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The Supreme Court is gearing up to hear challenges to The Affordable Care Act soon. Access to affordable healthcare is an issue that impacts virtually every person in this country and one we should all be concerned about, whether you’re … Continue reading
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The Big Fix premieres this Friday as part of the New Orleans Film Festival. This documentary film details the massive government cover-up which has taken place in the wake of the BP oil spill. There will be a press conference … Continue reading
I wrote a bit about The Healing Center in a previous post. It sounds like a great concept but will reality match the vision? I’ve heard rumblings that some residents in the ‘hood aren’t too happy with some aspects of the center such as the apparent confusion as to the hours that Cafe Istanbul will keep and when liquor will be served. For a little inside info, read the comments on my previous post which includes a report by Lord David of a recent neighborhood meeting in the center.
Last Saturday a couple of friends and I toured The New Orleans Healing Center near the corner of St. Roch and St. Claude. Although construction is on-going in the re-purposed building, several businesses are already up and running including Island of Salvation Botanica, Wild Lotus Yoga, The Movement Room, The Street University and The Building Block. Wild Lotus was in the midst of a yoga class and Island of Salvation was open where we had a little chat with Ms. Sally Ann Glassman who graciously allowed me to snap a few pics inside. We also checked out the future homes of Cafe Instanbul (a performance arts space), Fatoush Restaurant ,Coffee Shop and Juice Bar, The Inter-faith Center and the New Orleans Food Co-op, among other spaces. The space that will house the Inter-faith Center opens onto an area of the roof where a deck is planned to show off the beautiful view of the city(see slideshow). An arts and crafts bazaar will be housed in the main lobby/gallery area, a beautifully appointed space with lots of natural light flooding in from the large front windows. One of the services I’m most excited about is the Full Circle Women’s Collective whose webpage states, “The Women’s Collective is a place of gathering for women of all ages, races, faiths, and socio-economic status. All activities and events offered through the Women’s Collective are based on the confidence that intrinsic in each and every one of us is a life purpose ready to be recognized, acknowledged and fueled.”
How wonderful that sounds!
If you haven’t visited the Healing Center yet, I urge you to do so and see for yourself what a promising and exciting venue this is for the community. Meanwhile, enjoy the slideshow below showing both the finished and unfinished areas of the center.
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The following post was originally published April 12 on local blog American Zombie.
Last Saturday I spent the day at Dr. Michael Robichaux’s farm in Raceland talking with well over 60 offshore workers, fisherman, and family members who are experiencing extreme health effects from the BP oil spill. Many of the workers who came into direct contact with the oil and the dispersant, Corexit, are experiencing similar health problems ranging from mild sypmptoms to life threatening conditions. It’s not only the men who were out on the Gulf during the spill that are sick, family members are experiencing health problems as well. Even people who swam in the ocean are stricken.
While I can’t confirm this number, I am told by folks monitoring the issues that they estimate thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida are suffering. Some are experiencing mild symptoms such as asthma, nausea, and headaches, while others are suffering extreme health issues such as internal bleeding, paralysis and even death….yes death.
The following video is a testimonial from Louisiana charter boat captain, Louis Bayhi. It’s 6 minutes long and I implore you to watch the entire thing:
Capt. Louis Bayhi – Charter boat captain and BP clean up worker experiencing severe health problems from Blackbird Media on Vimeo.
Louis was one of over 40 fisherman I spoke with on Saturday who is gravely ill. All of these fisherman confirmed to me that the Gulf is still full of oil and dispersant is continually being deployed….including areas which have been deemed safe for seafood harvesting.
There are more testimonials coming….please help spread this message…please help spread the truth. The nightmare BP left us with is not over, in fact it may just be starting. The MSM is not going to report what’s happening, but I implore you to dig deeper and don’t trust what you are being spoon-fed.
I fully expect to get attacked on the seafood issue but my response is fire away…I just spoke with over 40 guys who are out there every day and their concerns have now become mine. I will take their word over anyone.
Check out the LEAN – Louisiana Environmental Action Network website for more information.
Why this is personal; I stand with Planned Parenthood!
Congressional leaders and President Obama headed off a shutdown of the government with less than two hours to spare Friday night under a tentative budget deal that would cut $38 billion from federal spending this year. I am grateful that they figured out a way to avert government shutdown and not hurt Planned Parenthood in the process. But I AM REALISTIC; this battle is not over; this was simply the first skirmish in the war on women’s health. So I ask you to please support Planned Parenthood and women’s health issues; it has never been so needed especially in a time where there is an all out assault on women’s health. Please read the post that follows; it was written yesterday and it is my personal story on why this matters!
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Friday April 8, 2011; Today I received emails from Planned Parenthood that actually make me sick; due to the stupid GOP who have decided that Planned Parenthood is a bad thing, so they plan to shut down the government and hold the Democrats and all women hostage in order to prove their point because they have decided that Planned Parenthood is ONLY about abortion. The truth could not be farther from this!
