Madisonville, LA: A class action lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana alleging that BP and Nalco Holding Company intentionally sprayed "COREXIT 9500" dispersant into the Gulf of Mexico with full knowledge of its dangerous toxicity. It is alleged that the dispersant was sprayed entirely to lessen BP's financial exposure and cleanup efforts relating to the oil spill.
When administered the dispersant, COREXIT 9500, attaches to the oil causing both the oil and the chemical to sink below the surface of the water eventually settling to the sea floor. Studies have demonstrated this process will permanently alter the biosystem and food chain in the Gulf.
This chemical has been banned in the UK for over a decade, yet a UK company is pouring millions of gallons into the Gulf of Mexico, turning it into a toxic soup and that is dispicable."
COREXIT is four times as toxic as the oil itself. Oil is toxic at 11 ppm, but COREXIT is toxic at only 2.61 ppm. COREXIT was banned from use in the United Kingdom because it did not pass the "Rocky Shore Test" which assures that it does not cause a deleterious effect or ecological change; in layman's terms, kill off the entire food chain.
COREXIT 9500 was used to clean up after the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989. According to the Alaska Community Action on Toxics it has had a negative effect on the health of those who were exposed. CNN reports that the average life expectancy of the workers who cleaned up the Exxon Valdez spill is 51 years and most of those workers are now deceased.
