it s amazing, nowhere near the monitoring that s going on now. certainly no follow-up whatsoever. i got a statement from exxonmobil last night said, hey, the lack of studies is due largely to the fact that the cleanup workers tend to be transient workers making any follow-up incredibly difficult. does that sound like what s going on today? yeah, pretty much. drew griffith with that story. thanks very much. potentially good news coming from the gulf. bp is saying in a perfect world, it s possible that the relief well could be scheduled ahead of schedule. it coincides with the big events for the oil giant. so is this more of an optimistic and realistic look? we ll explain. makes me sad. i . sarge: that s interesting. you know what makes me sad? you do! maybe we should chug on over to mambie pambie land where maybe we can find some self-confidence for you.
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. rickie ott studied the exxon valdez spill 21 years ago. with this bp spill, she says, once again, out-of-work fishermen are lining up for cleanup jobs that she says will put them in harm s way. i feel like bp is forcing
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 crude, a flu or cold that exxon was not required to report to federal health officials. niosh, national institute of 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
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 roy dalthorp. right. it s interesting, drew. so much in medicine is predicated on lessons learned. that s how you build knowledge. stick around and listen to this.
physical harms here, but there are also mental health consequences to this event because people s lives are being affected in a way that could change the whole course of family s histories. it really is remarkable. being down here, congressman, for the reasons you just mentioned. that s exactly what we ll be talking about today, the physical and mental toll it s taking. congressman ed markey, thank you for joining us. thank you for having me. there you have it. 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, former exxon valdez cleanup worker is speaking up about his concerns. his allegations, we re keeping them honest. can stream livdeo to t web.