BTL:Toxic Chemical Dispersants Used on Gulf Oil Spill Endangers Marine Life and Cleanup Wo

Toxic Chemical Dispersants Used on Gulf Oil Spill Endangers Marine Life and Cleanup Workers

Interview with Wilma Subra, chemist and consultant to the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Six weeks after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, no substantive progress has been made in stopping the oil that's gushing from a mile below the surface waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The top kill method, the latest maneuver employed by British Petroleum to stop the leak, failed.

According to many scientists and environmentalists the oil, along with the toxic dispersants that have been used to break up the spill, have polluted the water column - descending to the seabed where bottom residing organisms such as shrimp, crabs and oysters are found. The spill has also fouled Louisiana's shoreline estuaries and threatens the coasts of neighboring states. BP's oil blowout, the largest in U.S. history, has already had a severe environmental and economic impact on one of the richest fisheries in the continental U.S., which supplies one third of the seafood consumed by Americans.

Wilma Subra is a Louisiana chemist and founder of the Subra Company, a chemistry lab and environmental consulting firm that provides technical support to the Louisiana Environmental Action Network. She is a past recipient of a MacArthur fellowship grant, the so-called "genius award." Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Subra, who discusses her concerns about the toxicity of the oil and dispersants on people exposed to them during the clean up -- as well as the long-term impact of the oil spill on the environment.

For updated information on the leak and its impact on local communities, call the Louisana Environmental Action Network (228) 928-1315, or visit the group's website at http://www.leanweb.org.

LISTEN to the interview by clicking on one of the links below:

RealAudio:
http://btlonline.org/2010/ram/subra061110.ram

MP3:
http://btlonline.org/download/subra061110.mp3


LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below:

RealAudio:
http://btlonline.org/2010/ram/btl061110.ram

MP3
http://btlonline.org/download/

SEE the Between the Lines website by clicking on the link below:

http://www.btlonline.org

***********************************
LISTEN to the interview by clicking on one of the links below:

RealAudio:
http://btlonline.org/2010/ram/kysia061110.ram

MP3:
http://btlonline.org/download/kysia061110.mp3


LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below:

RealAudio:
http://btlonline.org/2010/ram/btl061110.ram

MP3
http://btlonline.org/download/

SEE the Between the Lines website by clicking on the link below:

http://www.btlonline.org

***********************************

For more information please write to: mail [at] btlonline.org

"Between The Lines" is a half-hour syndicated radio news magazine that each week features a summary of under-reported news stories and interviews with activists and journalists who offer progressive perspectives on international, national and regional political, economic and social issues. Because "Between The Lines" is independent of all publications, media networks or political parties, we are able to bring a diversity of voices to the airwaves generally ignored or marginalized by the major media. For more information on this week's topics and to check out our text archive listing topics and guests presented in previous programs visit: http://www.btlonline.org
*
"Between the Lines," WPKN 89.5 FM's weekly radio news magazine can be heard Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. ET; Wednesdays at 8 a.m. ET and Saturdays at 2 p.m. ET (Wednesday's show airs at 7:30 a.m. ET during fundraising months of April and October).
*
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Weekly Summary" which features a RealAudio link to the week's program for Between The Lines, send an email to btlsummary-subscribe [at] lists.riseup.net
*
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Q&A" which features a RealAudio link and weekly transcript to one of the interviews featured on Between The Lines, send an email to btlqa-subscribe [at] lists.riseup.net
*
Between the Lines
c/o Squeaky Wheel Productions
P.O. Box 110176
Trumbull, CT 06611
*
http://www.squeakywheel.net/
*
Distributed by Squeaky Wheel Productions
©2010 Between The Lines. All Rights Reserved.