Gulf group says feds, BP wrong on remaining Gulf oil, seafood quality

“Just because the oil is no longer on the surface, it does not indicate that the area is healthy,” Wilma Subra, a chemist and microbiologist and advisor to the fund, said in a press release.
 
Scientists and activists alike have placed increasing doubt on the findings of an Aug. 4 intergovernmental agency report asserting that only about a quarter of the federal-estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil that leaked from the BP well remains to be dealt with.
 
The University of Georgia and the Georgia Sea Grant released a report Monday concluding that, in fact, up to 79 percent of the oil has not been recovered and remains a threat to the ecosystem.
 
The Gulf Coast Fund also charges that BP continues to use a dispersant called Corexit, which contains known human carcinogens and is banned in Europe, despite the company’s denials.
 
“Commercial fishermen in the Gulf know the seafood is unsafe for eating and will not feed it to their own families,” Mississippi community organizer Derrick Evans said in the fund’s press release.
 
The group charges that no tests are being conducted on seafood for the presence of dispersants.
 
The quality of seafood from the region has received heightened scrutiny of late.

The Natural Resources Defense Council and about two dozen Gulf Coast groups sent letters Tuesday to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pressing for improved guidelines for evaluating the quality of the region’s seafood.
 
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and lawmakers in both parties representing the region, meanwhile, are emphasizing that Gulf seafood is safe. Locke on Monday said he was worried about “misperceptions” to the contrary.
 
NOAA and FDA officials are among the invited witnesses to a House Energy and Commerce hearing on the subject Thursday.