The devastating effects of Corexit on the human body

The devastating effects of Corexit on the human body
Hi everyone, this is my first major post on ATS

The background

Ok, not so long ago I was looking at a corexit article on ATS and something got me thinking. Now, I'm not an especially educated person but one thing that stood out is the way that corexit interacts with both the oil and the water, and of some of the reported symptoms of people that have been in contact with the polluted water. My research, unfortunately, confirmed my suspicions on this subject and it truly is HORRIFIC.

How will corexit affect the drinking water?

OK, one of the first things that popped into my mind is that the polluted water, in theory, will end up within the groundwater around the GoM. I do have an A level in geography, but not the best of grades, so I looked into this to make sure I was on the right track.

The bad news is that I was right. Although some ATS posts go too far in suggesting that corexit and oil will pollute the rain (this might be not true because of the high boiling point of both substances) it WILL end up in the groundwater around the GoM.

If you are not familiar with the way this works, please look at this for a quick explanation:
en.wikipedia.org...

There is also an illustated example here:
www.lenntech.com...

Once the groundwater is polluted, this will in turn find it's way into reservoirs, into springs, into streams and into rivers, affecting the drinking water of towns and cities all around the gulf coast.

This example, and i quote "two thirds of the people draw their drinking water from underground aquifers", is a US-specific site on groundwater.
www.cwac.net...

How corexit works:

A quote from wikipedia: "In 2010, Corexit EC9500A and Corexit EC9527A are being used in unprecedentedly large quantities in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill."
en.wikipedia.org...

Wikipedia states that it is not toxic, but we will come to this point soon. Note that the UK determined corexit to be unsafe following a review in 1998.

Basically corexit is being used as it reverses the hydrophobic (Water-hating) properties of the oil molecules and allow the oil to be soluble (To dissolve in water). This results in small droplets of oils as opposed to an oil slick, as generally hydrophobic molecules will bond with other hydrophobic molecules, hence why you get oil slicks, where the oil has bonded to produce a continuous thin layer on the sea surface.

What does this mean in biological terms?

One of the basic things I know, from A level biology, is the role of lipids in cellular membranes.

Lipids are water-hating molecules, including both oils and fats.

Cell membranes are composed of proteins and lipids. The role off the lipid is to prevent anything apart from other hydrophobic molecules from diffusing into and out of the cell, and these lipids are arranged into two layers (a bilayer). For example soluble (water-loving) molecules such as amino acids, carbs, proteins and ions cannot penetrate this layer.

For an explanation of this please look at

en.wikipedia.org...

Where does this come together?

Obviously once corexit reaches the groundwater and pollutes the drinking water, and enters the body, the properties it exibits on oil will apply to any hydrophobic substance, and this includes, of course the lipid layer of the cell membrane.

As corexit breaks down the bi-lipid layer of the membrane, solubles will be allowed to pass freely into the cell, disturbing the function of the cell, and possibly causing cellular rupture by damaging the cell's protective membrane so severely.

Here is what a marine biologist makes of it
www.therebel.org...

The effects on the human body are truly horrific.

It has been reported this stuff will reach us over in Europe in around 12 months due to the gulf stream so I can only brace myself for the gruesome effects of this horrific chemical, living in direct exposure on the west coast.

Edit: poor formatting

[edit on 31-7-2010 by rufusthestuntbum]

I saw someone giving an interview about this on MSNBC the other day and I cannot believe it is not getting more attention. Aside from fear mongery hyperbole, the simple facts of what this chemical does is scary as hell as it is.

S + F for laying it out.

[edit on 31-7-2010 by Adevoc Satanae]

deleted post re: forum placement

[edit on 31-7-2010 by rufusthestuntbum]

reply to post by Adevoc Satanae


Thanks for the s&f!

Yes, it's one of those things where its really, really turning me against tptb because, quite frankly, I'm not that educated and even I can see the effects of this c**p being poured in the sea.

There are far too many people out there who will believe anything they are told, I mean HOW is corexit safe. I have ONLY A-levels, which is college level education in the UK, but is taken at age 18, which makes it equivalent to high school in USA, so if I can see this, WHY is no-one else putting this out there?!?!?

Grrr... rufus is rehabbed, I will tell you that, because this is truly sobering!

[edit on 31-7-2010 by rufusthestuntbum]

Plus, they are lifting fishing bans in the Gulf, and trying to convince people the fish are safe to eat. I saw this on cnn this morning. Thankfully a few of the fishermen said they don't believe the fish are safe, but enough people do believe it.

How many people are they going to poison before they admit anything?Or say oops?

How long will the corexitt stay in the water? Forever? Does it ever completely evaporate? Or does it bond permanently with the oil molecules? Will it actually make it to europe, or will it dissolve and evaporate by then?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It makes me wonder if this is a concerted effort to poison the water supply.

The most logical answer in my mind is BP is using all of this to 'hide' the extent of oil. But with water becoming a more rare and commodified resource, you could see how limiting people's access to it might be profitable to someone somewhere.

I've also read it speculated that this is being done to precipitate the depopulating of the florida reason, and the gradual returning of it to the marshlands its supposed to be. That's probably pretty unlikely, but plausible.

reply to post by snowspirit


really? i bet the msm news though tried to make it look like the fishermen were the deft ones.
I'm in the UK and only get standard digital, so I only get BBC and Sky news, watch it every single morning in the week and haven't heard anything really about deepwater for at least 2 weeks!

reply to post by rufusthestuntbum


The big thing on cnn now is that they are scaling back the cleanup efforts, because they can't find enough oil to skim. It's all underwater and stuck in the marshes.