I will cite articles, but what I want to do is to relate my own experience with abortion and a woman’s right to choose. The beautiful girl that you see below in the photo is my sister Brenda; I lost her when she was twenty seven years old and the world lost a great crusader for the underdog. It is because I was lucky enough to have her in my life, that I have the strength to speak out against what the GOP is doing; it is fundamentally wrong and it has to be overturned. Here is her story (and mine.)
When Brenda was 25, she found out that she was pregnant. It should have been a moment that most women who are in love and engaged to be married would cherish; the chance to have a child with the man that they love. Instead it was a time of terror for Brenda; you see, Brenda had severe epilepsy, and she could not be taken off of the medicines that kept her safe, in order to carry a child to term, and the medicines that already caused her significant side effects would have caused severe side effects to a child. If she was taken off the anti-convulsive medicines, it was highly probable that she would have died from a seizure.
Additionally, she had a hard time taking birth control, since the pill caused her to have seizures. So after much heartache, pain, and discussion with her fiance to make her decision, she chose to have an abortion, and asked me to accompany her to Planned Parenthood in Santa Clara, California. The year was 1982, and thank goodness, we had good facilities at that time that performed safe abortions. This had NOT always been the case as I was growing up, and indeed many deaths were attributed to back street abortion clinics. When they called her back for the procedure, they had her talk to several counselors before taking her back to the room. She explained over and over why she had no choice and I could see she was getting more and more upset; why couldn’t they just understand was written across her face. Finally they began the procedure; it seemed an interminably long time, though in reality, it probably was over in less than a half hour. BUT not before, my beloved sister suffered a Grand Mal seizure; I stayed with her, never leaving her side and I tried to protect her from the seizure, and to simply be there for her. She was terrified, as she always was when she had a seizure, and once the procedure was finally over, I took her home and put her to bed where she slept for 14 hours straight. She often felt guilt about that act, but I know in my heart that she would not have survived pregnancy, and that she had made the right decision. If the GOP gets their way, the Brenda’s of the world, will have no where to turn. Please do not let this happen!
To finish my story, about two summers later, Brenda married her sweetheart in June of 1984. They began their married life together, but it was to be short-lived. On October 4, 1984, my sister had a Grand Mal seizure while driving and was killed instantly when her car ran into the piling for an overpass on Highway 101 in Santa Clara, CA.
The one thing that I know about my sister Brenda, is that she would not mind me telling you this story; indeed knowing Brenda, she would be on the picket lines in DC marching with Planned Parenthood. Please do not force women to go back to a terrible time where contraception, family planning, and abortions are difficult to obtain. Please stand with Brenda and me; we support and stand with Planned Parenthood and we believe in the rights of all women to get the medical help they need, no matter their financial situation.
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Links;
Today’s (4/9/11) New York Times; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/us/politics/09fiscal.html?_r=1&hp
From the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/what-planned-parenthood-a… “Though the fight over Planned Parenthood might be about abortion, Planned Parenthood itself isn’t about abortion. It’s primarily about contraception and reproductive health. And if Planned Parenthood loses funding, what will mainly happen is that cancer screenings and contraception and STD testing will become less available to poorer people. Folks with more money, of course, have many other ways to receive all these services, and tend to get them elsewhere already. The fight also isn’t about cutting spending. The services Planned Parenthood provides save the federal government a lot of money. It’s somewhat cold to put it in these terms, but taxpayers end up bearing a lot of the expense for unintended pregnancies among people without the means to care for their children. The same goes for preventable cancers and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS.”
From Planned Parenthood; I stand with Planned Parenthood; https://secure.ppaction.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=pp_ppol_urgent
From US Dept of Health and Human Services; http://www.hhs.gov/opa/familyplanning/index.html
From the New York Times; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/us/politics/09fiscal.html?_r=1&hp
Shutdown Near, No Sign of Compromise; After the nightlong negotiations that ended before dawn on Friday yielded no agreement, Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader, went on the offensive. He told reporters and said on the Senate floor that Mr. Boehner, the Senate Democrats and President Obama had essentially settled on $38 billion in cuts from current spending. But he said that Republicans were refusing to abandon a policy provision that would withhold federal financing for family planning and other health services for poor women from Planned Parenthood and other providers.“This is indefensible, and everyone should be outraged,” Mr. Reid said on the Senate floor. “The Republican House leadership have only a couple of hours to look in the mirror, snap out of it and realize how truly shameful they have been.”
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Laura Bergerol is a professional photographer in New Orleans and blogs on Posterous and at Time Captured.net. Laura also was a major contributor to our Katrina Photo Project for the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. This essay was cross-posted from her personal blog.
Let me just tell you: I had a serious amount of fun for Mardi Gras. An almost illegal amount. And this year’s Mardi Gras was an especially magical one, filled with those surreal and serendipitous moments that make me fall in love with this strange place all over again. Sometimes those moments were simple like finding a restroom in an unpopulated downtown bar on Fat Tuesday and chatting with a bored and bewildered bartender while she jammed good tunes on the juke box. Other times those moments were transcendent like happening upon a block party second line and dancing for hours with a mass of other writhing bodies.
