Coughing Up Blood In the Gulf

 Aint it great that all that messy oil has disappeared? It's about time, right? Now that it has all gone away, things are getting back to normal, with fishing, and swimming and having a gay old time again, like you are supposed to. You just have some party poopers who are complaining about coughing up blood, spoiling the fun. If you ask me, they ought to keep all of that out of the news and make it disappear just like the oil. I smell a Nobel Prize for Magic coming for a certain someone, whoever it may be who is the grand wizard who made hundreds of millions of gallons of oil and two million gallons of Corexit vanish, just like that. So stop coughing and celebrate!

Coughing Up Blood in the Gulf

Coughing up blood is among horrors that eyewitnesses are reporting in south Louisiana where BP medics diagnose the sudden widespread, burning, itching skin,  lesions and marks as "scabies" or staph and government health focus on "stress" and mental condition of millions of people poisoned with what scientists report is 11 times more lethal than crude oil toxins now in Gulf and coastal water and air. Americans are still encouraged to eat Gulf seafood.

On July 29 Global Justice Radio Blog Talk Radio program hosted by Rev. T.K. (Kathryn) O'Shannahan-Hyland and Vin Beazel called "Agent Orange Alert," listeners heard eyewitness and personal accounts of internal bleeding from orifices including coughing up blood and nose bleeds.

There was a call-in from a woman stranded and ill with rashes on her body. She was calling for help.

Callers dscribed leg-swelling among other effects since the oil explosion and lethal dispersant spraying operation.

Project Gulf Impact  report on IntelHub that  1000's of adults and children in S. Louisiana are reporting scabs, lesions and skin rashes.

One woman, preferring to remain anonymous, interviewed by the Project not only has this skin condition, but also "aching bones, weight loss, stomach pains, inflammation in her leg and sties developing in her eyes." (IntelHub: Thousands  in Gulf suffer misdiagnosed skin lesions, Jul 31, 2010)

Photo: Project Gulf Impact / IntelHub

Micha Walsh was a Gulf Coast volunteer in Grand Isle, Louisiana for four weeks. She then received a heavy toxic exposure during a 3-hour trip research team trip to Barataria Bay.

Walsh explains being unprepared for what she saw that day the team went out to collect water samples. Walsh would not be alone in thinking the she would not witness what she did. Mainstream news is blanketing the world with reports that clean-up workers cannot find oil. Walsh explained that the Barataria Bay area of south Louisiana where she went with the team is heavily oiled.

One of those researchers was soon coughing up blood.

BP's well is still "constantly leaking oil"; "Nothing to see here" by OilFlorida reported by IntelHub follows:

EPA analyst whistleblower Hugh Kaufman recently explained that "we have dolphins that are hemorrhaging. People who work near it are hemorrhaging internally. And that’s what dispersants are supposed to do." (Author's emphasis: See Censored Gulf news: People bleeding internally. Millions poisoned. EPA whistleblower, Dupre, D. Examiner, July 21, 2010 and MSNBC: Corexit injures human plus hides criminal evidence (video))

Walsh said that due to her toxic exposure symptoms, shd needed to go somewhere right after the radio show for detoxing, but has no insurance.

Barefoot Doctors have since reported that they need a network of people of goodwill to offer a room in their homes for Gulf Coast volunteers to detox.

During the program, listeners heard about using their sense of smell to judge severity of air quality and health impact. This is a dangerous myth.

According to authors of Gulf Oil Spill Health Hazards, "In some cases, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) released from crude oil can be detectable by smell. But  not all hazardous airborne chemicals have a detectable odor.

"The absence of oil odors does not mean that there are no crude oil chemicals in the air."

The authors highlight that "children and adults with asthma and other respiratory health problems (e.g., COPD) can experience serious health problems as a result of exposure to irritants, including those from oil spill chemicals below exposure rates the EPA claims could cause short-term health problems."

COPD, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease refers to chronic bronchitis and emphysema that commonly co-exist. It is a serious lung disease that over time, makes it hard to breathe, ("makes it hard to get air in and out") according to the National Institute of Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NIHLB).

