I am a marine toxicologist, and I've been very, very concerned about the Gulf, particularly about the massive applications of the toxic dispersants, the Corexits. I've been working on ocean pollution for quite a long time -- the impacts on marine life and particularly the impacts on marine mammals. As it turns out, marine mammals are at the top of this food chain that we're pouring millions of tons of toxic substances into every year. And they are showing the signs of this. I'm sorry to have a sad slide like this, but not everything is all that happy, especially in my work. They are loaded with toxic chemicals in their body, hundreds of compounds, all kinds of compounds -- it's staggering. And they're dying off rather regularly, tens of thousands around the world. It's predicted they may go extinct -- about a third of them -- within about 30 years.
我是一個海洋毒物學家, 我非常非常擔心墨西哥灣, 尤其是大量使用那些 有毒的分散劑, 叫做 Corexit。 我致力於解決海洋污染問題 已經有很長一段時間了 -- 研究污染對於海洋生命的衝擊,特別是對於那些 海洋哺乳類動物的衝擊問題。 結果,這些海洋哺乳類動物 是在整個食物鏈的最上層, 而我們每年都會 將上百萬噸的毒害物質 倒進海洋裡面, 而現在,種種跡象正慢慢浮現。 我很抱歉放這個令人難過的投影片, 可是不是每件事都是令人開心的, 尤其是在我的工作項目裡。 在它們的體內, 含有許多的有毒化學物質, 幾百種化學成份, 有各種的成份 -- 這是很驚人的 。 它們因此大量的死亡, 全世界有成千上萬的死亡量。 專家估計,在未來30年內 -- 大約有 1/3 的數量 -- 會從這個世界上消失。
So my project is along the Northwest Atlantic. It's called Seals as Sentinels. We're tracking pollution at the top of the food web, in marine mammals and fish. It's a region-wide, eco-toxicological investigation. We're looking at a lot of compounds, but recently been quite interested in the flame retardants, the brominated flame retardants that are in many, many things that we use in our everyday life, from the cushions in the chairs we're all sitting on to the plastic casings of our computers, our television sets and so on. So we are tracking how do these things get from the products into the ocean, which is the final sink for them. And there's quite a complicated pathway for that because, as these products age, they get concentrated in dust, and then they also get thrown out, so they go to the landfills. They wind up in waste water treatment plants. As you all know, we throw out billions of computers and TVs every year. And those go to e-waste dumps. And all that gets into surface waters, eventually reaching the ocean, the final sink. So, in our study, we did find quite high levels, as we expected, of these flame retardants in the harbor seals' bodies. And we reported this. It led to a ban of this neuro-toxic flame retardant called Deca in Maine, where I am based, and also then a phase-out, U.S.-wide, at the end of last year. But we said, well, on the bright side, our harbor seals at least will not be bursting into flame anytime soon.
我的專案是沿著西北大西洋進行。 專案名稱為 "以海豹作為哨兵"。 我們追蹤食物鏈最上層的污染狀況, 主要針對海洋哺乳類動物以及魚類。 這是一項跨區域的 生態毒性調查研究。 我們研究很多種化學成份, 不過最近對於防火材料特別感興趣, 那種由溴化物製成的防火材料, 存在於許多東西中, 都是我們日常生活每天會使用的東西, 從我們用平常 坐的椅墊, 到電腦或電視機 的塑膠外殼都有。 我們在追蹤 這些東西到底是怎麼從 這些產品跑到海洋裡, 海洋變成了最後的污水槽。 關於這個,有一條非常複雜的途徑。 因為,當我們使用這些產品一陣子以後, 他們就會變得老舊, 接著就被我們丟棄,送到垃圾掩埋場去。 它們最後會跑到廢水處理廠去。 你知道的,我們每年會丟棄 數十億台電腦和電視。 它們會被送到電子廢棄物垃圾場, 然後全都跑進地表污水, 最後會進入海洋中,那個最後的污水槽裡。 所以,在我們的研究中, 如我們預期的,我們確實在麻斑海豹的體內 發現很高含量的防火材料。 於是我們將這件事公佈出來, 結果讓 Deca 這種具有神經毒性的防火材料 在我所在的緬因州被禁止使用, 而在去年底, 那東西在全美國都不准使用。 我們說,好吧,從好的一面來看, 至少我們的麻班海豹 不會被火燒掉。
So then I got really curious, myself, as a toxicologist, and I donated some blood to my lab and said, "Okay, let's do it." Well, we detected 113 different compounds in my blood. And I must say, if any of you would have this done, you'd probably find a similar profile, or cocktail, as they call it. But I was the recipient of a lot of flame retardant material for some reason. And just to point out the levels -- Americans have 10 to 40 times higher levels of these compounds in our bodies than the Europeans. Why? Because we are flame-retarding everything, and we have weak regulations for toxic chemicals. But lo and behold, I'm one of the high-end individuals. Lucky me. But then I thought, well, in case of a fire, I might be the last one to ignite.
