EPA whistleblower Hugh Kaufman recently spoke on Democracy Now about BP’s claims regarding Corexit and the effects it is having on the Gulf of Mexico and the life forms that it comes in contact with.
He alleges that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is covering up the toxic effects that will result from using nearly two million gallons of the chemical dispersant since the start of the catastrophic oil spill in the U.S. Gulf.
Hugh Kaufman is a former U.S. Air Force captain. He joined the EPA in
1971. He helped write the laws that are on the federal books regarding the disposal, storage, handling and treatment of solid and hazardous waste. Though the EPA has approved the use of Corexit as an oil dispersant, Kaufman alleges that it is extremely toxic, dangerous and shows proof that the chemical was linked to many health problems when used in the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Kaufman also believes that BP used the chemical dispersant to dissolve as much oil as possible to prevent the public from ever truly knowing how vast the spill actually is.
Kaufman also alleges that people who are currently coming in contact with Corexit are suffering internal bleeding and hemorrhaging.
In a video clip, Kaufman says "...Consequently, we have people, wildlife… we have dolphins that are hemorrhaging. People who work near it are hemorrhaging internally. And that's what dispersants are supposed to do. EPA now is taking the position that they really don't know how dangerous it is, even though if you read the label, it tells you how dangerous it is. And, for example, in the Exxon Valdez case, people who worked with dispersants, most of them are dead now. The average death age is around fifty. It's very dangerous, and it's an… economic protector of BP, not an environmental protector of the public."
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