years later, based on on one worker that i represented. who is still sick? who is still sick to this day. even exxon was forced to concede, eventually, that gary stubblefield was a very sick man. mestas client, gary stubblefield, filed a lawsuit. he traveled from alaska to an exxon office in houston where stubblefield s medical records and thousands of others were being held, records exxon asked a court to seal for privacy reasons. of 11,000 cleanup workers, 6,722 had gotten sick. it was explained away as a simple virus, the so-called exxon crud, a flu or cold that exxon was not required to report to federal health officials. niosh, national institute of
for six weeks, he worked on a ship that super heated sea water to pressure wash exxon s crude oil off rocks. his photos on board show the steam that he says was an oily smelling mist, permeating the ship where he worked 16-hour days and that is when the cough began. nobody ever checked with us, nobody. they never did a follow up on us, never asked if we ever had any consequences of it. they could have cared less. i m serious. there was no follow up. exxon told us it doesn t know how many cleanup workers became sick. dalthorp never filed a lawsuit or a claim. he could never prove the work he did on the valdez made him sick. exxon did pay to study the health effects of almost every single creature that came in contact with oil in prince william sound. every creature, but one.
illnesses as of yet. as a doctor, i was curious, what is bp doing to monitor possible long-term health effects from the cleanup? are they taking blood samples that will allow them to track changes in liver or kidney function in workers exposed to dispersants like corexit, which isn t even used in europe because it s considered too tox toxic. i asked him about these cleanup workers. if someone has been out there, and you ve heard these complaints, i m sure, like i have. they complain of burning in their sinuses and throat, lightheadedness, nausea, headaches, what is that? is that exposure to these toxic elements? regarding the symptoms that we re seeing, we don t have a good explanation. does it surprise you there s not a good explanation? a lot of people are saying is that, look, we re smelling this stuff. we don t feel well afterwards. we are exposed to this stuff. and they do come in. and we do evaluate them. and we do treat them.
i m serious. there was no follow up. exxon told us it doesn t know how many cleanup workers became sick. dalthorp never filed a lawsuit or a claim. he could never prove the work he did on the valdez made him sick. exxon did pay to study the health effects of almost every single creature that came in contact with oil in prince william sound. every creature, but one. from clams and ssels to fish and otters and even deer and bears, but they never studied what this oil was doing to the workers, to the human beings in prince william sound. alaska attorney dennis mestas represented one of the few workers who did sue, but in the process found out that hundreds of workers involved in the cleanup had fallen sick. and you found all of this out
for joining us. thank you for having me. there you have it. let s us know what you think. the live chat is up and running. ac360.com. just ahead, my conversation with the head of bp, medical response team in the gulf and the number of cleanup workers they re treating. up next a 360 investigation, a former exxon valdez cleanup worker is speaking up about his concerns. his allegations, we re keeping them honest. the shipping industry in norway, and the rubber industry in south america? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex global economy. it s just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses, and other information to read and consider carefully before investing.