身為一個毒物學家, 我對體內的毒物含量感到好奇, 我捐了一點血給我的實驗室, 然後說,"好吧,我們來分析看看。" 結果,我們在我的血液裡面 偵測到 113 種化學成份。 我必須告訴大家,如果你們有人想做這個分析, 你大概會得到類似的結果, 像雞尾酒一樣(很多東西混在一起)。 一定有某種原因 讓我成為防火材料的接收者, 看看這些含量 -- 美國人體內所具有的防火材料成份含量, 比起歐洲人來說 高出 10~40 倍。 為什麼? 因為我們什麼都要用防火材料, 我們對於毒化物質 沒有很強力的管制。 但是看吧,我是最高含量的一員, 我真幸運。 不過,後來我想, 好吧,當火災發生時,我說不定是最後一個著火的人。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
So anyway, here's the problem -- and it is a problem that we're looking at in the Gulf today -- we're not regulating chemicals in this country properly. We're hardly regulating them at all. And we're letting industry run the show. And Jackie Savitz spoke this morning about Big Oil and the propaganda and how we're all brainwashed with their, you know, lies and so forth. Well, Big Chemical is what we're dealing with here. And they're allowed to keep trade secrets, so they don't even give the ingredients out. Plus they don't give health and safety data, so, consequently, they cannot be regulated before they go to market. So it's a case of innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof is not on the producer.
無論如何,現在有個問題 -- 就是我們目前在墨西哥灣所面對的問題 -- 我們國家對於化學物質管制並不夠確實, 我們根本很難去管制它們, 我們只能眼看這些業者作戲。 Jackie Savitz 今天早上的演說, 談到了這個大量漏油問題 以及石油公司的宣傳, 讓我們知道我們是怎麼被 他們的那些謊話所洗腦。 嗯,我們在這裡所談的 是大量的化學物質, 而他們的商業機密是被保障的, 所以他們連成份都不肯說, 甚至他們連健康與安全資料也不給, 結果,他們在進入市場前 是完全無法被管制的。 任何人在被證明有罪之前都是清白的, 但製造商並不需要負舉證責任。
So I then was invited to go to the Gulf in May. I went down there on a preliminary investigation to look into dispersants and how they're going into the water column and so forth. And I was told that I was the only toxicologist to date who was dumb enough to get into the water, but I did. And we dove in the slick without even HazMat gear. And I did get sick. I got a ferocious sore throat two days later. I felt like my throat was on fire. But it did pass. And what I did see in the water as we went down, what really shocked me -- and it's haunted me ever since -- because I could see the droplets of oil dispersing. And as you go down, they're catching all kinds of plankton, bumping into, you know, little wisps of life that are the food for the planktivores, the herring kind of fish. And you could just see the web of death as you go down in the water column.
所以我在五月份被邀請 去了墨西哥灣, 我跑到海底 去進行初步調查研究, 來找出分散劑, 以及它們是如何進入水域內等。 而我被告知 我是有史以來頭一個 笨到想進入水中的毒物學家, 但是我確實這麼做了。 我們沒穿戴任何毒化物防護裝備, 直接潛入浮油層下面, 結果我生病了。 兩天後我的喉嚨痛得厲害, 我覺得喉嚨就像有火在燒一樣, 不過後來好了。 當我們潛到海底,我看見了 令我非常驚訝的景象--之後還常常出現在我的腦海裡-- 因為我可以看見許多小油滴正在分散, 愈潛到海底,就愈能看到他們正影響著 各種浮游生物, 要知道,這些纖細的小生命 是那些濾食性魚類的食物, 例如鯡魚(鯖魚)之類的魚。 當你潛入水底,進到這塊水域時, 你可以看見死亡的食物鏈。
Well, you know, we got into this in the beginning as a trade-off, they say, between the wetlands versus the ocean depth. And I didn't agree with that decision at the time; I still don't. The decision was to protect the marshes. When the oil gets into the marshes, you can't get it out. And as you know, there's been a very weak response, up until recently, to actually collect the oil. It's gotten much more aggressive. This is an Exxon slide showing what happens, the scenario and the trade-off. So this shows oil on the surface. You can see it getting up into the mangrove, but it is not harming the corals or the sea grass, right. So here we have the other scenario. If you disperse, the sea grass and the corals are getting hit pretty hard, but you're saving the mangrove. So this, to me, is like going to the eye doctor, okay? Is it better with one or two?
