sick man. reporter: gary stubblefield in the cleanup. he travelled from alaska to an exxon office in houston where stubblefield s medical records and those of other cleanup workers were being held. records exxon has asked the court to seal for privacy reasons. i was shocked, yes. reporter: mostus says the records reveal 6,722 had gotten sick. it was explained away as a virus. the so-called exxon crud. at the time, niosh, the national night of occupational safety and health was in agreement. total b.s. the only epidemiology was that there were a few head colds that they could identify. and niosh didn t have any of the records. reporter: exxon never admitted fault in stubblefield s
we ve seen some of that. are you saying that there was no one monitoring in alaska and there was no follow up either? sanjay, there was something nothing near the type of monitoring that s going on right now in the gulf. and absolutely no follow up. in fact, exxonmobil even confirmed that to us in an e-mail, saying that the lack of studies, they say, is due largely to the fact that the cleanup workers, this is a quote, tended to be transient, temporary workers, making any medical follow-up incredibly difficult. sound familiar? congress is trying to make sure that that doesn t happen again, sanjay. i just want to point out the committee on energy and commerce has sent a letter to the chairman of exxonmobil, trying to not repeat these mistakes, asking for any and all health records that exxonmobil might have still pertaining to that 1989 spill and ask the question, really, of government itself, why there wasn t any government follow-up of these workers like
his health is literally crumbling. i m going blind. you think you were poisoned out there? yes. yes. silently poisoned. and that s what s happening to those people down in the gulf. drew is joining us now. drew, health officials are monitoring cleanup workers here in the gulf. we ve seen some of that. are you saying that there was no one monitoring in alaska and there was no follow up either? sanjay, there was certainly nothing near the type of monitoring that s going on right now in the gulf. and absolutely no follow up. in fact, exxonmobil even confirmed that to us in an e-mail, saying that the lack of studies, they say, is due largely to the fact that the cleanup workers, this is a quote, tended to be transient, temporary workers, making any medical follow-up incredibly
occupation safety and health, was in agreement at the time. total bs. the only epidemiology was there was a few head colds they could identify and niosh didn t have any of the records. exxon never admitted fault in stubblefield s case but reportedly settled the lawsuit for $2 million. one of the very few workers to get compensation. exxon says the few lawsuits brought failed to show any evidence of injuries or illnesses known to be caused by exposure to crude oil or the chemicals they used to clean it up. keeping them honest, dennis mestas, the attorney, says that he is concerned that workers cleaning up in the gulf today, may be headed for the same fate as the exxon valdez workers. they get sick while their medical records are controlled by bp. louisiana s health department has reported 128 cleanup workers believed to be sick from exposure to this spill, but bp
illnesses known to be caused by exposure to crude oil or the chemicals they used to clean it up. keeping them honest, dennis mestas, the attorney, says that he is concerned that workers, cleaning up in the gulf today, may be headed for the same fate as the exxon valdez workers. they get sick while their medical records are controlled by bp. louisiana s health department has reported 128 cleanup workers believed to be sick from exposure to this spill but bp tells us they have recorded just five illnesses related to inhalation exposures in the entire gulf. bp is also insisting that government air testing is showing, quote, we have not had a single reading above osha regulations to date. as for respirators, the company says there has been no demonstrated need for them, no single issue high enough to warrant a respirator. anything that i dr. riki ott studied the