EPA releases Deepwater Horizon findings

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- The risk of cancer from the release of dioxins associated with controlled burns of the Gulf of Mexico oil slick was minimal, the EPA found.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency highlighted two peer-reviewed reports on the dioxins emitted when responders burned off parts of the oil slick from the summer spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico from April to July, when British energy company BP was able to place a temporary cap over the well. The leak was fixed in September but the disaster was one of the worst in the oil industry.

The EPA said in the reports that the levels of dioxins emitted from the controlled burns in the Gulf of Mexico were about the same as from residential wood stoves and forest fires.

The results of the reports, the EPA said, indicated that the cancer risk associated with exposure to dioxins released from controlled oil burns was less than 1 in 1 million.

The environmental agency said there were more than 400 controlled burns, which consumed at least 220,000 barrels of oil.