There is a guy down there, I think it might be the mayor or governor, can't remember, but he's peeved. He was talking with Anderson Cooper lots when he was at the Gulf. He knows the area is unsafe, and that they aren't doing the job to clean it properly, and wants the underwater stuff cleaned up too. No one who counts is listening to him.

It's not over.

reply to post by justadood


see, its a double edged sword because there won't be any corexit-oil rain across the US, but the stuff will try to dilute itself within the groundwater as much as it can, whiich is real bad news, eventually culminating in very low concentrations of corexit, but spread out literally everywhere

[edit on 31-7-2010 by rufusthestuntbum]

reply to post by rufusthestuntbum


To state for certain that Corexit and or oil cannot be distributed by rain just because of boiling points seems a bit off. If only elements with specific boiling points end up in rain, explain fish or frogs mixed with rain? Is the boiling point of Corexit higher or lower than frog?
No denying the hazards of this mixture in aquifers, but let's' wait till Cloudsinthesky's project is published to say rain water is unaffected.

Thanks a lot for the post! Star and flag for you!

Originally posted by SimplyGord
reply to post by rufusthestuntbum

 

To state for certain that Corexit and or oil cannot be distributed by rain just because of boiling points seems a bit off. If only elements with specific boiling points end up in rain, explain fish or frogs mixed with rain? Is the boiling point of Corexit higher or lower than frog?
No denying the hazards of this mixture in aquifers, but let's' wait till Cloudsinthesky's project is published to say rain water is unaffected.

Yes ok, your point taken there. You see I just wanted to provide the facts and nothing more, so aimed to slightly downplay the risks posed in some areas for the very reason that no-one can deny my post! There are too many ppl on ATS who are willing to pick holes in anythiing and everything.

It may well come through the rain, but I can't prove that, if you can then between us we have a stronger case, so please post how this would occur.

To be honest though, It WILL get into the groundwater and that is VERY scary given how it will react to the body!

[edit on 31-7-2010 by rufusthestuntbum]

Originally posted by SimplyGord
reply to post by rufusthestuntbum

 

To state for certain that Corexit and or oil cannot be distributed by rain just because of boiling points seems a bit off. If only elements with specific boiling points end up in rain, explain fish or frogs mixed with rain? Is the boiling point of Corexit higher or lower than frog?
No denying the hazards of this mixture in aquifers, but let's' wait till Cloudsinthesky's project is published to say rain water is unaffected.

Oh, jeez. This again. Fish and frogs (or bicycles and nannies with umbrellas) do not evaporate and enter the water cycle. They are moved about by high-velocity winds.

This may indeed happen to the crude, as well, but it is not the same as actually 'raining' corexitt and crude.

There are too many ppl on ATS who are willing to pick holes in anythiing and everything.

I wish there were more who didnt just agree with everything anyone posts. Aggressive questioning is the basis of the scientific process and peer-review.

Those who question and challenge are your allies in truth-seeking.

It may well come through the rain, but I can't prove that, if you can then between us we have a stronger case, so please post how this would occur.

No one has proven it yet.

Originally posted by rufusthestuntbum
reply to post by justadood

 

see, its a double edged sword because there won't be any corexit-oil rain across the US, but the stuff will try to dilute itself within the groundwater as much as it can, whiich is real bad news, eventually culminating in very low concentrations of corexit, but spread out literally everywhere

Well, thats what I'm not sure of, though, and havent seen anything convincing either way yet. Does it stay in the water supply for ever, or evaporate wholly or partially?

Will it make it to British shores? Or will it dilute to benign levels? Do we even know either way?

Originally posted by rufusthestuntbum
reply to post by snowspirit

 

really? i bet the msm news though tried to make it look like the fishermen were the deft ones.
I'm in the UK and only get standard digital, so I only get BBC and Sky news, watch it every single morning in the week and haven't heard anything really about deepwater for at least 2 weeks!

I was watching BBC world news last night and they did a fairly large segment on the Gulf, China, and Michagin spills.

Edited to say: not last night. Thursday night.

[edit on 31-7-2010 by justadood]

Those who question and challenge are your allies in truth-seeking.

I know that but unfortunately there are people here will outright deny anything against MSM, something that seems to have come out of Obama's
presidency TBH.

I encourage debate among genuine members but recently there are far, far too many people willing to go to great lengths to rubbish any claim on this site, unfortunately!

[edit on 31-7-2010 by rufusthestuntbum]

Originally posted by justadood

Originally posted by rufusthestuntbum
reply to post by justadood

 

see, its a double edged sword because there won't be any corexit-oil rain across the US, but the stuff will try to dilute itself within the groundwater as much as it can, whiich is real bad news, eventually culminating in very low concentrations of corexit, but spread out literally everywhere

Well, thats what I'm not sure of, though, and havent seen anything convincing either way yet. Does it stay in the water supply for ever, or evaporate wholly or partially?

Will it make it to British shores? Or will it dilute to benign levels? Do we even know either way?

Well first of all, yes, in a process similar to the principles of osmosis. Now we are are going WAY back to my GCSE in Science here, but yes it will try to spread out as much as it can from areas of higher to lower concentration until, in theory, the level is uniform.

And as for the second question, the gulf stream runs in the direct path required to bring the oil over, but no-one knows if oil will affect it. Either way, we are pretty much in it!

reply to post by rufusthestuntbum


Sorry to keep asking this, and apologies if you answered and i didnt understand due to my lacking:

it never evaporates?

reply to post by justadood


obviously, yes, it does evaporate, but at 147c which is very unlikely to occur naturally in the GoM.

Everything evaporates at one or another temperature

The recorded highest temperature on earth is around 58c, but as the boiling point of water is 100c and this obviously evaporates to produce rain, then who knows?

[edit on 31-7-2010 by rufusthestuntbum]