It was only a matter of time before the words Gulf oil spill and cancer were mentioned, almost in the same sentence. Even as the Gulf of Mexico bleeds oil, however, some of the nation's best health experts, speaking at a recent Institutes of Health panel in New Orleans, weren't willing to go out on a limb to predict the long-term physical health effects of this disaster, much less cancer risks (apart from the propensity of mental health problems) any time soon.
That said, University of Rhode Island professor Dr. Bongsup Cho, who has studied the effect of environmental toxins on DNA mutations for nearly two decades at the behest of the American Cancer Society and National Institutes of Health, believes some of the very same cancer-causing components in overcooked meats, cigarette smoke and diesel fumes are also present in the gooey tar balls and muck washing up on beaches and marshes along the Gulf Coast.
Dr. Cho may be just as cautious as his peers at the federal level about predictions, but he isn't shy about discussing his concerns with the aforementioned tar balls that contain "non-volatile, benzene-like, heavily unsaturated hydrocarbons with high boiling points." One of the components of these tarballs: Benzo[a]pyrene, a five-ring, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon that is mutagenic (meaning it can change the DNA of an organism) and carcinogenic. So, it should come as no surprise that scientists found damaged DNA in the blood of workers cleaning up after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill too.
Another concern: The orange sheen you've seen on news reports floating on top of the Gulf waters is "the result of a chemical reaction involving the sun, the crude oil and the oil dispersants," Dr. Cho says. Nobody knows what that color is made from or how toxic it may be, largely due to the 35-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act that "protects" an unknown amount of chemicals from public and private scrutiny.
The EPA has been attempting to unravel and reform the act, and it can't come soon enough to help us deal with this toxic mess in the Gulf.
Image source: EPA photo by Eric Vance
University of Rhode Island June 21, 2010
New Scientist June 28, 2010
Medscape June 28, 2010 Free Registration Required
Scientific American June 24, 2010