MedicalConspiracies- Oil Attorney challenges Gov't OK of Gulf Seafood

Oil attorney challenges gov't OK of Gulf seafood

New Orleans environmental and Gulf oil attorney Stuart Smith is proving that
Gulf seafood is a danger to public health, contradicting the government
assurances that eating the catches since the Gulf oil "spill" is safe.

Using state-of-the-art laboratory analysis, toxicologists, chemists and
marine biologists retained by Smith's firm, he says that "the government
seafood testing program that focuses on the seafood free of the
cancer-causing components of crude oil, has overlooked other harmful
elements. Smith's testing, that examined fewer samples but more
comprehensively, "shows high levels of hydrocarbons from the BP spill that
are associated with liver damage," according to MSNBC.

William Sawyer, a toxicologist on Smith's team stated:

"What we have found is that FDA simply overlooked an important aspect of
safety in their protocol. We now have a sufficient number of samples to
provide FDA with probable cause to include such testing, really. They need
to go back and test some of their archived samples as well."

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg stated at the
time of reopening Gulf fisheries in October, "There is no question gulf
seafood coming to market is safe from oil or dispersant residue."

Since then, people along the Gulf and in states as distant as Hawaii have
questioned seafood safety, some of whom had adverse reactions to it while
others are just using common sense and wanting to protect their families.
(See: Parents, Do you know where your shrimp were?, Dupré, D., Examiner,
December 2010)

Even before then, the New Orleans seafood industry was conducting a seafood
marketing campaign. In a video featured on the New Orleans site, the
restaurant owners claimed the seafood was safer than ever so now is the time
to enjoy it. (Censored Gulf eyewitness testimonies of coughing up blood and
other horror stories, Dupré, August 1, 2010)

FDA's partner agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
supports that FDA said "tested thousands of seafood samples before issuing
the 'all clear.'"

Even Navy Secretary Mark Mabus, a top official in "the oil spill recovery
effort," recently urged the military to buy "as much Gulf seafood as
possible for distribution to its armed forces commissaries worldwide"
reports Kari Huus for MSNBC.

"Smith's clients in the BP oil spill include environmental activists and
fishermen who don't believe the seafood to be safe. The independent testing
he is overseeing is meant to provide a legal underpinning to their anecdotal
evidence - sightings of oil sheens, tar balls, oily fish - and help them win
full compensation for their damage claims."

Smith stated, "When BP says your guy isn't fishing (as a reason not to pay
for lost income) we can say he isn't fishing because it isn't safe," said
Smith.

Smith along with a host of others acknowledges that simply testing for oil
is inadequate and placing the American public at risk.

Thirty percent of seafood on American's dinner tables comes from the Gulf of
Mexico and is still consumed.

"Crude oil is a mixture of hundreds of different hydrocarbons that are
associated with different health risks - to the nervous system, immune
system, lungs, skin, liver and kidneys," reports Huus.

"The agencies have used expert "sniffers" and laboratory analysis to examine
thousands of samples of gulf shrimp, crabs, oysters and fin fish. They say
they have discovered no samples with PAH levels of concern.

Repeatedly, toxicologists and other independent scientists have advised that
"not all hazardous airborne chemicals have a detectable odor, and "the
absence of oil odors does not mean that there are no crude oil chemicals in
the air."

Huus reports, "Sawyer and his colleagues say the government isn't looking
far enough. They are testing for the toxic PAHs - and, like the government,
finding little - but they are also measuring for other elements from oil
that potentially pose health risks.And those tests, Sawyer says, are
routinely turning up long-chain 'aliphatic' hydrocarbons associated with
liver damage."

Sawyer has also said that daily toxic exposure above the risk level poses a
risk of liver damage, especially for people who have underlying health
issues, such as hepatitis.

"It is unethical to experiment with the health of the U.S. population or
military members."

Smith Stag, LLC, located in New Orleans places oil and gas production
related cases at its focal point of our plaintiff-oriented personal injury,
environmental, toxic tort and mineral royalties law practice. The firm's
founding partners are pioneers in the field of oilfield waste litigation,
namely "naturally occurring radioactive materials" (NORM) and
"technologically enhanced radioactive materials" (TERM), which are harmful
to humans. Clients look to our firm to tackle tough problems and pursue
justice when serious injury arises due to oil and gas industry negligence
according to its website.

Legal services offered to individuals, businesses and communities extend to
products liability, maritime law, mineral royalties and general litigation
throughout Louisiana and the firm alson represents clients in many other
states, including West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Texas, Mississippi, Kentucky,
Alabama and Florida.

In only eight years since it was founded, Smith Stag has developed a notable
successful track record of property damage and personal injury cases with
its firm's attorneys recovering over $100 million in settlements and in
excess of $1 billion in jury verdicts for our clients. (Click here to learn
more about Smith Stag firm.)

One of the first comments to the MSNBC article is by a Gulf Coast resident
who writes:

As a gulf coast resident, watching the local newpapers, there have been many
reports of BP buying up expert witnesses from many of the Universities
around the gulf coast region to fight all the lawsuits that are coming down
the pike. The government wants this to go away as fast as possible to limit
the liability for BP. BP is fighting the gov. on the amount of gallons of
the spill. As usual, it's all about the bottom line of the big corp., never
the safety of the public.

The Exxon Valdez spill is still killing people in Alaska, after 20 some
years. I don't trust BP, or the gov. to protect the safety of the public.
Thank goodness for lawyers that do the research that will be needed for
years, to monitor the real effects of the monster spill on real live people.

Recently in Grand Isle, a German public television journalist interviewed a
group of women in Gulf Coast Barefoot Doctor's support group about their
symptoms from being poisoned by the food, air and water - and the
under-reported ongoing spraying of Corexit. She was in tears at the end of
the session according to an eyewitness who said:

"The German journalist had no idea that 'the unthinkable' is happening here
in the U.S. on such a massive scale."

Copyright © 2010 Deborah Dupré. All rights reserved.

Deborah Dupré, B.Sci, MA. Sci, DipContEd, QMHP from U.S. and Australian
universities, human and environmental rights advocate over 25 years in U.S.,
Vanuatu and Australia. Support her work by subscribing to her articles and
forwarding the link of this article to friends and colleagues or reposting
only title and first paragraph linked to this Examiner page. Email
info@DeborahDupre.com. Send targeting and Gulf illness news tips to her with
name or anonymously. See her Vaccine Liberty or Death book plus Compassion
Film Project DVDs at www.DeborahDupre.com.

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