THE OIL IS STILL OUT THERE AND IS STILL KILLING AND INJURING HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT MARINE SPECIES TODAY.
COULD IT ALSO HAVE HELPED FACILITATE THE ONGOING SPREAD OF 'FLESH-EATING BACTERIA', aka, NECROTIZING FASCIITIS, ALL ALONG THE BEACHES OF THE GULF STATES? ##
According to the CDC, an average of 50 culture-confirmed cases, 45 hospitalizations, and 16 deaths are reported each year from the Gulf Coast region (reporting states are Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas).
Nationwide, there are as many as 95 cases (half of which are culture confirmed), 85 hospitalizations, and 35 deaths.
Above: A RECENT photo of a dead bottlenose dolphin from the northern Gulf of Mexico 2019 UME, exhibiting many skin lesions. NOAA asks us to believe those are "freshwater lesions", but they won't specifically call them that.
Notice that this dolphin is NOT "seriously decomposed" NOR "located in a remote area".***
Above: Necropsy of a bottlenose dolphin, 2018-2019 Bottlenose Dolphin Unusual Mortality Event (UME), Florida, Gulf of Mexico by NOAA Fisheries.
[ALSO, NOT decomposed so severely that the examiner needs a facial mask.***]
In 2013, US government scientists, for the first time, connected the BP oil disaster to dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico, after a study finding direct evidence of toxic exposure.
The study, led by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), found lung disease, hormonal abnormalities and other health effects among dolphins in an area heavily oiled during the BP spill.
"Bottlenose dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama experienced an “unusual mortality event” beginning in February 2010 and continuing into 2014, according to a study, written by a team of 22 researchers, including scientists with the National Marine Fisheries Service, Audubon Nature Institute’s Aquarium of the Americas, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and a number of marine laboratories nationwide."
[THE RESULTS OF THAT STUDY ARE VERY HEART-RENDING, BUT AGAIN, NO DATA THAT WAS SPECIFICALLY LOOKING FOR CANCER, EVEN THOUGH 'CANCEROUS-APPEARING' SKIN LESIONS AND BOTH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL TUMORS WERE FOUND IN ABUNDANCE. MUSTN'T SAY THAT OIL OR CHEMICALS CAN/DO CAUSE CANCER. CORPORATE MASTERS MIGHT GET ANGRY.]
"I've never seen such a high prevalence of very sick animals – and with unusual conditions such as the adrenal hormone abnormalities," Lori Schwake, the study's lead author, said in a statement.
Schwake explained how she experienced, first hand, dolphins swimming in and out of oil slicks, breathing at the surface which contained hydrocarbons, and eating food that was contaminated. "Not only are these creatures facing a shorter and less functional lifespan, they are far more likely to not reproduce, diminishing the population overall."
[Whales, dolphins, manatees and sea turtles are air breathers and all must come to the surface frequently to take a breath of air. In a large oil spill, these animals may be exposed to volatile chemicals during inhalation. The chemicals used to try to contain/absorb the BP oil spill were highly toxic to all marine life. The same may be said of the 'slicks' left by large ships at sea.]
JUNE 24, 2019 The study, led by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), found lung disease, hormonal abnormalities and other health effects among dolphins in an area heavily oiled during the BP spill.
"Bottlenose dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama experienced an “unusual mortality event” beginning in February 2010 and continuing into 2014, according to a study, written by a team of 22 researchers, including scientists with the National Marine Fisheries Service, Audubon Nature Institute’s Aquarium of the Americas, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and a number of marine laboratories nationwide."
[THE RESULTS OF THAT STUDY ARE VERY HEART-RENDING, BUT AGAIN, NO DATA THAT WAS SPECIFICALLY LOOKING FOR CANCER, EVEN THOUGH 'CANCEROUS-APPEARING' SKIN LESIONS AND BOTH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL TUMORS WERE FOUND IN ABUNDANCE. MUSTN'T SAY THAT OIL OR CHEMICALS CAN/DO CAUSE CANCER. CORPORATE MASTERS MIGHT GET ANGRY.]
"I've never seen such a high prevalence of very sick animals – and with unusual conditions such as the adrenal hormone abnormalities," Lori Schwake, the study's lead author, said in a statement.
Schwake explained how she experienced, first hand, dolphins swimming in and out of oil slicks, breathing at the surface which contained hydrocarbons, and eating food that was contaminated. "Not only are these creatures facing a shorter and less functional lifespan, they are far more likely to not reproduce, diminishing the population overall."