But all fun aside, that kind of indulgence comes with a price. I feel a lot like a shriveled up apple core tossed in a moldy, sludgy gutter drain. I got bad skin, bloated belly and a damn cigarette habit again. I’m sure I’m not the only person thankful that Lent is here, Catholic or not.
With our regular jobs, our families, our communities and consuming passions, adding Mardi Gras to our busy lives can wipe out our ability and time for self-care. The good intentions for a New Year of health have fallen by way of late-night cheeseburgers and four beers too many with good friends. We forget how necessary our quiet early mornings are to set our days, the importance of our yoga practice for our minds rather than our bodies. We neglect our beloved books and films. Long walks with our dogs. Taking the time and intention to be present in this moment, for ourselves.
Another reason I’m not as good as I’d like to be with self-care is that the concept requires an understanding of future gains from present choices. I’m more of an instant gratification girl: I like a six pack after a particularly shitty day at work, melted cheese as my comfort food, and, when my mood is a roiling dark cloud, burying myself in blankets in bed, no matter the time. Each of these things is a necessary coping indulgence once in a while. But I turn to them more often than I should.
For today, my resolve remains high: I’m about to head out into the sunrise for a jog on the levy. I’ll even make it to a yoga class today. But I also know that my post-Mardi Gras party burnout won’t last, and I’ll be wanting to shirk a workout for Cooter Browns (oh, delicious cheese fries).
So I’m curious:
What do you all do for self-care? How do you stay sane and fulfilled and the vibrant women (and men!) you are? How do you keep yourself doing the things that are good for you even when you don’t want to? (Oh, I just want to do bad!)
Via The National Women’s Law Center
Repealing the Affordable Care Act will Hurt Women in Louisiana
January 2011
The Affordable Care Act makes important advances for women’s health. The new law protects women in Louisiana from discriminatory health insurance practices, makes health coverage more affordable and easier for them to obtain, and improves access to many of the health services they need. Repealing this important law will hurt women in Louisiana by returning to the days of a health care system that did not work for women.
Insurance Industry Practices that are Harmful to Women Would Continue
In addition to the prohibition on sex discrimination in health care, the new health care law explicitly prohibits discriminatory insurance practices. These important protections will prohibit insurers from treating women like a pre-existing condition. Here are a few of the important insurance protections women will lose if the law is repealed:
A ban on gender rating for individuals and small businesses. Under the new law, by 2014 (at the latest) insurers in Louisiana would no longer be allowed to charge individual women and small employers with a predominately-female workforce more for coverage.
Prohibitions on coverage denials and exclusions for women with “pre-existing conditions” such as pregnancy; having had a C-section, breast, or cervical cancer; or having received medical treatment for domestic or sexual violence. By 2014 (at the latest) insurers in Louisiana will be required to accept all applicants for coverage regardless of their medical history, and will no longer be able to issue coverage with pre-existing condition exclusions. For children, the prohibition on pre-existing condition exclusions began in September 2010.
Uninsured women in Louisiana who were uninsured due to a pre-existing condition will lose access to coverage through the pre-existing condition insurance plan – or “high-risk pool” – that is available on a temporary basis, until the new insurance rules are in effect in 2014.
A ban on lifetime and annual limits, which prohibits health plans from placing dollar limits on covered services, giving women the security of knowing that their plan benefits won’t run out when they need them the most. Lifetime limits were banned for all health plans starting in September 2010. Annual limits are also strictly regulated and will be banned entirely for all new health plans and existing group plans in 2014.
Obtaining Insurance will be Harder and More Expensive if the Affordable Care Act is Repealed.
Women in Louisiana are poorer (on average) than men and have more trouble affording health care. For instance, nearly a quarter of all women in the state report not visiting a doctor due to high costs.1 The new health care law would expand access to affordable coverage in several ways by 2014, but if the law is repealed women will lose opportunities to obtain the affordable coverage they need. For example:
Up to 97,500 uninsured, low-income women in Louisiana would not become eligible for Medicaid, which by 2014 would be expanded to those up to 133% of the federal poverty level (FPL), or roughly $29,000 a year for a family of four. 2
Women would not see the benefits of a new Health Insurance Exchange that would be established in Louisiana to serve as an easy-to-use “insurance shopping center” where women can compare and choose the high-quality health plan that best fits their needs.
Approximately 176,000 women in Louisiana would not receive health insurance subsidies to help towards premiums and out-of-pocket costs of Exchange-based health plans; subsidies would be available to those with family incomes up to 400% of the FPL, or roughly $88,000 a year for a family of four. 3
Women Would Lose Coverage of Many of the Important Health Care Services They Need.
All new health plans issued on or after September 23, 2010 are required to cover recommended preventive care at no cost. Repealing the new law would mean women would lose no-cost access to important preventive screenings such as mammograms and pap smears.
