Questão Q454487 - Língua Inglesa

Question

Experts Try to Gauge Health Effects of Gulf Oil Spill Wednesday, June 23, 2010 WEDNESDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) - ThisTuesday and Wednesday, a high-ranking group ofexpert government advisors is meeting to outline andanticipate potential health risks from the Gulf oil spill -5 and find ways to minimize them.The workshop, convened by the Institute ofMedicine (IOM) at the request of the U.S. Departmentof Health and Human Services, will not issue anyformal recommendations, but is intended to spur10 debate on the ongoing spill.“We know that there are several contaminations.We know that there are several groups of people —workers, volunteers, people living in the area,” saidDr. Maureen Lichtveld, a panel member and professor15 and chair of the department of environmental healthsciences at Tulane University School of Public Healthand Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. “We’re goingto discuss what the opportunities are for exposure andwhat the potential short- and long-term health effects20 are. That’s the essence of the workshop, to look atwhat we know and what are the gaps in science,”Lichtveld explained.High on the agenda: discussions of who is mostat risk from the oil spill, which started when BP’s25 Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank in the Gulfof Mexico on April 20, killing 11 workers. The spill hasalready greatly outdistanced the 1989 Exxon Valdezspill in magnitude.“Volunteers will be at the highest risk,” one panel30 member, Paul Lioy of the University of Medicine &Dentistry of New Jersey and Rutgers University,stated at the conference. He was referring largely tothe 17,000 U.S. National Guard members who arebeing deployed to help with the clean-up effort.35 Many lack extensive training in the types ofhazards — chemical and otherwise — that they’ll befacing, he said. That might even include the poisonoussnakes that inhabit coastal swamps, Lioy noted. ManyNational Guard members are “not professionally40 trained. They may be lawyers, accountants, yournext-door neighbor,” he pointed out.Seamen and rescue workers, residents livingin close proximity to the disaster, people eating fishand seafood, tourists and beach-goers will also face45 some risk going forward, Dr. Nalini Sathiakumar, anoccupational epidemiologist and pediatrician at theUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham, added duringthe conference.Many of the ailments, including nausea, headache50 and dizziness, are already evident, especially inclean-up workers, some of whom have had to behospitalized.“Petroleum has inherent hazards and I wouldsay the people at greatest risk are the ones actively55 working in the region right now,” added Dr. JeffKalina, associate medical director of the emergencydepartment at The Methodist Hospital in Houston. “Ifpetroleum gets into the lungs, it can cause quite a bitof damage to the lungs [including] pneumonitis, or60 inflammation of the lungs.”“There are concerns for workers near the source.They do have protective equipment on but do theyneed respirators?” added Robert Emery, vice presidentfor safety, health, environment and risk management65 at the University of Texas Health Science Center atHouston.Physical contact with volatile organic compounds(VOCs) and with solvents can cause skin problemsas well as eye irritation, said Sathiakumar, who noted70 that VOCs can also cause neurological symptomssuch as confusion and weakness of the extremities.“Some of the risks are quite apparent and somewe don’t know about yet,” said Kalina. “We don’t knowwhat’s going to happen six months or a year from75 now.” Copyright (c) 2010 HealthDay. All rights reserved. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_100305.html, retrieved on September 9th, 2010. Experts Try to Gauge Health Effects of Gulf Oil Spill Wednesday, June 23, 2010 WEDNESDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) - ThisTuesday and Wednesday, a high-ranking group ofexpert government advisors is meeting to outline andanticipate potential health risks from the Gulf oil spill -5 and find ways to minimize them.The workshop, convened by the Institute ofMedicine (IOM) at the request of the U.S. Departmentof Health and Human Services, will not issue anyformal recommendations, but is intended to spur10 debate on the ongoing spill.“We know that there are several contaminations.We know that there are several groups of people —workers, volunteers, people living in the area,” saidDr. Maureen Lichtveld, a panel member and professor15 and chair of the department of environmental healthsciences at Tulane University School of Public Healthand Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. “We’re goingto discuss what the opportunities are for exposure andwhat the potential short- and long-term health effects20 are. That’s the essence of the workshop, to look atwhat we know and what are the gaps in science,”Lichtveld explained.High on the agenda: discussions of who is mostat risk from the oil spill, which started when BP’s25 Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank in the Gulfof Mexico on April 20, killing 11 workers. The spill hasalready greatly outdistanced the 1989 Exxon Valdezspill in magnitude.“Volunteers will be at the highest risk,” one panel30 member, Paul Lioy of the University of Medicine &Dentistry of New Jersey and Rutgers University,stated at the conference. He was referring largely tothe 17,000 U.S. National Guard members who arebeing deployed to help with the clean-up effort.35   Many lack extensive training in the types ofhazards — chemical and otherwise — that they’ll befacing, he said. That might even include the poisonoussnakes that inhabit coastal swamps, Lioy noted. ManyNational Guard members are “not professionally40 trained. They may be lawyers, accountants, yournext-door neighbor,” he pointed out.Seamen and rescue workers, residents livingin close proximity to the disaster, people eating fishand seafood, tourists and beach-goers will also face45 some risk going forward, Dr. Nalini Sathiakumar, anoccupational epidemiologist and pediatrician at theUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham, added duringthe conference.Many of the ailments, including nausea, headache50 and dizziness, are already evident, especially inclean-up workers, some of whom have had to behospitalized.“Petroleum has inherent hazards and I wouldsay the people at greatest risk are the ones actively55 working in the region right now,” added Dr. JeffKalina, associate medical director of the emergencydepartment at The Methodist Hospital in Houston. “Ifpetroleum gets into the lungs, it can cause quite a bitof damage to the lungs [including] pneumonitis, or60 inflammation of the lungs.”“There are concerns for workers near the source.They do have protective equipment on but do theyneed respirators?” added Robert Emery, vice presidentfor safety, health, environment and risk management65 at the University of Texas Health Science Center atHouston.Physical contact with volatile organic compounds(VOCs) and with solvents can cause skin problemsas well as eye irritation, said Sathiakumar, who noted70 that VOCs can also cause neurological symptomssuch as confusion and weakness of the extremities.“Some of the risks are quite apparent and somewe don’t know about yet,” said Kalina. “We don’t knowwhat’s going to happen six months or a year from75 now.” Copyright (c) 2010 HealthDay. All rights reserved. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_100305.html, retrieved on September 9th, 2010. In paragraph 9, Dr. Jeff Kalina affirms that “Petroleum has inherent hazards...” (line 53) because he feels that

Gran Questões · Accepted Answer

direct exposure to the chemicals it contains can cause different kinds of health disorders.

Gran Questões · Answer

it is neurologically harmful for the family of workers in oil rigs.

Gran Questões · Answer

the health risks associated with oil prospection are completely unpredictable.

Gran Questões · Answer

the damages it causes on the environment are intrinsic to the way oil is being explored.

Gran Questões · Answer

all of the risks associated with the oil production are known but are not made public.

In paragraph 9, Dr. Jeff Kalina affirms that “Petroleum has...