要知道,我們進到海底那時, 正是他們開始 討論要救陸上的沼澤, 還是要救深海的時候。 我當時不同意他們做的決定, 我現在仍然不同意。 他們選擇保護陸上的沼澤。 當油污進入沼澤時,你不可能把它除去。 你知道,他們一直都沒作什麼回應, 直到最近才有動作, 開始真正的在收集漏油。 狀況越來越糟糕了。 Exxon(埃克森美孚公司)提出的投影片, 說明了現在的狀況,以及可能的選擇。 這表示漏油正在海面上, 你可以看見它逐漸進入紅樹林中, 但是這樣並不會傷害珊瑚, 或是海草。對吧? 這裡是另一種狀況, 如果使用分散劑,會對海草與珊瑚 造成嚴重的衝擊, 但是你可以拯救紅樹林。 對我來說,這就像是眼科醫生常問你的, 你覺得一隻眼睛比較清楚還是兩隻眼睛比較清楚?
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
The problem is that we have released so darn much of this stuff, we're climbing up to two million gallons very quickly. And then there's the problem of the plumes. What plumes? It turns out there are plumes. Independent researchers found that. And then there's the looming, messy problem of human health, reported human health effects. And actually, one of our federal officials said that it was probably heat stress. So ... Having been in that water just for the short time I was there, I can tell you, it is not heat stress. There are volumes of volatile petroleum fumes coming off that water, plus the Corexit, which has solvent in it. So it is not at all rational.
問題是我們目前遇到的是 有那麼大量的漏油, 目前仍在持續快速增加, 就快要到 200 萬加侖了。 接下來還有熱柱(與火山活動有關)問題。 熱柱? 獨立研究機構發現 熱柱出現了。 接下來還出現了蜃景, 還有對人類健康很不利的問題也出現了, 已有研究報告指出這類健康問題。 事實上,有一位聯邦官員曾說過, 這只是熱應力所造成的現象。所以 ... 對於曾經進入那水裡的我, 雖然只是短時間, 我可以告訴你,那不是熱應力。 那兒有大量的 石油揮發氣體從水中散出, 另外還要加上 已經溶在裡面的 Corexit (分散劑)。 所以這一點都不合理。
So what do we have? The BP show is going on. Our officials complained about Corexit, which is the most toxic line of dispersants. But heck, they're still using it, and they used the most toxic one, the 9527, until they ran out of supplies. Now they're on 9500. 9527 had 2-butoxyethanol in it that causes internal bleeding. We know that from the Exxon Valdez spill, by the way. So what we're doing, we're putting compounds with petroleum solvents onto a petroleum spill. Does this make sense? So this is the way it works. And I want to show you this cute little thing that happens here. It's a micelle. Micelles form around the oil. And what happens first is the solvents break into the oil, the lipid membrane, they let the surfactants in there. The surfactants -- which are like things we use on fast food wrappers -- they grab around the droplets of oil, and they make little, tiny droplets with nice, little surfactant edges to them. The thing to remember about the micelles -- these little floating globules of toxin -- is they are there to deliver. They're like the FedEx guys. And if you're a fish, and you haven't gotten your glob in the morning, you're going to get it in the afternoon, because they've got your number.
