Oil Spill Disasters

Oil spill's toxic trade-off

Scientific American |

In Brief...

Chemicals used to reduce oil slicks during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may have rendered the oil more toxic than official reports suggest, according to a Canadian toxicologist.. Official statements by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have reported that the oil-dispersant mix resulting from the Deepwater Horizon spill is no more toxic than the oil itself. Although that is technically true, it is misleading, says Hodson, who has been studying the effect of dispersed oil on Atlantic herring embryos.. Hodson s research suggests that fish embryos, still in their eggs, are extremely sensitive to dispersed oil. "I don t think we ll see tremendous mortalities in the open ocean," he says of the Deepwater Horizon spill..

Read the entire article at Scientific American...

Related Topics