Gulf Wracked By Katrina’s Latest Legacy--Disease,
Poisons, Mold A month after Hurricane Katrina tore through
the U.S. Gulf Coast, medical experts are now struggling with the latest crisis
in the region: contamination(污染). Katrina left New Orleans and
other communities tainted with oil, sewage, and possibly poisons leached from
federal toxic waste sites, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
says. The pollution, combined with the lack of regular medical
services in the region, has raised serious questions about the safety of New
Orleans and other coastal towns as people longing for home begin to go
back. "I don’t think New Orleans is safe for people to return
to, from a public health and environmental health standpoint, "said Miriam
Aschkenasy, an environmental health expert working with Oxfam America in the
region. Much of the contamination rests in the brown, filmy
sediment(沉淀物) left behind by Katrina’s Polluted floodwaters.
Recent EPA tests of the sediment confirmed high levels of E. coil
bacteria, oil and gas chemicals, and lead, as well as’ varying quantities of
arsenic. The health risks posed by the sediment are immediate,
experts say, because the sludge (淤泥) is nearly impossible for returning
residents to avoid. In New Orleans, it covers every surface that was flooded,
from cars and now-dead lawns to the entire contents of flooded homes, stores,
hospitals, and schools. "When people come back, they are exposed
to the sediment," said Wilma Subra, a chemist from New Iberia, Louisiana, who is
analyzing the sediment. "It’s in their yards and houses." Old Pollution
Resurfacing Plaquemines Parish, a rural county on the
peninsula south of New Orleans, is now covered with even more toxic sediment
than it was two weeks ago, thanks to Hurricane Rita. "Six inches
up to one foot (15 to 30 centimeters) of sludge," Subra reported.
Much of the sludge in Plaquemines is the product of nearby bayous and bay
bottoms, where sediment was lifted up by Katrina’s and Rita’s storm
surges. The sediment has been polluted over the years with
industrial chemicals and heavy metals, said Subra, who tested the sediment for
the Southern Mutual Help Association, a nonprofit organization in New Iberia,
Louisiana. "These water bodies have received industrial wastes
for decades," she said. "This material has toxic chemicals, metals, and organic
petrochemicals(石化产品)." Matters have only been made worse by
multiple oil spills caused by Katrina and Rita. According to the U.S. Coast
Guard, 11 oil spills, have occurred in southern Louisiana, totaling 7.4 million
gallons( 28 million liters ) of oil, most of which has been contained.
Bacteria levels are also especially high in the Plaquemines sludge, said
Rodney Mallett, spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Environmental
Quality. "The sewage treatment plants were underwater," he
explained: "Between the animal waste and the human waste, you’ve got a lot of
bacteria." Protection Kits Health and environmental
agencies are advising people to avoid contact with the sludge. They recommend
that people wear gloves, goggles, and dust masks, and that they wash promptly if
exposure occurs. EPA officials are directing people to its Web
site (www.epa.gov) to inform themselves of the contamination risks.
But most people returning to the area don’t have computers to get that
information, said Erik Olson, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense
Council, an environmental advocacy group. "If you [do] read the
Web site," he added, "you practically have to have a degree in chemistry to
understand it." To better inform people of health risks, the
Southern Mutual Help Association and Oxfam America are developing a program to
give every returning resident a protective kit. Each kit would
contain waterproof suits, goggles (风镜), shoe covers, and masks, along with
information about potential hazards. Volunteers would give out the kits at the
security checkpoints that now stand at the major entrances to affected
cities. The groups have made a hundred demonstration kits, which
cost about $100 (U.S.) each to produce, and have shown them to state leaders in
Louisiana. "The governor is really in favor of this," Subra
said. "We just have to determine how we’re going to fund them." Toxic Mold
Blooms In addition to the toxic sediment, sprawling blooms
of mold have now taken hold in many flooded homes. "The mold is growing
everywhere--homes are just coated with it," Subra said. The
problem has become so widespread that federal health officials warned Wednesday
of allergic reactions and toxic responses to the mold. Professionals should be
hired to clean mold that covers more than ten square feet (one square meter),
they urged. "Those [surfaces] that can’t be cleaned need to be
removed," said Steven Redd, chief of the Air Pollution and Respiratory Health
Branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The effects of the mold are already surfacing in Mississippi, where
respiratory (呼吸的) problems are among the illnesses doctors there are
reporting. "We’re seeing a lot of asthma from inhaling the
mold," said Richard Paat, team leader of a temporary East Biloxi clinic. "And
mouth sores from the bad water." Due to contact with unclean
water, 33 people in the flood zone have contracted Vibrio infections, according
to the CDC. The infections are caused by a family of bacteria that live in
contaminated salt water. They can cause serious illness, especially in people
with compromised immune systems. To date, six people have died
from Vibrio infections. "People had open wounds and walked
through floodwater with sewage in it," CDC spokesperson Von Roebuck said. "And
these folks were having these wounds infected with Vibrio." Disaster
Response Care "This is a highly contaminated area," said
Susan Briggs, the physician overseeing FEMA’s disaster-response medical teams in
Louisiana and Alabama. Her teams have been inoculating residents
for tetanus and Hepatitis A and B. Hepatitis is a danger when people are exposed
to sewage, through water or food, Briggs explained. Tetanus can occur when
people cut themselves on unclean materials, as may happen when cleaning
debris. The rudimentary (根本的) living conditions in many
Katrina-struck areas make it more likely that people will get sick and injured,
Briggs said. "They have no electricity, no clean water, no air
conditioning," she said. "There are collapsed structures and stray
animals. There are huge amounts of stray dogs, and people have been
bitten." Briggs and other doctors in the area have been treating
many cases of diarrhea, rashes, and upper-respiratory illnesses.
All of these conditions are to be expected after natural disasters,
according to the CDC. But it’s too soon to know if these ailments are related to
contamination, the CDC’s Roebuck said. "We’re looking at that
question," he said. "We’d like to know the answer." People are being advised to avoid contact with tile sludge by health and environmental agencies.