BP's workers may have escaped harm

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Air and water studies near BP's oil spill off Louisiana found cleanup workers may have escaped harm from toxic substances in the oil, researchers say.

Senior editor Elizabeth Wilson describes research showing that benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene -- collectively termed BTEX -- remained dissolved in the Gulf of Mexico, and did not vaporize into the air where they could be inhaled by cleanup workers.

The spill began July 20, 2010, with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon facility, 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 oil workers. By the time the well was capped 87 days later, a record 4.9 million barrels -- 206 million gallons -- of oil had spilled.

Tempering that apparent good news for the health of cleanup workers, there are concerns that other substance released by the crude oil -- substances that do not dissolve as well in water -- die become airborne during the 2010 disaster. If so, they could pose a health threat to cleanup workers, the article notes.

The findings are published in the Chemical & Engineering News.