[Whales, dolphins, manatees and sea turtles are air breathers and all must come to the surface frequently to take a breath of air. In a large oil spill, these animals may be exposed to volatile chemicals during inhalation. The chemicals used to try to contain/absorb the BP oil spill were highly toxic to all marine life. The same may be said of the 'slicks' left by large ships at sea.]
Oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill continues sinking to the Gulf of Mexico’s sea floor. Now researcher Andrew Wozniak from the University of Delaware is shedding light on a phenomenon he’s calling 'Marine Oil Snow'.
This 'snow' is a continuous shower of mostly organic detritus falling from the upper layers of the water column. In addition to dead animal and plant tissue, marine snow also includes fecal matter, sand, soot, and inorganic dust.
Wozniak found that, as the oil containing particles make their journey to the ocean floor, they create microenvironments of bacteria that change the oil’s molecular composition.
“The oil that reaches the sediments and the deep coral reef looks slightly different at the molecular level, and that’s important for understanding what happens to that oil and what impacts it might have on the biology down in the deep parts of the ocean and coastal systems," said Wozniak.
The bacteria that feed on the oil add highly toxic oxygenated compounds called 'polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons' or PAH's.
University of South Florida Marine Scientist Steve Murawski says he’s seen elevated PAH’s in marine life in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Certainly we’ve seen higher levels of PAH’s not only in the sediments in the small animals that live in sediments but also in the fishes and the crabs and other animals that we more relate to,” said Murawski.
Those toxic compounds lead to animal deaths, and Murawski notes the effects of the fallout are still being seen.
“We’re not sure exactly why but it could be that the sediments that have oil contamination are being re-suspended by storms, hurricanes, river inflow, and heavy winds so they keep stirring up the bottom. So we have a feeling that these toxic chemicals are going to be in the system for awhile, they’re not necessarily being buried over by clean sediment,” said Murawski.
“We’re not sure exactly why but it could be that the sediments that have oil contamination are being re-suspended by storms, hurricanes, river inflow, and heavy winds so they keep stirring up the bottom. So we have a feeling that these toxic chemicals are going to be in the system for awhile, they’re not necessarily being buried over by clean sediment,” said Murawski.
Though Marine Oil Snow helps with the dispersal of oil at the surface by bringing it down to the ocean floor and away from coastlines, the impacts of the Deep Water Horizon Oil spill are still being felt nine years later.
DEATHS OCCURRING MORE OFTEN IN THE NORTHERN GULF FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS.
2019 Bottlenose Dolphin Unusual Mortality Event along the Northern Gulf of Mexico.
Elevated bottlenose dolphin strandings have been occurring in the Northern Gulf of Mexico including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida (Alabama border through Franklin County) since February 1, 2019. As of June 27th, 2019, 285 dolphins have stranded since February, which is approximately three times higher than the average. This event has been declared an Unusual Mortality Event (UME).
THIS IS A LUDICROUS STATEMENT, USED SO FREQUENTLY BY NOAA, NO MATTER THE SPECIES BEING NECROPSIED:
*** "Many of the dolphins recovered are very decomposed, limiting the ability to collect samples to determine cause of illness or death. In addition, a number of dolphins have stranded in remote locations, which limits the Stranding Network's ability to examine or recover the carcass."
BS, BS, BS! THEY'RE STRANDING AND WASHING UP ON PUBLIC BEACHES, JUST LIKE WHALES, TURTLES, AND OCEAN FISH DOWN THERE.
PEOPLE TRY TO SAVE THESE ANIMALS AND FAIL, SOME NECROPSIES ON VERY FRESHLY DEAD, NON-DECOMPOSED CORPSES ARE COMPLETED WITHIN 2 TO 3 DAYS IN LAB SETTINGS, BUT THEY STILL WON'T NAME A SPECIFIC REASON FOR DEATHS, OR CALL THOSE LESIONS ANYTHING BUT "SUSPECTED" THIS OR THAT? BS!
THERE HAVE BEEN WHALE, SEAL, SHARK, WALRUS AND OTHER NECROPSIES FROM THE GULF AND ONGOING PACIFIC DIE-OFFS THAT WERE COMPLETED 5 TO 8 YEARS AGO AND WE STILL DON'T HAVE SPECIFIC REASONS, JUST THE SAME "CAUSE OF DEATH UNKNOWN".
AND BP IS STILL IN DENIAL THAT OIL AND/OR ITS OIL ABSORPTION CHEMICALS IS CAUSING THIS.
