Federal officials and the Obama administration have maintained for well over two months now that all is safe in the gulf: no serious food contamination, no significant risk to air and water quality, no long-term health risks.

And all this seems well and good so long as you only ask the government’s scientists.

Asking elsewhere, one gets an entirely different story, and from such notable periodicals like the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association, or from such notable people like staff scientists at the Natural Resources Defense Council or the Chair of Cancer Epidemiology of LSU or Gina Solomon of UCSF, just to name a few. In fact, it would pretty much appear that the only people willing to go on record that everything is safe in the Gulf would be the NOAA, the FDA, the EPA, various politicians and perhaps some science types at BP.

Everybody else seems to think there is much to be concerned about here. In a great three-part series featured on RawStory, the various threats to safety are explored.

In part one, they take a look at the seafood and its dangers of long-term health risks:

In particular, experts tell Raw Story, contaminants from the massive oil spill and unprecedented use of the dispersants employed to dissolve the spill have the potential to cause cancer and neurological disorders.

Exclusive: Gulf seafood poses long-term health risks, experts say

In part two, they take a look at how heavy metals still aren’t being tested for in Gulf seafood, heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium which have been linked to cancer in long term consumption:

Both National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and FDA officials told Raw Story that fish and shellfish being tested for the purpose of reopening waters to commercial and recreational fishing are not being tested for heavy metals.

Exclusive: Heavy metals go untested in Gulf seafood

In part three, they take a look at bioaccumulation in seafood, its toxicity to humans and despite repeated assertions that Corexit is safe, the extremely toxic carcinogens contained in the product. The article also discusses how currently, no seafood tests exist to measure the dispersant in seafood:

Edward Trapido, the Wendell Gauthier Chair of Cancer Epidemiology at the Louisiana State University School of Public Health, revealed to Raw Story that 2-butoxyethanol, one of the compounds in Corexit 9527 – the first dispersant used by BP – is not only considered a carcinogen by the state of New Jersey, but the NJ Department of Health says “it should be handled as a carcinogen with extreme caution.”

“Unfortunately,” Trapido added, “there were two dispersants used – 9500 and 9527. They used 9527 first, until the supplies ran out. Then they switched to 9500. But we don’t know how much of the 9527 was used.”

Exclusive: Gulf oil dispersant contained extremely toxic carcinogen

Enjoy the series…

Have a nice day.