NOAA, FDA to test seafood for dispersants

Due to public pressure, NOAA & the FDA are developing a test for seafood from the Gulf of Mexico.  “It’s very late (to start this testing), and it’s premature to open those fishing grounds while they are still developing the test,” says Susan Shaw, a toxicologist at the Maine Environmental Research Institute. Read about the subject here.

MERI's Director Issues Statement on EPA's Toxicity Testing

When the EPA announced on August 2 that its lab tests showed that dispersant, when mixed with oil, was no more toxic to aquatic life than oil alone, ocean scientists familiar with the large body of prior research on dispersant-oil mixtures were skeptical.  Testifying at a Senate “Oversight Hearing on the Use of Oil Dispersants in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill," leading scientists noted that the EPA’s lab experiments had no relevancy at all in the deep sea. Dr. Susan Shaw shares this view. In a statement, she details the reasons why the EPA’s narrowly-focused tests should not be the basis for broad conclusions about the toxicity of oil-dispersant mixtures.  Read her statement here.

Dispersants Shifting Impact on Gulf Ecosystem

The New York Times asked scientists, including MERI's Susan Shaw, about the long term effects of dispersed oil. "This is a management decision, to use dispersants," College of William and Mary marine science professor Robert Diaz said yesterday. "It doesn't make the oil go away, it just puts it from one part of the ecosystem to another." Read the story here.

Dr. Shaw's TED Talk on the Gulf:

Sylvia Earle, Susan Shaw, and Other Scientists Share Their Concerns on Living on Earth

The International Public Radio program asks hard questions about the dispersants applied to the Gulf spill and clarifies why people should be concerned about their use. Read the story here, and listen to the mp3 here:

Toxic Tradeoff? Public Radio's "The Takeaway" Discusses Effects of Dispersants

MERI's director is featured in a conversation about the controversial use of Corexit dispersants in the Gulf cleanup effort. Listen here:

 

Nature News Investigates Impact of Dispersed Oil

The blog of the scientific journal asked several scientists to weigh in on the dangers of the toxic dispersant and oil mixture now circulating in the Gulf of Mexico. MERI's director noted the dispersant can increase the toxicity of the oil for marine life. "It's like a delivery system," says Shaw. "The [dispersed] oil enters the body more readily and it goes into the organs faster." Click here to read more.

Radio Interview: Learn Why Dispersants Are Harmful

Listen to Dr. Shaw explain why dispersants should not be used in Gulf waters in this interview with Dr. David Guggenheim. It aired on his new Web radio show, The Ocean Doctor.

 

 

 

NatGeo NewsWatch Interviews Susan Shaw over Oil Spill Concerns

The MERI director warned that a mix of oil and dispersants can have complex effects on the ocean food web. "The [government] agencies are overwhelmed," Shaw said. "There are certain species being monitored, but it's all separate. No-one's putting the whole picture together." Read more here.

At TEDxOilSpill Conference, Dr. Susan Shaw Delivers Urgent Call for Research

TED conferences bring together leading thinkers to tackle pressing issues. The June 28 event in Washington, D.C.  focused on the catastrophe in the Gulf. Shaw, MERI's director, addressed the impacts of massive quantities of crude oil and toxic dispersants on marine life. She is calling for an independent, region-wide scientific assessment of both short- and long-term effects of these toxins on the Gulf food web.  To watch, click here (Dr. Shaw speaks at 56:30).

MERI Director Featured on VBS.TV Show

The VBS.TV series Toxic recently interviewed Dr. Susan Shaw for a documentary piece on the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico and the profound effect it has had on the local environment in Louisiana and on the lives of the people who live there . You can view the show here.

Dr. Susan Shaw Interviewed by BBC Radio on use of Chemical Disperants in Gulf Oil Spill

MERI founder and director Dr. Susan Shaw was interviewed by the BBC World Service on the topic of chemical dispersants used in the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. Dr. Shaw related her experience of being in the water with the oil, and seeing first hand the effects on the marine food chain. To hear Dr. Shaw's interview, click here.

MERI Director Investigates Impacts of BP Disaster
on Gulf Sea Life

© Julie Dermansky Photo courtesy of Julie Dermansky www.jsdart.com. Do not reproduce not for publication Dr. Shaw diving in oily dispersant-laden water in the Gulf of Mexico

MERI Director and marine toxicologist Dr. Susan Shaw just returned from the Gulf of Mexico where, accompanied by a London Times crew, she dove in the oil slick to get a first-hand look at impacts on marine life. She is one of few experts who have actually gone underwater to investigate the spill’s effects.

Here are excerpts from her Op-Ed “For the Gulf, It’s Death in the Ocean from Top to Bottom”:

“Sea life in the Gulf is facing not only death by oil and its cancer-causing components. The addition of toxic chemical dispersants may be causing fish, seabirds, and dolphins to drown in their own blood.

Chemical dispersants may have prevented some oil from coming ashore, but the real problem is what we are doing to the ocean itself.

© Julie Dermansky Photo courtesy of Julie Dermansky www.jsdart.com. Do not reproduce not for publication Marine organisms are exposed to a thick pudding of oil and toxic dispersants

Dispersants break up the oil into smaller pieces that sink in the water column, forming “bite size” packages of poison all the way to the sea floor.

It is death in the ocean from the top to the bottom.

The US EPA and NOAA need to take a strong stand to stop the release of toxic chemical dispersants to the Gulf. Millions of marine lives are at stake.

To read the Op-Ed in the New York Times click here.

To read more in the London Times: click here. 

 

 

MERI Founder Featured on WWQ

Dr. Susan Shaw is currently being featured on the WINGS World Quest (WWQ) website for her work on the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico and her outspoken critique of the use of chemical dispersants in the disaster. Dr. Shaw is a WWQ Fellow.