on someone who has swallowed benzene may cause them to vomit. The vomit could be sucked into their lungs and damage their lungs.
  • Seek medical attention right away. Dial 911 and explain what has happened.

How benzene poisoning is treated

Benzene poisoning is treated with supportive medical care in a hospital setting. No specific antidote exists for benzene poisoning. The most important thing is for victims to seek medical treatment as soon as possible.

How you can get more information about benzene

People can contact one of the following:

  • Regional poison control center: 1-800-222-1222
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    • Public Response Hotline (CDC)
      • 800-CDC-INFO
      • 888-232-6348 (TTY)
    • E-mail inquiries: cdcinfo@cdc.gov

    • This fact sheet is based on CDC’s best current information. It may be updated as new information becomes available.

    ]]>     http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/11/health-facts-about-benzene-a-chemical-present-in-oil-spills/feed/ 0     Health effects from exposure to TPH – ( Petroleum Oil Spill) http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/11/health-effects-from-exposure-to-tph-petroleum-oil-spill/ http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/11/health-effects-from-exposure-to-tph-petroleum-oil-spill/#comments Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:57:52 +0000 Diane http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/11/health-effects-from-exposure-to-tph-petroleum-oil-spill/ Continue reading →]]> Health effects from exposure to TPH depend on many factors. These include the types of chemical compounds in the TPH, how long the exposure lasts, and the amount of the chemicals contacted. Very little is known about the toxicity of many TPH compounds. Until more information is available, information about health effects of TPH must be based on specific compounds or petroleum products that have been studied.

    The compounds in different TPH fractions affect the body in different ways. Some of the TPH compounds, particularly the smaller compounds such as benzene, toluene, and xylene (which are present in gasoline), can affect the human central nervous system. If exposures are high enough, death can occur. Breathing toluene at concentrations greater than 100 parts per million (100 ppm) for more than several hours can cause fatigue, headache, nausea, and drowsiness. When exposure is stopped, the symptoms will go away. However, if someone is exposed for a long time, permanent damage to the central nervous system can occur. One TPH compound (n-hexane) can affect the central nervous system in a different way, causing a nerve disorder called “peripheral neuropathy” characterized by numbness in the feet and legs and, in severe cases, paralysis. This has occurred in workers exposed to 500–2,500 ppm of n-hexane in the air. Swallowing some petroleum products such as gasoline and kerosene causes irritation of the throat and stomach, central nervous system depression, difficulty breathing, and pneumonia from breathing liquid into the lungs. The compounds in some TPH fractions can also affect the blood, immune system, liver, spleen, kidneys, developing fetus, and lungs. Certain TPH compounds can be irritating to the skin and eyes. Other TPH compounds, such as some mineral oils, are not very toxic and are used in foods”

    References

    Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 1999. Toxicological profile for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.

    A summary of articles detailing the incident and health problems currently being faced by those working to clean the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:

    This list is for reference for researchers who wish to help in this crisis, and serves as a collection of useful contacts at the spill location.

    May 26, 2010
    Oil cleanup workers report illness

    By Nicole Santa Cruz and Julie Cart
    LA Times
    http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/26/nation/la-na-oil-workers-sick-20100526

    May 23, 2010
    BP refuses EPA order to switch to less-toxic oil dispersant

    By Margot Roosevelt and Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times
    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-20100523,0,907236.story

    margot.roosevelt@latimes.com
    carolyn.cole@latimes.com

    Times staff writer Bettina Boxall contributed to this report.

    May 27, 2010
    Fishermen sickened during oil cleanup

    John DeSantis
    Senior Staff Writer
    http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20100527/ARTICLES/100529358/1292?p=1&tc=pg

    May 27, 2010
    Estimates Suggest Spill Is Biggest in U.S. History

    Tom Zeller Jr., New York Times
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/28flow.html

    ]]>     http://diane-michel.com/blog/2010/06/11/health-effects-from-exposure-to-tph-petroleum-oil-spill/feed/ 0     Well-done meat intake, heterocyclic amine exposure, and cancer risk. http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/11/17/well-done-meat-intake-heterocyclic-amine-exposure-and-cancer-risk/ http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/11/17/well-done-meat-intake-heterocyclic-amine-exposure-and-cancer-risk/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:01:44 +0000 Diane http://diane-michel.com/blog/?p=573 Continue reading →]]> Zheng W, Lee SA.

    Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37203-1738, USA. wei.zheng@vanderbilt.edu

    High intake of meat, particularly red and processed meat, has been associated with an increased risk of a number of common cancers such as breast, colorectum, and prostate in many epidemiological studies. Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are a group of mutagenic compounds found in cooked meats, particularly well-done meats. HCAs are some of most potent mutagens detected using the Ames/salmonella tests and have been clearly shown to induce tumors in experimental animal models. Over the past 10 years, an increasing number of epidemiological studies have evaluated the association of well-done meat intake and meat carcinogen exposure with cancer risk. The results from these epidemiologic studies were evaluated and summarized in this review. The majority of these studies have shown that high intake of well-done meat and high exposure to meat carcinogens, particularly HCAs, may increase the risk of human cancer.

    PMID: 19838915 [PubMed - in process]

    ]]>     http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/11/17/well-done-meat-intake-heterocyclic-amine-exposure-and-cancer-risk/feed/ 0     Secondhand Smoke: Questions and Answers http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/11/02/secondhand-smoke-questions-and-answers/ http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/11/02/secondhand-smoke-questions-and-answers/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:52:02 +0000 Diane http://diane-michel.com/blog/?p=570 Continue reading →]]> Resource:  National Cancer Institute

     

    Key Points

    1.  
      • arsenic (a heavy metal toxin)
      • benzene (a chemical found in gasoline)
      • beryllium (a toxic metal)
      • cadmium (a metal used in batteries)
      • chromium (a metallic element)
      • ethylene oxide (a chemical used to sterilize medical devices)
      • nickel (a metallic element)
      • polonium–210 (a chemical element that gives off radiation)
      • vinyl chloride (a toxic substance used in plastics manufacture)

    2. What is secondhand smoke?
    3. How is secondhand smoke exposure measured?
    4. Does secondhand smoke contain harmful chemicals?
    5. Does exposure to secondhand smoke cause cancer?
    6. What are the other health effects of exposure to secondhand smoke?
    7. What is a safe level of secondhand smoke?
    8. What is being done to reduce nonsmokers’ exposure to secondhand smoke?

      9. Secondhand smoke (also called environmental tobacco smoke) is the combination of sidestream smoke (the smoke given off by the burning end of a tobacco product) and mainstream smoke (the smoke exhaled by the smoker) (1, 2, 3, 4). Exposure to secondhand smoke is also called involuntary smoking or passive smoking. People are exposed to secondhand smoke in homes, cars, the workplace, and public places such as bars, restaurants, and other recreation settings. In the United States, the source of most secondhand smoke is from cigarettes, followed by pipes, cigars, and other tobacco products (4).

       Secondhand smoke is measured by testing indoor air for nicotine or other smoke constituents. Exposure to secondhand smoke can be tested by measuring the levels of cotinine (a nicotine by-product in the body) in the nonsmoker’s blood, saliva, or urine (1). Nicotine, cotinine, carbon monoxide, and other evidence of secondhand smoke exposure have been found in the body fluids of nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke.

      Yes. Of the more than 4,000 chemicals that have been identified in secondhand tobacco smoke, at least 250 are known to be harmful, and 50 of these are known to cause cancer. These chemicals include (1):

      Many factors affect which chemicals are found in secondhand smoke, including the type of tobacco, the chemicals added to the tobacco, the way the product is smoked, and the paper in which the tobacco is wrapped (1, 3, 4).

       

      Yes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP), the U.S. Surgeon General, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have classified secondhand smoke as a known human carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) (1, 3, 5).

      Inhaling secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in nonsmoking adults (4). Approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths occur each year among adult nonsmokers in the United States as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke (2). The Surgeon General estimates that living with a smoker increases a nonsmoker’s chances of developing lung cancer by 20 to 30 percent (4).

      Some research suggests that secondhand smoke may increase the risk of breast cancer, nasal sinus cavity cancer, and nasopharyngeal cancer in adults, and leukemia, lymphoma, and brain tumors in children (4). Additional research is needed to learn whether a link exists between secondhand smoke exposure and these cancers.

      Secondhand smoke causes disease and premature death in nonsmoking adults and children (4). Exposure to secondhand smoke irritates the airways and has immediate harmful effects on a person’s heart and blood vessels. It may increase the risk of heart disease by an estimated 25 to 30 percent (4). In the United States, secondhand smoke is thought to cause about 46,000 heart disease deaths each year (6). There may also be a link between exposure to secondhand smoke and the risk of stroke and hardening of the arteries; however, additional research is needed to confirm this link.

      Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), ear infections, colds, pneumonia, bronchitis, and more severe asthma. Being exposed to secondhand smoke slows the growth of children’s lungs and can cause them to cough, wheeze, and feel breathless (4).

      There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Studies have shown that even low levels of secondhand smoke exposure can be harmful. The only way to fully protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke exposure is to completely eliminate smoking in indoor spaces. Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot completely eliminate secondhand smoke exposure (4).

      Many state and local governments have passed laws prohibiting smoking in public facilities such as schools, hospitals, airports, and bus terminals. Increasingly, state and local governments are also requiring private workplaces, including restaurants and bars, to be smoke free. To highlight the significant risk from secondhand smoke exposure, the National Cancer Institute, a component of the National Institutes of Health, holds meetings and conferences in states, counties, cities, or towns that are smoke free, unless certain circumstances justify an exception to this policy.

      More information about state-level tobacco regulations is available through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System Web site. The STATE System is a database containing up-to-date and historical state-level data on tobacco use prevention and control. This resource is available at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/statesystem/ on the Internet.

      On the national level, several laws restricting smoking in public places have been passed. Federal law bans smoking on domestic airline flights, nearly all flights between the United States and foreign destinations, interstate buses, and most trains. Smoking is also banned in most Federally owned buildings. The Pro-Children Act of 1994 prohibits smoking in facilities that routinely provide Federally funded services to children.

      The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Healthy People 2010, a comprehensive, nationwide health promotion and disease prevention agenda, includes the goal of reducing the proportion of nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke from 65 percent to 45 percent by 2010 (7). More information about this program is available on the Healthy People 2010 Web site at http://www.healthypeople.gov/ on the Internet.

      Internationally, several nations, including France, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and Uruguay, require all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, to be smoke free.

     

    Selected References

    1. National Toxicology Program. Report on Carcinogens. Eleventh Edition. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Toxicology Program, 2005. 
    2. National Cancer Institute. Cancer Progress Report 2003. Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004. 
    3. International Agency for Research on Cancer. Tobacco Smoke and Involuntary Smoking. Lyon, France: 2002. 
    4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006. 
    5. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking (Also Known as Exposure to Secondhand Smoke or Environmental Tobacco Smoke–ETS). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1992. 
    6. California Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Proposed Identification of Environmental Tobacco Smoke as a Toxic Air Contaminant: Part B Health Effects, 2005. 
    7. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2000. 

     

    ### 

    Related NCI materials and Web pages:

     

    For more help, contact:

    NCI’s Cancer Information Service
    Telephone (toll-free): 1–800–4–CANCER (1–800–422–6237)
    TTY (toll-free): 1–800–332–8615
    LiveHelp® online chat: https://cissecure.nci.nih.gov/livehelp/welcome.asp
    Reference:

    National Cancer Institute (2009). Secondhand smoke questions and answers.  Retrieved November 2, 2009 from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/ETS

    ]]>     http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/11/02/secondhand-smoke-questions-and-answers/feed/ 1     Confirmed – Secondhand Smoke Causes Heart Attacks http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/11/02/confirmed-%e2%80%93-secondhand-smoke-causes-heart-attacks/ http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/11/02/confirmed-%e2%80%93-secondhand-smoke-causes-heart-attacks/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:17:55 +0000 Diane http://diane-michel.com/blog/?p=567 Continue reading →]]> Resource:  American Lung AssociationA new Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects: Making Sense of the Evidence, has confirmed that exposure to secondhand smoke is a significant cause of heart attacks among nonsmokers.  This report underscores the urgency of the American Lung Association’s Smokefree Air Challenge, a nationwide campaign to eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke in all work and public places.

    The U.S. Surgeon General concluded back in 2006 that nearly 50,000 Americans die each year from secondhand smoke exposure. The findings of this new IOM report are significant, because they confirm that secondhand smoke exposure is a significant cause of acute coronary events, including heart attacks, and that there is no safe level of exposure. 

    The report also concluded that relatively brief exposure to secondhand smoke can cause acute coronary events. It has already been shown that secondhand smoke also causes other serious diseases, including lung cancer.

    This growing mountain of evidence makes it clear that secondhand smoke kills, and to protect the public health, smoking should be prohibited in all public areas and workplaces. The Lung Association’s Smokefree Air Challenge is dedicated to making this happen. 