那麼,那到底是什麼? BP 公司仍然在演戲。 雖然我們的官員針對 Corexit 提出抱怨, 因為那是在分散劑中 毒性最強的物質。 但是,很可惡,他們仍然在使用它啊, 以前毒性最強的那個 9527, 也是直到他們用完了才停止使用。 現在他們改用 9500。 9527 含有乙二醇單丁醚, 這會造成體內出血, 我們是從上次埃克森美孚公司漏油事件中知道這件事。 所以我們正在做的,是將含有石油溶劑的物質 倒進洩漏出來的石油裡。 這有意義嗎? 這就是現況。 我想讓大家看看這種小巧的東西。 這是膠粒, 膠粒會在油的周圍集結。 首先, 溶劑會跑進油裡, 而脂質薄膜, 則會讓介面活性劑跑進去。 介面活性劑 -- 就像是 我們用來包速食的紙 -- 它們會把一小滴的油團團圍住, 形成小小的液滴, 外面包覆著 介面活性劑。 關於這些膠粒,要記住的是 -- 這些有毒、懸浮著的 小水珠 -- 就是靠這些膠粒在傳遞。 它們就像是快遞一樣。 如果你是一隻魚, 就算早上沒有吃到這個水珠, 下午也會吃到, 因為它們已經幫你準備好了。
So from a toxicology perspective, this is really awful because Corexit and the dispersed oil are much more toxic together than either alone. And usually the exposure is a combined exposure. The dispersants -- as I was saying -- their job is to break down the lipid membrane. The solvents in them do that very efficiently. So they break down lipid membranes in our body, starting with cells of the skin, the cells of organs. So it actually hastens oil getting into the body easily and readily. Oil contains hundreds of hydrocarbon compounds and other compounds that are toxic to every organ in the body. And so with the dispersants combined, you have this very synergistic combined toxicity. Corexit also contains petroleum solvents and many other toxic compounds. And I'm part of a chat group, which is a national group of toxicologists and chemists that are, you know, basically turning cartwheels trying to figure out what's in this stuff, and what is it doing and what are the interactions of these chemicals, most of which we don't know, and what are their byproducts, which are usually more toxic than the parent compound. So we did find that Corexit 9500 contains heavy metals, arsenic and chromium -- arsenic at high enough levels to have cancer-causing effects.
所以從毒物學的角度來看, 這是很可怕的一件事, 一旦Corexit和這些擴散開的油結合起來, 其毒性將比二者分別獨立存在時 還要更強。 而且通常被發現時, 都是一起被發現的。 這些分散劑 -- 如先前所說 -- 它們的任務是將 脂質薄膜給分解掉, 分散劑內含的溶劑相當有效率。 而當它們在我們的體內 將脂質薄膜分解時, 會從我們的表皮的細胞 以及器官的細胞開始分解, 然後很輕易並迅速地 促使油滴跑進 身體內部。 油滴含有數百種碳氫化合物 以及其他成份, 這些對於身體器官都是有毒的物質。 加上分散劑聯手以後, 你就會得到加成效應的 毒害影響。 Corexit 也含有石油溶劑 以及許多其他有害的成份。 我是某個談話組織的成員, 那是一個包含著毒物學家 與化學家的國際團體, 基本上是在研究 這些毒物裡究竟含有哪些成份, 以及它的影響性,還有這些化學物質 會產生什麼交互作用,不過大部分我們都還不知道, 還有它們的副產物會是什麼, 通常這些副產物會比本來的東西還要更毒。 所以呢,我們發現了 Corexit 9500 包含了重金屬,砷和鉻 -- 砷在高含量的時候 會有致癌的影響性。
So this is what we have to look at, these, you know, ridiculous safety data sheets, which have nothing on them much. And now they were forced to release the ultimate list of everything that's in Corexit. And guess what, tons of stuff is missing. Derivatives, derivatives, these are whole big groups of many, many compounds, these sorbitans. And then you get down to the petroleum distillates, which are the solvents, hundreds of them. They are not identified. And why? Trade secrets again. BP's running the show, and the Nalco company, this is all they have to do. So far these ingredients have not been released, and toxicologists are actually going nuts because we cannot predict with certainty what the interactions and toxic results are going to be.
所以這是我們正在觀察的, 你知道嗎?這些可笑的安全資料表 裡面幾乎沒提到什麼。 現在他們被強迫釋出 Corexit 所有成份清單。 猜猜結果如何? 少了一大堆東西。 衍生物,衍生物,這些都是 化學合成物質,以及這些山梨糖醇酐。 而當你往下看到石油蒸餾物時, 也就是那些溶劑, 它們有上百種, 但沒有明確寫出來,為什麼呢? 又是商業機密。 BP 還在演戲, 還有 Nalco公司(生產Corexit),這是他們必須做的事。 目前為止,這些成份還沒被公佈出來, 毒物學家們都快瘋了, 因為我們沒辦法準確去預測 有哪些交互作用 以及毒害影響將會發生。
But we do have quite a lot at risk down there, as we all know, the 33 wildlife refuges, so much wildlife and fish and diversity. So we know from previous spills. And then part of this is just part of my bad dreams. And I appreciate being able to vent some of my anguish upon you. What we do know is that the corals are going to get hit hard. And this is a study that was done on the Australian coast, the coast of Tasmania. Corals are, you know, the home to about a quarter of all marine species. And with the Corexit and the oil, there's zero percent fertilization. With oil alone, there's 98 percent fertilization. So they're a very sensitive species to this combo.
