Tests on Gulf spill cleanup workers show altered blood chemistry
Exposure to oil, dispersants heightens cancer risk
Researchers studying a small sampling of workers who’d helped clean up the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill found significantly altered blood profiles that could indicate an increased risk of certain kinds of cancer.
The study by researchers at the University Cancer and Diagnostic Centers in Houston, Texas included subjects that had been exposed and unexposed to the oil spill and dispersant. Using medical charts, clinical data including white blood cell count, platelets count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate amino transferase (AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT), and somatic symptom complaints by the subjects were reviewed and analyzed.