Is it safe to eat Gulf shrimp and fish, now? or now? or, now? by gimleteye

The University of Georgia came out with an analysis yesterday that sharply contradicts the claim that most of the Gulf oil from the Deepwater catastrophe simply disappeared into thin air. (I called readers' attention to the work of the University of Georgia in early June.) According to UGA scientists, the vast majority of oil is disappearing into water column, trapped by layers of cold and salinity. From there, microscopic beads of remnant oil will leach into the food chain, starting with micro-organisms, and accumulate up into the seafood we like to eat. The uncertainties from there pile up like tar balls. When carcinogens are measured in parts per million, and when food and water safety is a lesser concern of government officials than covering their asses, getting re-elected, or safeguarding their pensions, knowing when Gulf shrimp and fish is safe to eat is an individual decision. Is it safe to eat Gulf seafood now, tomorrow, or, the day after? If you are fishing in so-called clean water, is it possible the snapper you catch might have swum or fed from water through which a toxic oil plume passed? It is the same kind of question that confronts homeowners in The Acreage in Palm Beach where cancer clusters have popped up. When do you cut your losses and give up what you value-- and what cost you a lot of money-- just to protect your health? Environmental catastrophes are forcing people to flee from what they value and where they have invested. These catastrophes are created by bad decisions. Shouldn't there be a law criminalizing decision-makers who push citizens into this race to the bottom? Now, all the talk in the Gulf is about getting federal regulators off the back of the oil industry. We need jobs! So, who will then be held accountable if ten years from now, you get a life-threatening disease that may or may not have been caused by oil in your food supply? The answer is, no one. Maybe you also watched a food inspector in the Gulf, on NBC Nightly News, do a "smell test" for oil in fish fillets in a restaurant. Like that's a very scientific method for protecting your health. Stick your shnozz in a piece of raw grouper. No thank you. Pass the "organic" kale, please.