Page 7 - Cleanup Workers News Today

>> reporter: silently poisoned. >> and thats whats happening to those people in the gulf. >> now, john and kate, bp and the federal officials insist that is not going to happen down in the gulf. that they are monitoring the air there. but a congressional committee is now getting involved in this. the house energy and commerce committee which has been holding hearings on bp now has sent a letter to exxonmobil, asking exxonmobil to dig boo its files from 1989 and fork over any health records it ha...

Refusing to do that. the next day, they began to turn overall of this information and there was, as a result, an increase in the transparency. but i think were going to have to monitor this situation on an ongoing basis because nobody knows better than you, there are physical harms here, but there are also mental health consequences to this event because peoples lives are being affected in a way that could change the whole course of familys histories. >> it really is remarkable. being down here,...

>> alaska attorney dennis mestis 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 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 stum pch stubblefield, was a very sick man. >> he traveled from alaska to an exxon office in houston where stubblefie...

>> its amazing, nowhere near the monitoring thats 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 whats 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, its poss...

They get sick while their medical records are controlled by bp. louisianas 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 ...

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 didnt have any of the records. >> exxon never ad...

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 doesnt 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 ...

Physical harms here, but there are also mental health consequences to this event because peoples lives are being affected in a way that could change the whole course of familys histories. >> it really is remarkable. being down here, congressman, for the reasons you just mentioned. thats exactly what well be talking about today, the physical and mental toll its taking. congressman ed markey, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> there you have it. the live chat is up and runnin...

And thats whats happening -- going to happen to those people down in the gulf. >> were they concerned about your health? >> they never asked us. they never said anything. nobody ever checked with us. nobody. they never did a follow-up on us, never asked if we had any consequences of it. they could have cared less. im serious. there was no follow-up. >> and today bp is facing similar accusations as well. louisianas health department has reported 128 cleanup workers who have been sickened. clinics...

Of those images. do we have a current count on the number oanimals killed by >> it comes from the fish and wildlife service. birds, 1,387 versus 94aliv0 with visible oil. 444 dead and then oil. its frankly not a pretty picture at all right now in the gulf. >> i just remember seeing those images from the very start. and theyre still so heartbreaking to look at, joe. thanks so much. its not just wildlife getting sick, as you can imagine. tomorrow on "360" a disturbing question. might bp be tryin...