Blue Flu In The Media (Finally)

Sicknesses throughout post-spill Gulf getting media attention as symptoms are studied, confirmed.

RELATED: ‘Blue Flu’ cases spreading around the Gulf…

From Dateline Zero - Sean Bonner, “is one of the guys behind Metblogs,Neoteny Labs, Crash Space,” and did a fantastic write-up at Boing Boing. He did so while drawing from another recent article about this topic at Al Jazeera.

Symptoms being experienced seem to vary, but generally include brown vomit, brown urine, copious diarrhea, skin rashes, sore throats and even internal hemorrhaging. A blue discoloration to the skin had also been reported, hence the name “blue flu.”

Bonner commented, “Things could be going from really bad to even worse around the Gulf of Mexico, for residents, and for BP. An investigation by Al Jazeera reveals that the dispersants BP is using to treat the spill are making people sick.”

Al Jazeera is not the only outlet to report on the dispersants’ possible effects on Gulf residents; in the months following the oil disaster, reports from media outlets like Mother Jones, Pro Publica, the LA Times discussed the health ramifications of exposure to oil and oil dispersants.

More recently, the reports have died down as interest in the oil disaster has waned. This is a huge problem, because it’s only now — months after the disaster — that chronic health problems are starting to reveal themselves and become well documented. (As frustrating as it is, these things take time.)

There’s also an insidious reason doctors are having a difficult time researching these symptoms — making it take even longer. Some scientists have been threatened.

SEE RELATED: BP Thugs Threatening Independent Scientists…

According to the Al Jazeera research, fisherman across the four states most heavily affected by the oil disaster…

Read more, from the full article at Dateline Zero…