Is Using Dispersants on the BP Gulf Oil Spill Fighting Pollution with Pollution?
However, those solvents-petroleum distillates-are also known animal carcinogens, according to toxicology data, and make up 10 to 30 percent of a given volume of COREXIT. And those same everyday products can be deadly to wildlife. “It’s the same products in Dawn dishwasher soap,” Mitchelmore notes, which is being used widely to clean up oiled birds and other animals. “I wouldn’t want to put a fish in Dawn dishwashing soap either. That would kill it.”
As a result, the EPA ordered BP to stop spraying dispersants on the oil slick on May 26. The EPA also ordered BP to look for less toxic alternatives on May 20, and the company responded in a letter dated that same day that “BP continues to believe that COREXIT EC9500A is the best alternative.” The dispersant continues to be sprayed onto the ongoing oil spill.
Via Scientific American
