Deepwater Horizon Still Plagues the Health of Children a Decade Later
Research says children suffered physical and mental health as a result of the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history
This is The Color of Climate, a weekly column from OneZero exploring how climate change and other environmental issues uniquely impact the future of communities of color.
A Google Image search of “Deepwater Horizon aftermath” brings up an onslaught of sludge — pictures of animals, detritus, and large swaths of the Gulf of Mexico covered in crude oil. Since the massive BP-operated drilling rig exploded and led to a months-long oil spill in 2010, the area has seen massive losses to marine life, the generation of at least 35,000 tons of spill-related solid waste, and oil covering over 57,000 square miles of the Gulf.
The explosion killed 11 workers and injured 17 others, but the physical and mental health effects of the event went far beyond that, largely affecting poor people and communities of color. Thousands of people in the region became sick with a range of ailments six years after the spill, including seizures, dizziness, and leukemia. Eighty-eight workers who helped clean it up had worsening cardiac and pulmonary conditions seven years after exposure. Now, research…