Government scientists and conservation groups had been concerned from the outset about the effects on marine life of the vast amounts of oil that entered the water.
But the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science and Technology produced the strongest evidence to date of the effects of the spill on marine life.
"The severe disease documented by this study and the continued elevation of mortalities raise significant concerns regarding both short-term and long-term impacts on the Barataria Bay dolphin population," the study said.
EYELESS, TUMOR-RIDDLED SHRIMP AND CRABS; FISH WITH NO GILL COVERINGS, NO EYES, SKIN LESIONS AND TUMORS.
"I've never seen anything like this," Dr. Jim Cowan of Louisiana State University stated. "The fishermen have never seen anything like this."
Cowan explained: “The fish are being exposed to PAHs, and I was able to find several references that list the same symptoms in fish after the Exxon Valdez spill, as well as in lab experiments. There was also a paper published by some LSU scientists that PAH exposure has effects on the genome.”
The University of South Florida released the results of a survey whose findings corresponded with Cowan’s: a two to five per cent infection rate in the same oil impact areas, and not just with red snapper, but with more than 20 species of fish with lesions.
In many locations, 20 per cent of the fish had lesions, and later sampling expeditions found areas where, alarmingly, 50 per cent of the fish had them.
Cowan believes chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), released from BP’s submerged oil, are likely to blame for what he is finding, due to the fact that the fish with lesions he is finding are from “a wide spatial distribution that is spatially coordinated with oil from the Deepwater Horizon, both surface oil and subsurface oil. A lot of the oil that impacted Louisiana was also in subsurface plumes, and we think there is a lot of it remaining on the seafloor”.
“I asked a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) sampler what percentage of fish they find with sores prior to 2010, and it’s one-tenth of one percent,” Cowan said. “Which is what we found prior to 2010 as well. But nothing like we’ve seen with these secondary infections and at this high of rate since the spill.
“What we think is that it’s attributable to chronic exposure to PAHs released in the process of weathering of oil on the seafloor. There’s no other thing we can use to explain this phenomenon.Cowan started hearing about fish with sores and lesions from fishermen in November 2010.
Tracy Kuhns and her husband Mike Roberts, commercial fishers from Barataria, Louisiana, are finding eyeless shrimp.
“At the height of the last white shrimp season, in September, one of our friends caught 400 pounds of these,” Kuhns said when showing a sample of the eyeless shrimp.
According to Kuhns, at least 50 per cent of the shrimp caught in that period in Barataria Bay, a popular shrimping area that was heavily impacted by BP’s oil and dispersants, were eyeless.
Kuhns added: “Disturbingly, not only do the shrimp lack eyes, they even lack eye sockets.”
“Some shrimpers are catching these out in the open Gulf [of Mexico],” she added, “They are also catching them in Alabama and Mississippi. We are also finding eyeless crabs, crabs with their shells soft instead of hard, full grown crabs that are one-fifth their normal size, clawless crabs, and crabs with shells that don’t have their usual spikes … they look like they’ve been burned off by chemicals.
Keath Ladner, a third generation seafood processor in Hancock County, Mississippi, is also disturbed by what he is seeing.
“I’ve seen the brown shrimp catch drop by two-thirds, and so far the white shrimp have been wiped out,” Ladner told reporters. “The shrimp are immune compromised. We are finding shrimp with tumors on their heads, and are seeing this everyday.”
While on a shrimp boat in Mobile Bay with Sidney Schwartz, the fourth-generation fisherman said that he had seen shrimp with defects on their gills, and “their shells missing around their gills and head”.
“We’ve fished here all our lives and have never seen anything like this,” he added. Ladner has also seen crates of blue crabs, all of which were lacking at least one of their claws.
Darla Rooks, a lifelong fisher-person from Port Sulfur, Louisiana, told reporters that she is finding crabs “with holes in their shells, shells with all the points burned off so all the spikes on their shells and claws are gone, misshapen shells, and crabs that are dying from within … they are still alive, but you open them up and they smell like they’ve been dead for a week”.
CARCINOGENIC, MUTAGENIC DISPERSANTS
The dispersants used in BP’s draconian experiment contain solvents, such as petroleum distillates and 2-butoxyethanol. Solvents dissolve oil, grease and rubber,” Riki Ott, a toxicologist, marine biologist and Exxon Valdez survivor, said.
“It should be no surprise that solvents are also notoriously toxic to people, something the medical community has long known."
