The groups tested seafood and found, "Alkylated PAHs were and continue to be detected in aquatic seafood species from the wetlands and estuaries along the Louisiana coast from Atchafalaya Bay eastward to the Louisiana/Mississippi border."
For example, they found oyster samples with up to 8,815 to 12,500 mg/kg (ppm) ORO, and blue crab samples containing up to 2,230 to 3,583 mg/kg (ppm) ORO.
Shrimp, mussels, fish and snail samples also contained exceedingly high levels of ORO and PAHs.
The press release concluded:
"Wetlands and ecosystem soil/sediment samples and aquatic tissue samples from all areas sampled contained Alkylated PAHs and Oil Range Petroleum Hydrocarbons."
Mississippi's Governor Barbour has said that Gulf seafood has been "tested more than any other food in the history of the universe."
State health departments in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama had issued swimming advisories while BP's well continued to gush oil into the Gulf of Mexico last summer. Since then, however, all three states have declared their beaches, waters and seafood safe from oil disaster related toxins.
Florida never issued any advisories, despite many residents reporting illnesses they attribute to the oil disaster.
US federal government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration and the NOAA ,along with President Barack Obama himself, have declared the Gulf of Mexico, its waters, beaches and seafood, safe and open to the public.
The testing conducted on the samples taken by this writer only represent a tiny part of the Gulf compared to the massive area that has been affected by BP's oil catastrophe. A comprehensive sampling regime across the Gulf, taken regularly over the years ahead by independent scientists, is clearly required in order to implement appropriate cleanup responses and take public safety precautions.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
