It shuld be noted that the air pollution effects will be mitigated by the quick evaporation of volatiles and the “scrubbing” effect of seawater. But there will be plenty more to concern us with respect to health issues.

It should be noted that the most common and potentially severe health effects will not be visible on an individual basis, and instead will manifest themselves on a population or community basis in association with income insecurity, depression, and stress. Ecosystem disruption does not usually cause direct human disease but may be a powerful indirect determinant, mediated through social and economic effects.

Thank you for your letter of concern. I will do my best to answer your questions:

The EPA does indeed take daily measurements in and around the areas of the spill. You can view the results of that data from all of the monitoring stations at http://epa.gov/bpspill/air.html.

You may subscribe to air quality daily notifications to be sent to you directly for your specific areas of concern by going to: http://www.enviroflash.info/. Currently according to the data I see Tampa air quality as being listed as “Good” 50 AQI (PM2.5) . The following PDF explains what these measurements mean: http://www.enviroflash.info/assets/pdf/AQI_2003_9-3.pdf

I have also found one of the nation’s leading experts on air quality to be Gina M. Solomon. She provides a weekly summary of air and health conditions on the oil spill as part of her role as Senior Scientist at the NRDC. Her updates are very useful and clear. They can be found at: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/gsolomon/air_quality_tables.html

I will present your question directly to her and post her answer for you here.

Thank you for your letter. Diane Michel

I found your entry interesting thus I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog …

I thank you for contacting us. We are primarily assisting with medical research and analysis from the toxins of the oil spill and dispersants. I have submitted a blog posting today that will give you better insight on how to submit your ideas to the United States Coast Guard – who have a formal group that is actively taking suggestions and working with those individuals such as yourself who have the professional expertise in this area.