Page 769 - Samples News Today

And back into the water. >> lets talk about the safety of the seafood, jim. nearly 5 billion barrels of oil have gone into the gulf of mexico. that oils got to go somewhere. there are concerns its making its way up the food chain. what are the feds and the state doing to assure that the seafood is safe? >> reporter: well, theres testing thats going on right now. the fda, you know, weve heard about these tests that go on. you know, dockside, in some cases where fda officials will be doing smell t...

It is so distinct. can you see it on camera. it is unbelievable truly remarkable. what is oil under the surface of the sand. it glows in the dark but how toxic is the sand? >> is it a problem for us to be in contact with the oil in the sand? the answer is i dont know. >> reporter: why hasnt somebody tested that? >> same question ive been asking for six weeks. >> reporter: so we decided to get it tested with the help of a scientist from the university of west florida. getting a good average requi...

I hope you can because in the nak eye it is unbelievable. truly rackable. that right there is oil underneath the surface of the sand. it glows in the dark but just how toxic is this sand. >> is it a problem for us to be in contact with this petroleum product thats now mixed in with the sand? the answer to that question is -- i dont know. >> why hasnt somebody tested that? >> same question ive been asking for about six weeks. >> reporter: so we decided to get it tested with the help of the scient...

Samples violate the standards. theres a lot of contamination out there, and moat of that has to do with the weather. the more runoff and rain you have, the more contaminants that get into the water. one of the worst areas for overall vile layings happens to be in the great lakes. this is a study from 2008, by the way, and does not include the oil impact. this is a five star rating system and they grade this on a number of factors based on water quality, how things have been in the past, how ofte...

This is just like you said. layers in the grand canyon. it is so distinct. you see that on camera? i hope you can. to the naked eye, it is unbelievable. truly remarkable. that right there is oil underneath the surface of the sand. it glows in the dark but just how toxic is this sand? >> is it a problem for us to be in contact this petroleum product now mixed with the sand? the answer to that question is -- i dont know. >> reporter: why hasnt somebody tested that? >> same question i have been ask...

B, the oil is there at low levels. >> possibly healthy or safe levels? >> not necessarily hazardous levels. >> reporter: that certainly is a little bit of good news for this area. the beach that we took a wide range of samples. but just looking off to my right, theres an area of beach thats visibly stained. if you were to take a sample from there, that number likely would be higher and potentially unhealthy. but the overall health of this beach, from the samples that we took, seems to be okay. b...

Concentrated and analyze it as a liquid. >> you can take a look at the samples and begin to see the difference in them as far as that -- the oil content. >> reporter: plain as day. clear water, clear sand. further analysis puts an exact number on the contamination. >> 200 parts perfect million in the sample of sand. >> reporter: that number shall what does it mean to people watching at home? >> it says the oil is there. b, the oil is there at low levels. >> reporter: possibly -- >> not necessari...

Asking for about six weeks. >> reporter: so we decided to get it tested with the help of the scientists from the university of west florida. getting a good average requires taking samples in different spots, at different depths. all right. lets take her back to the lab. there, dr. fred heilman uses a solution to extract the sand, concentrate it and analyze it as a liquid. >> you can just take a look at these samples and you can begin to see the difference in there as far as the oil content. >> i...

Thankfully made of 5.25-inch-thick glass. i asked him if anything was going to happen, and he said in all the years hes been piloting this, no accident has ever happened. because of that dome, it gives scientists a unique opportunity to look at these coral reefs that they wouldnt get if they were up on the ship piloting. they said nothing beats being down in the ocean, able to look around and spot any damage. fredricka? >> were they able to say what they saw in these coral reefs? i noticed it lo...

Back up to the boat and analyzed them and something that was almost similar to, i guess, a csi crime lab, they took tissue samples of the corals, and also water samples. those are still being analyzed and the scientists estimate they wont have the results of those for at least a couple months. >> amber lyons, thanks so much for joining us from st. petersburg, florida. lets talk about nasty weather further north. five inches of rain fell in some places and ten towns issued disaster declarations...