CHALMETTE, La. - When a BP oil well began gushing crude into the Gulf of Mexico four years ago, fisherman George Barisich used his boat to help cleanup some of the millions of gallons of oil that spewed out in what became the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.
Like so many Gulf Coast residents who pitched in after the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, Barisich was motivated by a desire to help and a need to make money because the oil spill had destroyed his livelihood.
Today, he regrets that decision. Barisich, 58, worries his life has been permanently altered after the respiratory problems he developed during the cleanup turned into pneumonia.
“After that, I found out that I couldn’t run. I couldn’t exert past a walk,” he said.
Barisich is among thousands considering claims under a medical settlement BP reached with cleanup workers and coastal residents.
The settlement, which could benefit about 200,000 people, received final approval in February from a federal court.
It establishes set amounts of money - up to $60,700 in some cases - to cover the costs of ailments for those who can document that they worked the spill and developed related illnesses, such as respiratory problems or skin conditions.
It also provides for physical examinations every three years for up to 21 years, and it reserves a worker’s right to sue BP over conditions that develop down the road, if the worker believes he can prove a connection to the spill.
About 33,000 people, including Barisich, are participating in a federal study to determine any short or possible long-term health effects related to the spill.
“We know from … research that’s been done on other oil spills, that people one to two years after … had respiratory symptoms and changes in their lung function, and then after a couple of years people start to return to normal,” said Dr. Dale
Sandler, who leads the study overseen by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, an arm of the National Institutes of Health.
“What nobody’s ever done is ask the question: Well, after five years or 10 years, are people more likely to develop heart disease, or are they more likely to get cancer? And I’m sure that’s what people who experienced this oil spill are worried about.”
The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health, which received a $10 million award from London based BP, part of $500 million the oil giant has committed to spend over 10 years for environmental and health research.
Researchers compiled a list of 100,000 candidates, drawn from sources including rosters of mandatory safety classes that cleanup crews attended and from records of people who were issued badges permitting access to oiled areas.
They reached about 33,000 for interviews.
About 11,000 of those people agreed to physical examinations that include blood and blood pressure tests and measurements of lung function.
Water and air samples taken during the spill also will be used to pinpoint how much exposure workers may have had to toxic substances.
Sandler emphasized that making any direct correlation between health concerns and the spill could prove challenging because many of the workers held other jobs that put them in contact with oil.
Some worked with boat engines, did regular hazard mediation work or worked at chemical plants. Many also are smokers.
The researchers will try to account for smoking or other factors that could ruin health, and focus on problems tied to spill exposure. They plan to monitor the health of study participants for at least 10 to 15 years.
Aside from physical health, Sandler also is interested in whether chemical exposure and the stress of working the spill might have contributed to any mental health problems.
“We’re not in a position to say that yet,” she said.
Fisherman and former cleanup worker Bert Ducote said he has experienced physical and emotional pain. Ducote said dozens of boils have turned up on his neck, back and stomach since the spill - and he theorizes that his problems stem from the cleanup.
Ducote said he spent months handling a boom used to corral oil.
Even with protective gear and rubber boots, he said his shirt often got wet with the combination of crude oil, sea water and chemical dispersant. Ducote said he is filing a claim under the medical settlement.
“That has been a disaster in our lives,” said Ducote, from Meraux, La., in coastal St. Bernard Parish.
“The little amount of money they’re trying to give us, it’s never going to replace our quality of life, our health.”
Business, Pages 31 on 04/12/2014