The dispersants are known to be mutagenic, a disturbing fact that could be evidenced in the seafood deformities. Shrimp, for example, have a life cycle short enough that several generations have existed since BP’s disaster began, giving the chemicals time to enter the genome.
Pathways of exposure to the dispersants are inhalation, ingestion, skin, and eye contact. Health impacts can include headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains, chest pains, respiratory system damage, skin sensitisation, hypertension, central nervous system depression, neurotoxic effects, cardiac arrhythmia and cardiovascular damage. They are also teratogenic – able to disturb the growth and development of an embryo or foetus – and carcinogenic.
Given that the Gulf of Mexico provides more than 40 per cent of all the seafood caught in the continental US, this phenomenon does not bode well for the region, or the country.
Whether by contact with those waters or by consuming seafood from them, we seem likely to face health problems akin to those the ocean-dwellers are facing.
## "FLESH-EATING BACTERIA" IN THE GULF OF MEXICO
THE LATEST VICTIM, JUNE 28,2019.
12-year-old contracts flesh-eating bacteria while vacationing in Florida
According to WKRG-TV, doctors noticed an infection between Kylei's knee and diagnosed her with necrotizing fasciitis, a rare flesh-eating disease.
Necrotizing fasciitis (NF), commonly known as flesh-eating disease, is an infection that results in the death of parts of the body's soft tissue. It is a severe disease of sudden onset that spreads rapidly. Symptoms include red or purple skin in the affected area, severe pain, fever, and vomiting. The most commonly affected areas are the limbs and perineum.
Below are two photos of the advanced stages of this horrible disease.
[SIDE NOTE: FOR ANY WHO MAY THINK THE PHOTOS FOUND BY WEB-SEARCH ARE NOT QUITE 'REAL', IT CAN BE MUCH WORSE. GO HAVE A LOOK AT THE PICS FROM ONE MAN'S DOCUMENTED ORDEAL, <HERE>.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there are “about 650 to 850 cases” of necrotizing fasciitis caused by group A streptococcus each year. Since 2010, approximately 700 to 1200 cases occur each year in the United States. CDC states this is likely an underestimate.
And the National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation notes that the CDC does not track cases caused by the other bacteria.
But the foundation, a nonprofit founded by two survivors of the disease, say the group A Strep statistics combined “with the as yet unquantifiable numbers of people who contract NF from other forms of bacteria” are “frightening.”
Aside from being contracted via contact, Vibrio vulnificus can also be transmitted by eating raw shellfish, according to the Florida Department of Health.
May 1, 2019
Two men recently contracted flesh-eating bacterial infections through water in the Tampa Bay area. Doctors are encouraging residents and visitors to the region to be cautious.
About one-third of the people with necrotizing fasciitis die from the infection, even with treatment.
“I’m part of the community. I have kids and family that go to the beach and I tell my family the same thing: that you always have to be very careful,” said Doctor Seetha Lakshmi is an assistant professor in the University of South Florida’s Infectious Disease and International Medicine Department.
June 17, 2019
Cases of infection from the “flesh-eating” bacteria, Vibrio vulnificus, are on the rise in coastal regions where the bacteria are not normally found.
The bacteria wouldn't normally be found as far north as the Delaware Bay that hugs New Jersey's southern coast because the water has historically been too cold.
V. vulnificus typically favors warmer waters, which has caused scientists to blame the uptick in recent infection cases partially on climate anomalies and increasing ocean temperatures.
June 29, 2015
Two years ago, “the Florida Department of Health reported 11 deaths and 41 infections from v. vulnificus. Texas reported 15 to 30 annual cases while Maryland State officials said they saw an average of 25 infections per year.”
IT 'AIN'T' GLOBAL WARMING CAUSING THE RECENT SPIKES IN BEACH-RELATED CASES OF THIS INFECTION UP NORTH, SCIENCE DUDES.
IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S SIMPLY THE CONTAMINATED GULF STREAM CARRYING THE WATERS OF THE GULF OF MEXICO NORTHWARD AROUND THE TIP OF FLORIDA, AND THAT STREAM IS SLOWING DOWN.
The Gulf Stream is a strong, fast moving, warm ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It makes up a portion of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre.
The majority of the Gulf Stream is classified as a western boundary current. This means that it is a current with behavior determined by the presence of a coastline — in this case, the eastern United States and Canada.
THIS 'STREAM' WAS CHARTED ON SEA CHARTS HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO.
"Although first observed in 1513 by Ponce de Leon, the Gulf Stream was not charted until the early 1770s by Benjamin Franklin."