Starting in 2014, health plans sold to individuals and small businesses must cover a broad range of health services. If the law is repealed, plans will not be federally required to cover many services important to women including maternity care, prescription drugs and mental health care.
There Are Many Additional Provisions of the New Law That Will Improve the Health and Well-Being of Louisiana Women and Their Families- Which Women Will Lose with Repeal.
Additional benefits of the new health care law that women will lose with repeal include (but are certainly not limited to):
Tax Credits for Small Business: Women are more likely than men to work for small businesses that don’t offer health insurance, and will benefit from the new tax credits to help small businesses provide coverage to their employees (available for the 2010 tax year), as well as unprecedented access to affordable small group health coverage through the Exchanges.
Coverage for Young Women Up to Age 26: Young women—who are more likely to be uninsured than women in any other age group—will benefit from a new rule that took effect September 2010 which allows young adults to remain on their parents’ health insurance policy as a dependent until age 26. 4
Closing the Medicare Drug Coverage Gap: Older women will benefit from a provision which closes the Medicare Part D “donut hole,” or the coverage gap that currently requires seniors to spend a considerable amount out-of-pocket for prescription drugs. In 2007, 64% of the Medicare beneficiaries that were affected by the “donut hole” were women.5
New Long Term Care Insurance Options: A new national, voluntary insurance program known as CLASS will be established as early as 2011 to provide long-term services and supports to individuals with functional limitations. This program will alleviate burdens on family caregivers, who are most often women.6
Time for Nursing Moms to Express Breast Milk at Work: Nursing mothers and their infants will gain from a requirement that employers provide a reasonable break time and location to express breast milk (effective immediately).7,8
“Direct Access” to Obstetrical and Gynecological Care: As of September 2010, all new health plans are prohibited from requiring authorization or prior approval when women seek this type of health care.9
For more detailed information on how women will benefit from Affordable Care Act, visit the National Women’s Law Center website: www.nwlc.org/reformmatters
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1 Kaiser Family Foundation, Putting Women’s Health Disparities on the Map (2009), http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemapreport.jsp?rep=31&cat=15
2 National Women’s Law Center calculations based on health insurance data for women ages 18-64 from the Current Population Survey’s 2008 Annual Social and Economic Supplement, using CPS Table Creator, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/cpstc/cps_table_creator.html
3 Ibid. Includes an estimated 102,000 uninsured women and 51,000 women who currently purchase coverage from the individual health insurance market.
4 At least thirty states already have laws that extend dependent coverage to young adult children, regardless of enrollment in school. Many of these state laws are more restrictive than the new federal law, and none apply to self-insured or ERISA plans (as the federal law does). The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) provides a list of states’ dependent coverage laws at: http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=14497
5 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Strengthening the Health Insurance System: How Health Insurance Reform Will Help America’s Older and Senior Women, http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/seniorwomen/index.html, Last Accessed on April 26, 2010.
6 Kaiser Family Foundation, Women and Health Care: A National Profile (July 2005), http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/upload/Women-and-Health-Care-A-National-Profile-Key-Findings-from-the-Kaiser-Women-s-Health-Survey.pdf
7 This provision applies to all employers, though employers with fewer than 50 employees may be exempt if they demonstrate that the requirements impose an “undue hardship” on their business.
8 At least twenty-four states already have laws related to expressing breast milk in the workplace. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) provides a list of these states and summaries of their laws at: http://www.ncsl.org/IssuesResearch/Health/BreastfeedingLaws/tabid/14389/Default.aspx
9 Thirty-six states and DC already have direct access laws that managed care companies and group health plans must comply with. However, the new health reform law is broader in scope, since it requires all new health plans (i.e. for individuals and groups of all sizes, including self-insured health plans) to comply. The Kaiser Family Foundation provides a list of existing direct access laws at: http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemaptable.jsp?ind=493&cat=10
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After a six week holiday break, Pistolette has returned. I’ve been quite productive though, getting up at 4:30am to make short story deadlines, and crack out word-count on other fiction projects. But now, it’s back to the essays. Happy New Year!
Using the word “resolution” for something you want to accomplish just destines it to fail. It sounds disorganized, undedicated, and passive aggressive, like something the United Nations would declare. Call it anything but that. Ambitions, objectives, aspirations, and even intentions sound more tough than resolutions. “Goals” is a nice direct one.
That aside, making any such attempts for the New Year is almost destined to fail when you live in New Orleans, especially when eating healthy and starting exercise programs are at the top of the list. Everywhere else in America, it might be productive to mark the end of the Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas seasons with new “resolutions”. But January is actually the worst time to start life changes here because it’s technically holiday MIDSEASON for us.
Take January 2nd. The new diet begins. You learn to grill some fish and steam some veggies, adding liberal amounts of cayenne just so you can swallow it. Then the workout starts. You endure stabbing pains in your side while you run in Audubon Park – and that’s before you even make it out of the parking lot. But you survive four whole days, pat yourself on the back, and give yourself one fat-free organic chocolate chip to celebrate, and then…
Aunt Jeanette comes over on Twelfth Night with a f#%king King Cake.
