Effects of BP (NYSE:BP) Oil Spill on Health an Unknown

We're hearing a lot of reports lately on the potential health effects of the BP (NSYE:BP) oil spill on people affected by it, but there is really very little research that can point to anything with clarity and conviction that can be counted on to treat people.

There are some potential threats identified from past oil spills, including air quality, physical contact with oil, food contamination, and the theory of so-called mental health issues.

Those with the most likelihood of being affected physically by the oil are the cleanup workers themselves, who could have problems with skin, the nervous system and their respiratory tract.

Others who could be impacted would be those eating potentially contaminated seafood, which so far seems to be clean, although there have been some who say that may not be the case.

The government has opened up large areas in the Gulf to fishing again, so they seem to have concluded the food is safe. Oysters and shrimp seem to be the major concern, as they evidently are less apt to clean themselves quicker than other ocean life, but they seem to have been checked and been identified as edible.

The usual conflicting evidence by "experts" makes all of this difficult to pinpoint. We won't know until more time passes and the facts can be ascertained.

At this time there is little research into the consequences of oil spills on health, and until that occurs, for the most part we're all flying pretty blind, with many assertions made but little proof to back it up.

The one area we have to be more careful of is the alleged mental health issues. The net is being spread so wide as to the definition as to render it relatively meaningless.

If someone is out of work and discouraged, there are certain people calling it a mental health issue. That's ridiculous, and there are other such things like that which are simply a normal part of living life.

There are almost 10 million Americans out of work, and we can't say all of them have mental health issues because they are having difficulty finding a job.

The problem there is there is a lot of underfunding in this particular field from the overall recession, and unfortunately there are those looking to the BP disaster as an opportunity to raise money or get a piece of the pie BP is paying out.