GRANTED, NO LESS THAN 33 MAJOR U.S. RIVERS EMPTY INTO THE GULF, BRINGING WITH THEM THE ENORMOUS AMOUNTS F AGRICULTURAL POLLUTION, CHEMICALS, AND HUMAN WASTE/GARBAGE DUMPED INTO THOSE RIVERS EVERY SINGLE DAY, BUT THE SPIKES IN FLESH-EATING BACTERIA CASES DID INDEED ESCALATE AFTER WE BEGAN DRILLING FOR OIL OUT THERE AND CONTINUE TO RISE.
NOTE THAT THE CDC DIDN'T BEGIN KEEPING STATISTICS ON THIS UNTIL ALMOST FORCED TO DO SO IN THE EARLY 1990s AFTER THE PUBLIC BECAME ALARMED.
WEB-SEARCH A FEW OF THESE HEADLINES?
--Mother Jones: Eyeless shrimp are being found all over the Gulf
--New York Times: Oil Spill Affected Gulf Fish’s Cell Function, Study Finds
--CBS:Expert: BP spill likely cause of sick Gulf fish (and see the Press Register’s report)
--“Study confirms oil from Deepwater spill entered food chain
--Pensacola News Journal: “Sick fish” archive
--Agence France Presse: Mystery illnesses plague Louisiana oil spill crews
--MSNBC: Sea turtle deaths up along Gulf, joining dolphin trend
--MSNBC:Exclusive: Submarine Dive Finds Oil, Dead Sea Life at Bottom of Gulf of Mexico
--Deadly Corexit, Oil Dispersant Used By BP In Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill, Is Destroying Marine Life, Say Scientists
--Halliburton To Plead Guilty To Destroying Gulf Evidence And To Pay Maximum Fine Of $200,000
DENYING THE FACTS WON'T MAKE THEM GO AWAY.
WE'VE ALLOWED INDUSTRY AND OTHER UNCARING HUMANS TO MAKE SEWERS OF OUR OCEANS.
THE TOXIC COCKTAIL CREATED BY DECADES OF ABUSE IS CATCHING UP TO US.
DO I SEE ANY HOPE OF A REVERSAL?
HONESTLY, NO.
IT'S GONE ON TOO LONG.
THERE IS NO TURNING BACK.
WE DIDN'T LEARN AND SO WE WILL PERISH ALONG WITH THOSE WHO HAVE NO ESCAPE FROM THE HELL CREATED BY THE 'TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN'...HUMAN BEINGS.
POLITICIANS, NOTORIOUS WHORES TO WALL STREET'S CAMPAIGN DONATIONS, WON'T FORCE BIG OIL, BIG AG, BIG COAL, BIG CHEMICAL BIG NUKE AND OTHER INDUSTRIES TO STOP THE ATROCITIES CAUSED BY THEIR COMPLETE AND OFTEN INTENTIONAL CARELESSNESS AND UTTER DISREGARD FOR ALL LIFE.
MY ONE COMFORT IS THAT, WHEN THOSE I JUST MENTIONED ABOVE ARE OVERWHELMED AND BEING DISPOSED OF BY THEIR INTENTIONAL CRIMES, THEY WILL REALIZE THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE.
THAT WILL NOT DULL THE HORROR.
_______________________________
NOTES:
--DEATH TOLL STATS ONLY COUNT FOUND/HANDLED ANIMALS DURING THE FIRST FEW DAYS OF THE BP SPILL.
---Impacts of Oil on Marine Mammals and Sea Turtles (pdf)
TURTLES
More than 600 turtles were found dead during the oil spill response, of which:
-18 were visibly oiled.
-About 75 percent were Kemp's ridley turtles.
DOLPHINS AND WHALES
More than 150 dolphins and whales were found dead DURING the oil spill response.
--Geography of the Gulf of Mexico
-- The Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform caught fire and exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 people. Nearly 5 million barrels (210 million gallons) of oil spilled from the wellhead into the Gulf of Mexico until the wellhead was PARTIALLY capped in July 2010.
--NOAA is no longer directly responding to injured or dead dolphins and sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico, as direct marine mammal and sea turtle oil spill response efforts ended in May 2011. NOAA currently coordinates the National Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program, including the Southeast Stranding Network and the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network. These networks have operated for decades and are continuing to respond to marine mammal and sea turtle strandings throughout the Gulf Coast.
NOAA NEVER WAS WORTH MUCH OF A DAMN ANYWAY.
SAME CAN BE SAID FOR THE EPA.
//WW
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