And this is how it goes for months. After January 6th there’s a slew of diet-destructive treats related to Superbowl parties and Mardi Gras, not to mention Valentine’s Day goodies that sneak in from the office and school. Before you know it your Pilates DVD is buried under beads and candy wrappers, and your health food is rotting in the crisper drawer. Just a minor setback, you think, there is still hope.
Lent! Yes, Lent will save me! Forty days of behaving for a higher purpose! Unfortunately there was a comedian in the Catholic bureaucracy who thought it would be hilarious to place St Patrick’s Day during Lent (yeah, I know Paddy died that day, but what the hell was wrong with his birthday?). So there are more parades, and food, and alcohol. In any other city this might be a one afternoon event, but in New Orleans, hell no, at least a week. This also happens to be wedding season too, and if you’re standing in one, consider your ‘get in shape’ plans decimated.
Even if you survived all that, you surely wouldn’t make it through festival season. From mid-March to the end of May there are more Springtime events in Louisiana than dirty politicians (ok, maybe not that many). If you’ve made it this far… oh hell no you haven’t. You’d have to be Jesus to endure that kind of temptation. And even he liked a big family dinner with plenty of wine and Saints.
Nope, I’m not apologizing for that. Quit groaning and read.
Now you’re in the first week of June, and your New Year’s resolutions are long forgotten. You likely gave up somewhere around your fifth slice of Cream Cheese and Raspberry stuffed Randazzo’s at the office party, right before the “Be Mine” card with a box of Godiva arrived. You didn’t decide to give up, you just decided not to think about it anymore.
But you didn’t fail, really. You simply started at the wrong time. Many of these goals take months of uninterrupted dedication, and when do we ever get a break from partying around here to do that? Well…
Hurricane season.
That’s right. The perfect time to start New Year’s resolutions objectives in Louisiana is June 1st.
In June the worst of the summer heat kicks off, and a lull in the city’s fun agenda along with it. You’ll have several months of no interruptions*. You’re going to switch from bacchanal mode to survivalist mode anyway. You’ll clean out the pantry so you can fit canned goods and bottled water in it, stock battery powered electronics, scrape out the storm drains, do some house maintenance, check on the important documents, etc. This mode is far more conducive to making health changes than the beginning of Carnival season because you can convince yourself it’s hurricane survival training**.
The peak of hurricane season is so hot that you won’t be as pissy about salad or grilled cuisine as you’d be in January***. If not, you might just forget to eat while obsessively checking the Weather Channel every ten minutes to the hour. So work off the stress in a chilly 65 degree gym, or get up at 5am and beat the heat for a run. By the time the Fourth of July comes around you’ll have shed several pounds while everyone else will have already gained back what they lost in January (plus a few extra). And when those 4½ months are over you’re far more likely to enjoy the October through May onslaught of decadence in pleasurable moderation****.
So there you go. You’re officially off the hook until Summer. Enjoy that King Cake.
*Sure if you LOOK for trouble you can always find it here, but during these month it usually stays out of your way.
**Which in diet psychology feels morally superior to “I just wanted to wear a bikini again”.
***Sometime during June’s Tomato Festival last year you probably bit into a juicy fresh Creole tomato and thought, “Hmmm, this is healthy *and* delicious. Too bad it’s not the proper time to start eating well”.
****I’d never suggest giving up the local fun completely. If that’s your goal I’d just advise you to leave town.
Originally published at Pistolette.net, January 1, 2011.
“In the past five months, Gulf Coast residents have been treated to a number of decisions with direct impact on their lives. They weren’t asked to give input at the time these decisions were made. They weren’t asked how they thought it might affect their future. The decisions occurred above their heads and most times, without their knowledge, but they are the ones now paying the price. This post is the first of three parts having to do with these decisions. Part one will address British Petroleum’s use of the dispersant, Corexit while two and three will be concerned with Bobby Jindal’s sand berms and the federal government’s response, including the amount of control ceded to British Petroleum. All three will address the issue of the courage necessary to change course in the Gulf, the importance of doing so and who will be affected. All three decisions to be looked at had to do with money and politics, and changing course now will affect the back accounts and political standing of the people in charge, but change must happen.”
So begins a fascinating series of posts by Disenfranchised Citizen – a series I highly recommend to everyone living on the Gulf Coast and everyone concerned about the effect of the BP oilspill on our environment and the health of those living along the coast. The first post, Changing Course in the Gulf: Bad Lessons in Money and Politics Pt. 1 – BP and Corexit, discusses the perils of the use of the oil dispersant Corexit and the relationship between BP and Nalco Group, it’s producers.
