Gulf Coast Syndrome

I read this article and the first thing I thought of was all those thousands of dead birds and fish that were in the news a couple of weeks ago. I've been wondering since then if people are still getting sick from dispersant exposure. It appears they are:

"People who can afford the 300-dollar blood tests have found alarming rates of chemicals in their bodies, and these people are concerned and doing what they can to speak out," she said. "But they feel they can't wait for Congress or Obama to address this, because they need doctors and support now in the communities."

LaTosha Brown, director of the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health, which works with 250 community groups, agreed that "the key concern expressed by the community in response to the report is the overwhelming need for access to health care."

In fact, they're not just sick. They're already starting to die.

There is bruising and skin lesions, not just with clean-up workers, these are residents not involved in the clean-up," Bradberry told IPS. "Just yesterday I learned of five people on Grand Isle who passed away…people who did not have health problems prior to this. Nevertheless, there has not been any talk of monitoring of these communities."

There's no reason not to set up a monitoring system and every reason to do so since so little is known about the long term effects of exposure. Years from now, when enough medical anomalies have accumulated, I bet they'll call it Gulf Coast Syndrome. And many will deny its existence, just like Agent Orange and DU exposure and Gulf War Syndrome.

Meanwhile, the victims shouldn't expect any immediate help from the current conservative majority in the House. They're too busy repealing insurance reform so that even more people end up without any health care.