Respirators are Necessary
A small citizen's group on front lines of the Gulf Ground Zero health emergency in New Orleans with humanitarian Mark Sircus are expediting urgently needed aid such as respirators to Gulf coast citizens. These survival needs have been prevented, the greatest human rights violations in U.S. history, a crime against humanity.
Sircus has agreed to head a Barefoot Doctors program with a team of New Orleans human rights defenders. Barefoot Doctors is successfully used in developing oppressed nations where no doctor or medical team provides care and life-saving information. He will be presenting a Toxin Survival tele-seminar in New Orleans next week. (Also see: Exclusive: Censored Gulf survival news, Toxic exposure self-help, global aid also needed, Sircus, Examiner, July, 2010)
Delia LaBarre, Kimberley Wolfe and Nicolette Slagle are coordinating with Dr. Sircus for the emergency aid program. To date, "BP law" enforced by U.S. military and mercenaries has prevented human survival needs.
Sircus, Director of the International Medical Veritas Association, makes the following 3 points confirming need for respirators:
- The New York Times published that according to British Petroleum 20% of Gulf spill responders are being exposed to the chemicals that sickened Valdez cleanup workers.
- In an under-the-radar release of new test results for its Gulf of Mexico oil spill workers, BP PLC is reporting potentially hazardous exposures.
- Natural Resources Defense Council Senior Scientist Gina Solomon described BP's continued offshore 2-butoxyethanol detection during the month of June as "worrisome." "It suggests to me that there is still, clearly, a serious air-quality concern. ... [Gulf] air quality, if anything, seems to be deteriorating."
What you can't smell can kill you
"If oil is close to the coastline, people may be able to smell the oil spill from the shore and find irritation of eyes, nose, throat, and skin. People with asthma or other respiratory ailments may be more sensitive to the effects of inhaled fumes," states Sircus.
"Complicating the issue of toxic exposure is the fact that the federal government has authorized BP to set a portion of collected oil on fire."
“When ignited, the boom transformed the oil into a roaring mass of flames as high as 150 feet and a column of smoke of biblical proportions,” according to the Huffington Post.
Sircus alerts, "Burning large amounts of oil creates toxic gas air pollution. Symptoms of toxicity include coughing, irritation of the eyes and lungs, rashes, headaches and nausea.
"Young children and the elderly are more susceptible to health risks that may be caused by pollution from burning the oil spill."
Rather than no respirator, make one
Sircus is urging people to make respirators - now.
"Rather than go without any protection at all, the alert citizen can make gas masks for himself and his family from the increasing exposure in the Gulf region. The necessary materials can be found in almost any house."
There is a national-wide shortage of respirators for the citizenry, according to Nicolette Slagle who said, "It seems that BP is buying them."
Materials needed to make a respirator are listed below. Sircus and "Gulf Barefoot Doctors" will be facilitating a training program for people to learn to make these respirators. They are calling on goodwill of fellow Americans to immediately send materials or pre-made respirators:
- Bathing cap,
- Small tin can,
- Transparent cover from a powder-puff box,
- Bit of wire net (from fly swatters),
- 2 handkerchiefs,
- Elastic ribbon,
- Adhesive tape,
- From the drugstore: a few ounces of activated coconut charcoal and soda lime.
"An even simpler mask is advocated by Dr. Kearney Sauer of the Los Angeles Citizens' Defense Corps: two twelve-inch squares of bed sheeting with a quarter-inch layer of baking soda between, held in even distribution by crisscross stitching," says Sircus.
"Dampened and held firmly over the face, this napkin will give temporary protection against any gas, according to Dr. Sauer but not the Army."
Safety can't be determined by smell
"Crude oil's toxic ingredients can damage every system in the body," according to Sircus.
"Respiratory system; nervous system, including the brain; liver; the reproductive /urogenital system; kidneys; endocrine system; circulatory system; gastrointestinal system; immune system; sensory systems; musculoskeletal system; hematopoietic system (blood forming) skin and metabolism can all be affected. So it is best not to take chances if you are anywhere near the oil or the wind and rain are bringing it to you.
Benzene, also known as benzol, is a colorless liquid with a sweet odor. Benzene evaporates into air very quickly and dissolves slightly in water.
Some people are being advised and therefore believing that if they don't smell the odor of oil, the air does not have any chemicals from the oil and is safe. This is untrue according to Sircus.
"The odor threshold for benzene (the minimum amount of a chemical in air that people can smell) is approximately 1,500 ppb (US EPA, 2002). This is more than 10,000 times the level of 0.01 ppb that is considered safe.
"Brief exposure (5-10 minutes) to very high levels of benzene in air (10,000-20,000 ppm) can result in death. Lower levels (700-3,000 ppm) can cause drowsiness, dizziness, rapid heart rate, headaches, tremors, confusion, and unconsciousness.
One of the least understood hazards of being in a Gulf state right now is not having an understanding of how quickly the body can be permanently damaged by breathing toxins with no odor.
"In most cases, people will stop feeling these effects when they are no longer exposed and begin to breathe fresh air. But damage is done quickly and this is just one of many very toxic chemicals stemming from the Gulf disaster," states Sircus.
Avoiding exposure is the primary medical directive to follow and respirators help us to do just that.
Deborah Dupré, with post-graduate science and education degrees from U.S. and Australian universities, has been a human and environmental rights advocate for over 25 years in the U.S., Vanuatu and Australia. Support her work by subscribing to her articles and sharing the link to this article. For a more just and peaceful world, see Dupré's Vaccine Liberty or Death book and Compassion Film Project.
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