Dauphin Island, Al - Corexit containers
The second installment, Changing Course in the Gulf: Bad Lessons in Money and Politics Pt. 2 – Bobby Jindal, Sand Berms and the Shaw Group, outlines the folly of Gov Jindal’s sand berm project, his dismissal of any scientific evidence contrary to the project and questions the real motivations behind constructing the berms.
I am eagerly awaiting the final post and I urge you all to go now and read this very intriguing series.
American Zombie also has a good piece up today, Buried in the Outdoor Section, questioning why there isn’t more wide-spread reporting of an alleged thick layer of oil on the sea floor found by a group of scientists on a research vessel in the Gulf.
And, finally and heartbreakingly, we get the news of a huge fish kill reported in Plaquemines Parish “found in an area that has been impacted by the oil from the BP oil spill, the parish said.” (Via Library Chronicles)
Fish Kill in Plaquemines Parish
News of the oil catastrophe seems to be fading ever more quickly as the days pass but the effects on our environment and the health of our fellow citizens is only in the infancy stage, I fear. We cannot allow this atrocity to fade from our consiousness and, with bloggers like these three men , hopefully it won’t .
Information you need to know if you’re participating in the oilspill clean-up or live in the gulf coast area (just how does inhaling oil fumes affect us here?). Of special note are the toxicity effects on children and pregnant women. Thanks to Mom’s Rising for alerting us to this valuable information. The following can be found online here.
Gulf Oil Spill Health Hazards
Dr. Michael Harbut, Karmanos Cancer Institute
Dr. Kathleen Burns, Sciencecorps
Many people will be exposed to airborne and waterborne chemicals as a result of the BP Gulf of Mexico spill. It is important to understand the potential toxic effects and take appropriate steps to prevent or reduce exposure and harm.
Crude Oil Fact Sheet
Crude oil contains hundreds of chemicals, comprised primarily of hydrogen and carbon (e.g., simple straight chain paraffins, aromatic ring structures, naphthenes), with some sulfur, nitrogen, metal, and oxygen compounds (see Table D-1 in CDC, 1999 linked below). Crude oil composition varies slightly by its source, but its toxic properties are fairly consistent. Chemicals such as benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are very toxic components of crude oil and of high concern. These and other chemicals are volatile, moving from the oil into air. Once airborne, they blow over the ocean for miles, reaching communities far from the oil spill. They can be noticed as petroleum odors. Those working on the spill and people far from it can be exposed to crude oil chemicals in air.
We have prepared 1 page summaries for the public and for workers. You can download and print them.
www.sciencecorps.org/crudeoilhazards-public.pdf
www.sciencecorps.org/crudeoilhazards-workers.pdf
Chemicals being applied to the water, such as dispersants, are also of concern. We don’t have chemical composition details at this time, so can’t provide information on health hazards, beyond noting that most are reported to contain petroleum distillates, which pose health hazards when aspirated. See EPA’s summary of oil spill response products (March 2010): http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/docs/oil/ncp/notebook.pdf
Exposure
Exposure can occur through skin contact, inhalation of contaminated air or soil, and ingestion of contaminated water or food. These can occur simultaneously. Exposure pathways may result in localized toxicity (e.g., irritation of the skin following contact), but most health effects are systemic because ingredients can move throughout the body. Exposure varies based on the duration and concentrations in contaminated media. Differences may result from location, work and personal activities, age, diet, use of protective equipment, and other factors. Concurrent exposure to other toxic chemicals must be considered when evaluating toxic effects. Some chemicals in crude oil are volatile, moving into air easily, and these can often be detectable by smell.
Basic Physiological Effects
Crude oil is a complex mixture of chemicals that have varying abilities to be absorbed into the body through the skin, lungs, and during digestion of food and water. Most components of crude oil enter the bloodstream rapidly when they are inhaled or swallowed. Crude oil contains chemicals that readily penetrate cell walls, damage cell structures, including DNA, and alter the function of the cells and the organs where they are located. Crude oil is toxic, and ingredients can damage every system in the body:
respiratory nervous system, including the brain
liver reproductive/urogenital system
kidneys endocrine system
circulatory system gastrointestinal system
immune system sensory systems
musculoskeletal system
Damaging or altering these systems causes a wide range of diseases and conditions. In addition, interference with normal growth and development through endocrine disruption and direct damage to fetal tissue is caused by many crude oil ingredients (CDC, 1999). DNA damage can cause cancer and multi-generational birth defects.
Acute Exposure Hazards – brief exposure at relatively high levels[1]
Crude oil contains many chemicals that can irritate the skin and mucous membranes on contact. Irritant effects can range from slight reddening to burning, swelling (edema), pain,and permanent skin damage. Commonly reported effects of acute exposure to crude oil through inhalation or ingestion include difficulty breathing, headaches, dizziness, nausea, confusion, and other central nervous system effects. These are more likely to be noticed than potentially more serious effects that don’t have obvious signs and symptoms: lung, liver and kidney damage, infertility, immune system suppression, disruption of hormone levels, blood disorders, mutations, and cancer.