    To date, half of all states, along with the District of Columbia, have met our Smokefree Air Challenge by implementing comprehensive smokefree laws.  These laws protect all workers from toxic secondhand smoke in the workplace, and also protect customers from smoke in bars and restaurants, giving people with asthma and other lung diseases the freedom to dine and socialize wherever they choose.

    Now with even more evidence of the dangers of secondhand smoke from this new report, it is time for the remaining 25 states to protect their citizens by meeting our Smokefree Air Challenge and joining the American Lung Association in our fight to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease.

    To learn more about the American Lung Association’s Smokefree Air Challenge, please visit www.lungusa.org/smokefree.

    Facts about Secondhand Smoke

    Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke.  Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide.

    Secondhand smoke causes about 50,000 deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year, including approximately 3,400 from lung cancer and up to 69,600 from heart disease.

    Secondhand smoke is esecially harmful to young children.  Secondhand smoke is responsible for between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children under 18 months of age.

    In the United States, 25 million, or 35 percent of, children live in homes where residents or visitors smoke in the home on a regular basis.  Approximately 50-75 percent of children in the United States have detectable levels of cotinine, the breakdown product of nicotine in their blood.

    Reference:
    American Lung Association (2009) Confirmed – secondhand smoke causes heart attacks.  Retrieved November 1, 2009 from http://www.lungusa.org/about-us/our-impact/top-stories/secondhand-smoke-heart-attacks.html

     

    ]]>     http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/11/02/confirmed-%e2%80%93-secondhand-smoke-causes-heart-attacks/feed/ 0     Geoffrey Bene Cancer Research Center http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/09/27/503/ http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/09/27/503/#comments Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:13:47 +0000 Diane http://diane-michel.com/blog/?p=503 Continue reading →]]> Resource: Geoffrey Bene Cancer Research Center

    “The GEOFFREY BEENE CANCER RESEARCH CENTER AT MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER was established in 2006. The total value of combined Geoffrey Beene donations exceed $106,000,000.

    G. Thompson Hutton, the Trustee of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation and President of Geoffrey Beene, LLC, has orchestrated the activities to build and support this ambitious research initiative. “The hallmark of the GEOFFREY BEENE CANCER RESEARCH CENTER AT MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER is its focus on revolutionary new research approaches across a variety of cancers, strategies that will lead to prevention through improved diagnostics and enhanced quality of life treatments toward the ultimate goal of making cancer a more manageable and perhaps one day, a curable disease.”

    Since its creation, the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center has served as the focal point for an array of projects, aimed at translating works at the cellular level into revolutionary new research approaches to preventing, diagnosing, and treating the disease. It brings together researchers and physicians from two complementary areas: the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, based in the Sloan-Kettering Institute (SKI), which studies the genetic and biochemical events that trigger the transformation of normal cells into cancerous ones, and the Memorial Hospital-based Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, which pursues new insights into the molecular mechanisms of cancer from the perspective of clinical oncology.

    “The Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center has helped galvanize our efforts to gain new insights into cancer and to apply that knowledge to the development of more effective strategies for patient care,” said Harold Varmus, President of MSKCC. “We are especially grateful to Tom Hutton and his colleagues at Geoffrey Beene, LLC for recognizing the significance of the work being done here.”

    The funds from Geoffrey Beene support advanced new research initiatives spanning the entire range of translational research, funding core research labs, the establishment of senior and junior faculty chairs, graduate fellowships, and the annual Geoffrey Beene Symposium.

    The Center provides support for the Geoffrey Beene Translational Oncology Core, directed by Dr. Charles Sawyers. The core performs genomic analyses of clinical material by applying state of the art genome-scale molecular profiling technologies.

    The Center also provides support for the Microchemistry and Proteomics Core Facility and Genomics Core Facility aimed at significantly augmenting Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s capacity for translational cancer research in genomics.

    Nine research grants were funded in the first year of the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center. In 2008 an additional ten research grants were funded as well as three proposals for shared resources.

    Since the inception of the Center, Johanna Joyce, PhD, and Andrea Ventura, MD/PhD, Assistant Members in the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, and Ross Levine, MD, Assistant Member in the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, have been appointed Geoffrey Beene Junior Faculty Chairs. Hyung-Song Nam, an MD/PhD student, and Sindy Escobar-Alvarez, a PhD student, were named the first Geoffrey Beene graduate fellows in 2007. The second Geoffrey Beene Graduate Fellowships in 2008 were awarded to two PhD students, Vasilena Gocheva and Barry S. Taylor.”

