Said this worker,  "I am a native of Alaska.  I needed to work because there was no fishing in my area.  I was allowed to work by the union hall.  I worked July, Aug, Sept, 1989 on a barge that was just out from the beach workers applying the chemicals.  I was the deck wench operator.  Our barge was about 50 feet out from land and the oil response technicians.  I watched the lead supervisor of the beach crews to know when to position the barge upwind or downwind from them, and brought them gear & picked up gear from them:  Rubber boots, etc; it was washed and brought back to the main barge - to a Navy Boat  .  . .  Actually I was assigned to a diving barge co, but it went bankrupt.  We ate and slept on the little barge.  It was around Disk Island that we worked.
 

How do I feel? I have diabetes, high blood pressure & there is some concern about my eyes.  The blood veins are shrinking - vision is blurry;  I'm on all kinds of pills.  There was a cyst removed from my kidney.  I think it was non cancerous.

I do feel tired and depressed sometimes, too.  The hair came out of my head - the size of a silver dollar.  It has grown back and fallen out again.

leathery skin:

Another worker shared similar things, and that the skin around the back of his neck was all leathery.  Nothing seemed to help.

 

 
Dear JD,
 
Thank you for calling today. 
 
From the time period you worked and the general location you were working in during the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup, there is a strong possibility that you, too, came in contact with the Inipol EAP 22 that the bioremediation workers were using.(10-12% was 2-butoxyethanol)
 
I have enclosed some information on a disk... you can put it in any computer;  tell them this is a new disk & I just made these copies for you and your doctor.  I hope you have medical help that is open to checking into what I have learned about.  In general doctors are not trained in chemical poisoning, but there are chemical experts who are willing to work with medical doctors.  Your doctor can order the same tests for you.  This page is good to share more information with your doctor:  www.valdezlink.com/evos/no_fear.htm
 
They need to check the blood in depth, Complete Blood Counts; check the percentage of juvenile red blood cells to the whole red blood cells;  look at the red blood cells under a microscope.  Look for hemolytic anemia.  It should have showed up in 1989.  It  should still be with you.

 

 

You say you have diabetes.  .  .  

high blood pressure?

It could be that the chemicals we are learning about 

cause endocrine disruption... 

and affect the immune system.  

Not JUST diabetes,

 but multiple other systems are not functioning as they should.

 
 
You need to regularly be checked for kidney and liver function;  you need to avoid all chemicals as much as possible  Especially avoid alcohol (same family as 2-butoxyethanol)
 
We need to learn from the workers what has happened.  I hope you will share your medical information.  As you take a stand, you will help others... and together you can stop this from ever happening to another group of workers.
 
Sincerely,
 
 
 
Margaret Diann 
 PO Box 233
Valdez, AK 99686
 
Please share this info with other workers
& ask them to call, too
1-888-853-5333

Some of these worked the same?

July 18, 2003

Whatever you do, "Don't talk to the Parrot!"