Chronic Exposure Hazards – long-term exposure at relatively low levels
This type of exposure should be avoided, if at all possible, because the potential for serious health damage is substantial. Chronic health effects are typically evaluated for specific crude oil components (see CDC, 1999), and vary from cancer to permanent neurological damage. They cover a range of diseases affecting all the organ systems listed above.
Susceptible Subgroups
Children are vulnerable to toxic chemicals in crude oil that disrupt normal growth and development. Their brains are highly susceptible to many neurotoxic ingredients. Endocrine disruptors in crude oil can cause abnormal growth, infertility, and other health conditions. Children’s exposures may be higher than adults and can include contaminated soil or sand. Newborns are especially vulnerable due to incompletely formed immune and detoxification systems.
Many people with medical conditions are more susceptible to crude oil toxicity because chemical ingredients can damage organ systems that are already impaired. Specific susceptibilities depend on the medical condition (e.g., inhalation poses risks for those with asthma and other respiratory conditions).
People taking medications that reduce their detoxification ability, and those taking acetaminophen, aspirin, haloperidol, who have nutritional deficiencies or who concurrently drink alcohol may be more susceptible. Some inherited enzyme deficiencies also increase susceptibility (listed in CDC, 1999).
People exposed to other toxic chemicals at work or home may be at higher risk.
Pregnancy places increased stress on many organ systems, including the liver, kidneys, and cardiovascular system. Chemicals in crude oil that are toxic to these same systems can pose serious health risks. Pregnancy also requires a careful balance of hormones to maintain a health pregnancy and healthy baby. Endocrine disruptors in crude oil can jeopardize the hormone balance.
The developing fetus is susceptible to the toxic effects of many chemicals in crude oil. Many cause mutations, endocrine disruption, skeletal deformities, and other types of birth defects.
Personal and Public Protection
It is critical that people who work with or around crude oil wear appropriate personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks, respirators, and water repellant clothing, to minimize exposure. The necessary equipment will depend on the kind of exposure that can occur (dermal, inhalation, ingestion). See OSHA guidance at OSHA 2010 link below. Susceptible members of the public require notice when exposure may occur (e.g., when contaminated air masses move inland) so they can take protective actions.
Sources
CDC, 1999: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp123.pdf
OSHA, 2010: http://www.osha.gov/Publications/3172/3172.html
NLM: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/oilspills.html – very limited information on human health
The National Toxicology Program (NIEHS-NIH) provides information on carcinogenic crude oil ingredients (e.g., benzene) & limited information on reproductive hazards http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/
California’s EPA provides a list of chemicals know to cause cancer and/or reproductive harm: http://www.oehha.org/prop65/prop65_list/files/P65single040210.pdf
Children’s Health – International pediatric consensus statement regarding children’s susceptibility to toxic chemicals: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/119425377/HTMLSTART This contains a link to 120 scientific papers presented at the Conference on Children’s Susceptibility to Environmental Hazards.
Federal focus on children’s environmental health including policies designed to protect children: http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/homepage.htm
It is useful to directly consult the medical literature to obtain current information. The National Library of Medicine access to peer reviewed medical studies on chemicals and mixtures including crude oil is at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&TabCmd=Limits
For up to date information and ways to help with the Gulf oil disaster see: www.waterkeeper.org
Authors
Michael R. Harbut, MD, MPH, FCCP
Professor, Internal Medicine, Wayne State University
Chief, Center for Occupational & Environmental Medicine
Director of the Environmental Cancer Initiative
Karmanos Cancer Institute
Providence Hospital
118 N. Washington, Royal Oak, Michigan 48067-1751
e-mail: harbutm@karmanos.org
Kathleen Burns, Ph.D.
Director
Sciencecorps
Lexington, Massachusetts
e-mail: kmb@sciencecorps.org
(Photo by Vefasız Alem Posterous on Flickr)
If you live in Gulf Coastal Regions I do encourage you to read the OSHA Oilspill Fact Sheet for CleanUp workers as the information applies for those living in the region and experiencing exposure to the Oil Fumes. DHHS and CDC and NIOSH have not issued safety warnings yet. (or responded to my emails effectively). I encourage if you have respiratory or cardiac issues, or Immune Problems to not expose yourself to the Fumes and limit outside exposure.Hopefully Health Risks will start to be examined and precautioned soon.
Enigma4ever of Watergate Summer is “a wandering refugee intuitive truthseeking scorched whistleblower mom nurse” who’s blog I recently found after she followed NOLAFemmes on Twitter. She’s been tirelessly tweeting and blogging British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in our precious Gulf Coast waters. As a chemically sensitive person, I’ve been thinking about those who are out in the gulf and on the shore-line helping with the clean-up and worried about the health consequences from the oil fumes and the chemicals used to disperse the oil. Additionally, fumes from the disaster have reached as far inland as New Orleans – I was exposed to a very strong stench of oil for a whole day last week which exacerbated a sinus headache and facial pain.