    Oversight of the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center is provided by the following members of its Executive Committee:

    Harold Varmus, Chairman     President, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
    James Allison     Chairman, Immunology Program
    Thomas Kelly     Director, Sloan Kettering Institute
    Joan Massagué     Chairman, Cancer Biology and Genetics Program
    Larry Norton     Deputy Physician-in-Chief, Breast Cancer Programs
    Charles Sawyers     Chairman, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program
    David Scheinberg     Chairman, Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program
    Robert Wittes     Physician-in-Chief, Memorial Hospital
    G. Thompson Hutton, Ex Officio     Trustee of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation
    ]]>     http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/09/27/503/feed/ 1     Genetic link to increased risk of ovarian cancer found http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/08/06/genetic-link-to-increased-risk-of-ovarian-cancer-found/ http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/08/06/genetic-link-to-increased-risk-of-ovarian-cancer-found/#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:39:20 +0000 Diane http://diane-michel.com/blog/?p=489 Continue reading →]]> Resource: University of Cambridge

      Scientists have located a region of DNA which – when altered – can increase the risk of ovarian cancer, according to research published in Nature Genetics over the weekend.

    An international research group led by scientists based at the Cancer Research UK Genetic Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge and UCL (University College London) searched through the genomes of 1,810 women with ovarian cancer and 2,535 women without the disease from across the UK. They analysed 2.5 million variations in DNA base pairs – the letters which spell out the genetic code – to identify common spelling ‘errors’ linked to ovarian cancer risk.

    The scientists identified the genetic ‘letters’- called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) – which when spelt slightly differently increase ovarian cancer risk in some women. This is the first time scientists have found a SNP linked uniquely to risk of ovarian cancer and is the result of eight years of investigations. With the help of the international Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC), they then looked at more than 7,000 additional women with ovarian cancer and 10,000 women without disease from around the world to confirm this finding.

    The region of risk DNA is located on chromosome nine (there are 23 pairs of each chromosome in humans, one of each pair inherited from each parent). The scientists estimate that there is a 40 per cent increase in lifetime risk for women carrying the DNA variation on both copies of chromosome nine compared with someone who doesn’t carry it on either chromosome. The risk for women carrying the variation on both chromosomes is 14 in 1000 – compared with ten in 1000.

    Approximately 15 per cent of women in the UK population carry two copies of the variant DNA.

    The lifetime risk for a woman carrying the DNA variant on one copy of the chromosome is increased by 20 per cent from ten in 1000 to 12 in 1000. Approximately 40 per cent of women in the UK carry one copy.

    Lead author, Professor Dr Paul Pharoah, a Cancer Research UK senior research fellow at the University of Cambridge, said: “We already know that people with mistakes in the BRCA1 and BRAC2 genes have a greater risk of ovarian cancer – but on their own they don’t account for all of the inherited risk of the disease.
    “It is likely that the remaining risk is due to a combination of several unidentified genes – which individually carry a low to moderate risk. Now we have ticked one off, the hunt is on to find the rest.”

    Senior author Dr Simon Gayther, whose work is supported by Cancer Research UK and The Eve Appeal charity which fundraises for the gynaecological cancer research team based at UCL, said: “The human DNA blueprint contains more than 10 million genetic variants. These are part and parcel of our characteristics and make-up – but a handful will also increase the chances of some women getting ovarian cancer and we have found the first one of these.

    “There is now a genuine hope that as we find more, we can start to identify the women at greatest risk and this could help doctors to diagnose the disease earlier when treatment has a better chance of being successful.”

    Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women in the UK with around 6,800 new cases diagnosed each year in the UK – 130 women every week. It is the fourth most common cause of cancer death in women in the UK with around 4,300 deaths from the disease in the UK each year.

    BRCA1 and BRCA2 are high risk genes which cause breast cancer and are already known to significantly increase the risk of ovarian cancer but faults in these genes are rare and probably cause less than five per cent of all cases of ovarian cancer.

    Reference:
    University of Cambridge. (August 3, 2009) Genetic link to increased risk of ovarian cancer found. Retrieved August 4, 2009 from http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2009080301

     

    ]]>     http://diane-michel.com/blog/2009/08/06/genetic-link-to-increased-risk-of-ovarian-cancer-found/feed/ 0