"When COPD is severe, shortness of breath and its other symptoms can get in the way of even the most basic tasks, such as doing light housework, taking a walk, even washing and dressing." (NIHLB)

• COPD is the 4^th leading cause of death in the United States and causes serious, long-term disability
• COPD kills more than 120,000 Americans each year. That's one death every 4 minutes
• More than 12 million people are diagnosed with COPD
• An additional 12 million likely have COPD and don't even know it (NIHLB)

People such as Dr. Riki Ott and EPA analyst, High Kaufman have been alerting the public about Gulf Coast toxic dangers. Their alerts, however, have been muffled by the petrochemical-military-industrial complex TV and th BP's PR campaign that show no respect for human life, even most basic human rights.

The Gulf PR campaign is thus far successful in that many Americans seem oblivious that genocide is being conducted on people of the Deep South, eerily similar to the Germans who claimed not knowing Nazis were gassing Jews, gypsies and the mentally ill.

Dr. Ott has stated that if people remain in the Gulf Coast area, they need to be wearing respirators. No mention was made during the raio program about the volunteers nor the residents following Ott's advice about respirators.

Humans Helping Humans

On the radio program, Laila Bicksler stated that most people down in south Louisiana haven't the means to even get as far as New Orleans if they want to do so. She agrees that the rest of the public, away from the coast, are unaware of just how dangerous the toxins are that people are being exposed to the point that fund-raisers are solely to pay out-of-work fishermen.

Bicksler is part project in Louisiana's hard-hit Plaquemines Parish. Her organization, Humans Helping Humans of Louisiana and the Earth is a faith-based organization with a simple goal: helping people help themselves.

Founded by a pastor, a social worker and a teacher, the group seeks to give voice to the voiceless and assist them to survive in the wake of natural and man-made disasters.

"Yes, there are many assistance groups out there. We are here to fill the gaps, serving in areas they choose not to go," Bicksler stated.

"Our current project is a family fair. We plan is to have a public BBQ complete with entertainment."

The good Samaritans will have booths for area residents to get school supplies, uniforms, and shoes plus food for their hungry families.

Plight of fishing families and fish eaters

"This is a fishing community – a proud people. They do not like to ask for help," stated Bicksler.

"When they did approach BP for help, they were turned away. Their marina is empty. It should be thriving.

Is the Gulf seafood safe? Gulf seafood safety is questioned not only in the Gulf Coast area, but nationally since the Gulf provides seafood on the tables of Americans throughout the country, seafood possibly tainted with dangerous poisons due to the prolonged use of chemical dispersants applied on oil flowing out of Deepwater Horizon's oil well and sprayed into the air.

The government-BP partnerhship continues to lie that there is no public health crisis in the Gulf Coast region and that the food web is not being altered, yet the Louisiana tourist industry believes and promotes the dangerous cover-up.

Scientists have reported early signs of the Gulf oil catastrophe altering the marine food web by killing or tainting some Gulf water creatures and increasing growth of others that thrive on fouled environments. (See Censored Gulf news: Food web 'not altered' lies in public health crisis D. Dupre, Examiner, July 19, 2010)

In early July, an Imperial College in London study revealed that oil spills can block the ocean's natural ability to filter arsenic out of seawater.

In late July, a Tulane University study revealed that samples of crab larvae from the area tested positive for hydrocarbons. The “orange blobs found lodged in the bodies of tiny blue crab larvae collected from marshes that stretch from Texas to Florida” appear to contain Corexit." (Fox 8 in New Orleans, reported on IntelHub) Not only are blue crabs a favorite Gulf food; other fish eat crab larvae.

Representative Edward Markey (D-MA) tried contacting FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to confirm Gulf seafood safety, but still hasn't heard back according to Care2 that today, launched a campaign to tell FDA Commissioner Hamburg to come clean about food safety in the Gulf.

New Orleans tourist industry is promoting that y'all come on and eat their Gulf seafood. This weekend, the Louisiana Convention and Business Center launched a new website on This Just In New Orleans featuring the video, Seafood Fresh As Ever (below),

"Now would be the time to try it."