Since I’ve seen very little concrete information on possible health issues related to the disaster, I’ll be keeping an eye on Watergate Summer and will continue to follow her on Twitter. Never underestimate a nurse on a mission!
Here is a link where you can get air quality conditions along the Gulf Coast, updated every hour.
Update: It’s 8:20 pm – I just went outside & a strong stench of oil is back tonight.
I enjoy reading my Sunday paper – I am one of those that actually looks at the ads floating around on the inner pages, those entities hawking their goods. One particular ad caught my eye this morning – a small ad at the bottom of page A-22 beginning NULLIFY Obama Care, and below requesting a joint resolution [that the] Louisiana Legislature MUST pass now. Then underneath was the “Don’t Tread On Me” Gadsden flag, which I’ll bet whose creators would be appalled that today’s tea baggers have adopted as their standard bearer.
Here is the ad
So I then checked out the website and was pretty shocked at the fringe group promoting this. I went on to read the Bios and concluded that the ad is probably financed by a couple of pretty wealthy individuals, not to mention the silent supporters fueling their money train. One can only imagine what sort of freaks this would attract: just take one look at the home page and all the stars and bars floating across the page and draw your own conclusions.
Two things scary about this: Folks reading this ad, without internet connections to see what these two yahoos are all about, would contact their Louisiana legislators and demand a resolution for Louisiana to repeal health care reform. Our play-along attorney general has begun the process, but all it would take would be for a large group of constituents to contact their lawmakers demanding Louisiana opt out of healthcare. Second is that the Times Picayune is allowing entities such as this to purchase ad space – are they THAT desperate for dollars?
This is just one example of the subterfuge we are in store for over the next few months, until Baton Rouge empties on June 21 and we can take a breath from the required vigil over the lunacy that seems to transpire 65 miles upriver. Watch your newspaper and televisions closely. Write down the numbers of bills that seem completely out of whack and don’t hesitate to call, write or e-mail your representative to voice your opinion on any bill filed, easily found and tracked here.
This image is on the RNC’s brand-spanking new website, firenancypelosi.com. I’m surprised it doesn’t say “Jezebel” or some such inflammatory slogan underneath considering the hell-fire and brimstone background.
“It’s personal for women. After we pass this bill, being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing medical condition.” — Speaker Nancy Pelosi, March 21, 2010
Nancy has my hearty congratulations for her perseverance in getting the National Healthcare Reform bill passed last night.
Here is what we can expect to happen this year as a result:
*Insurance companies will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Lifetime coverage limits will be eliminated and annual limits are to be restricted.
*Insurers will be barred from excluding children for coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
*Young adults will be able to stay on their parents’ health plans until the age of 26. Many health plans currently drop dependents from coverage when they turn 19 or finish college.
*Uninsured adults with a pre-existing conditions will be able to obtain health coverage through a new program that will expire once new insurance exchanges begin operating in 2014.
*A temporary reinsurance program is created to help companies maintain health coverage for early retirees between the ages of 55 and 64. This also expires in 2014.
*Medicare drug beneficiaries who fall into the “doughnut hole” coverage gap will get a $250 rebate. The bill eventually closes that gap which currently begins after $2,700 is spent on drugs. Coverage starts again after $6,154 is spent.
*A tax credit becomes available for some small businesses to help provide coverage for workers.
*A 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services that use ultraviolet lamps goes into effect on July 1.
Read this article on Factbox for more factual info about what we can expect. No fire and brimstone required.
I first met Jennifer through emails with Katrina Warriors, a local group who came together to support area women and girls shortly after the storm. Founding nodes of the Katrina Warriors Network were
Ashe Cultural Arts Center, The Guardians Institute, Loyola Women’s Resource Center, Newcomb College Center for Research on Women, The New Orleans Regional Alliance Against Abuse (2005-2006), the New Orleans Women’s Studies Consortium, UNO Women’s Center, and V-Day.
Jennifer is a one woman community service dynamo working her magic all over the internets. She maintains the official FaceBook group page for Katrina Warriors in addition to the fan page, Katrina Warriors (heart) Yoni De Lis.
Jennifer has another FaceBook page, Holistic Health and Natural Healing, that is one of my favorite pages. Her page states,
“This group is intended to serve as a networking – informational site for any & all people interested in the beliefs, practices, and activism regarding the union of the body, mind, spirit and soul through Holistic Healing.”
She links to information and articles in various disciplines of the natural/holistic lifestyle such as Traditional Chinese Medicine, Aromatherapy, nutrition and herbal medicine and issues a newsletter through FaceBook as well.
Her latest venture on the web is FaceBook page and blog NOLA-Haiti Solidarity that focuses on expressions of solidarity, donation information and status updates about Haiti.
Below are links to all of Jennifer’s pages and her Twitter ~ this is one information guru you want to follow!
FaceBook Page: NOLA-Haiti Solidarity
FaceBook Page: Katrina Warriors Network
FaceBook Page: Katrina Warriors (heart) Yoni De Lis
