The repercussions of the BP Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico that occurred two years ago is rearing its ugly head once again. New evidence has surfaced highlighting seafood deformities found in recent catches.
Eyeless shrimp, and lesioned fish are being found in nets. Biologists are claiming that seafood populations are dropping at alarming rates and that specie richness is diminished. The Gulf Restoration Network’s Scott Eust explained the bizarre shrimp deformities. “We have some evidence of deformed shrimp, which is another developmental impact. So, that shrimp’s grandmother was exposed to oil while the mother was developing, but it’s the grandchild of the shrimp that was exposed grows up with no eyes.” Both the government and BP maintain that Gulf seafood is safe. BP released a statement last week, saying, “Seafood from the Gulf of Mexico is among the most tested in the world, and according to the FDA and NOAA, it is as safe now as it was before the accident.” A study published last October in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that the FDA allowed “up to 10,000 times too much contamination” and didn’t identify the risks to children and pregnant women posed by contaminated seafood. Additionally, the study charged that the FDA’s “scientific standards [in 2010] were less stringent” than after the Exxon Valdez spill, reported OnEarth. Even though seafood sales dropped after the spill to consumers on whole, the industry received a boost after the federal government’s commissaries bought Gulf seafood to sell at their 72 east coast bases in 2011 and 2012.
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