Re: “Spill’s health effects will be long term, scientist says; maladies caused by oil, dispersants,” Page A14, Feb. 6. Of some 20 BP oil disaster-related articles The Times-Picayune has run in February this year, only one on Feb. 5 reported on the ill health effects to people and the environment. It didn’t make front page news, though the article cited findings by Louisiana Environmental Action Network and chemist Wilma Subra.
The people can’t call press conferences as do BP, Kenneth Feinberg and the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, the White House, Coast Guard and EPA to get out their “good press”. There are thousands of people who are suffering or will suffer with cyanosis (oxygen starvation) – otherwise known as the “blue flu” – liver problems and other illnesses caused by oil-related toxins.
The Times-Picayune would serve the community honestly and greatly by getting out in the field, investigating and interviewing the people with livelihoods ending and health worsening, people that the White House, BP and Feinberg just ignore.
Henri Andre Fourroux
New Orleans