不過我們可以確知, 海底下有著很大的危機存在。 第33號野生動物保護區, 有那麼多的野生動物, 魚類,以及許多其他的物種。 我們從上一次的漏油事件可以知道一些事, 但這部份對我來說, 則是我的惡夢之一, 我很感激有這個機會, 能夠將我的痛苦 宣洩給各位知道。 我們知道的是,珊瑚礁會受到嚴重的衝擊。 這是一個在澳洲海岸 所進行的研究調查, 那是在塔斯馬尼亞海岸。 你知道的,珊瑚礁是 1/4 海洋生物的家。 當有 Corexit 以及油存在時, 受精的機率是0。 只有油存在時,受精的機率是98%。 所以,珊瑚對於Corexit和油結合所產生的影響, 是很敏感的。
Here's another group. I could see myself easily in the water column. The plankton and the plankton eaters, you know, these are the little herring fish that go through the water column with their mouths open, feeding indiscriminately and just lapping up this brown pudding of toxic stuff. And we do know from other studies that this is a highly toxic mixture. See the oil and Corexit is causing death at a much, much lower dose than oil alone. That's probably as far as what we do know about toxic effects. But my bad dreams go like this. The piscivorous fish, the cobia, grouper, amberjacks, those big fish, also the tuna and sharks, are going to hit by this. And the gills are quite sensitive. The respiratory system is very sensitive. Think about it with the Corexit hitting the membranes, and it will clog up the gills, and then these animals are going to be getting something like what you call chemical pneumonia, trying to aspirate the compounds. It also will cause internal bleeding upon ingestion. I'm very worried about the air-breathing mammals because I study them, but also, the way their going to be exposed is every time they come to the surface to take a breath, they're going to inhale these volatile fumes. And what does happen with that eventually is pneumonia sets in and liver, kidney, brain damage. The Corexit is transporting the oil into every membrane and every system of the body. And you're having a lot of different unpleasant effects, but burns to the eyes and mouth, skin ulcers, lesions. And I think, personally, that we have not begun to see the impacts of this spill on the wildlife of the Gulf.
這是另外一群生物。 在水域之中,我可以很容易辨識出它們。 那些浮游生物以及浮游生物的掠食者, 你知道的,就是那些魚(鯖魚), 當它們張開嘴經過這片水域, 任意的覓食, 於是就吃下這些 毒性物作成的棕色布丁。 我們從另一份研究中得知, 這是高毒性的混合物。 看著油和 Corexit 造成的死亡, 它的致死劑量 遠低於只有油的時候。 這是大概是目前為止, 我們對於毒性的了解。 但是我的惡夢還不只於此, 那些吃魚的魚類, 軍曹魚,石斑魚,琥珀魚,那些大魚, 還有鮪魚以及鯊魚, 都會因此而受到影響。 魚的鰓是很敏感的, 呼吸系統都很敏感。 想想看, Corexit 會攻擊薄膜, 它將會導致鰓的阻塞, 於是這些動物就會 得到大家所說的 化學肺炎, 並試著將這些物質咳出體內。 而如果吃進這些毒物的話, 也會導致內部出血。 當我研究呼吸空氣的哺乳類動物時,我很替它們擔心, 它們將面對的危險是, 每當它們浮出水面呼吸的時候, 就會吸入這些揮發性的毒氣。 結果就會造成 肺炎, 還有肝臟,腎臟以及腦部受損。 Corexit 正在將這些油 傳送進每個生物的每一個薄膜 以及每一個系統中, 對人體也會產生 許多不舒服的影響, 像是眼睛和嘴巴的灼熱感, 皮膚潰瘍與損壞。 我個人的想法是, 我們還沒真正開始看見 墨西哥灣漏油事件對於 野生動物的真正影響。
We started hypothesizing: what do we know? what do with think would be a trophic cascade? which means that somebody gets wiped out, and then everything above that's eating those guys will crash. So our thought was -- this is a simple thinking process, but ... obviously the plankton, the planktivores, and that's about as far as we got. And then it turns out we're not very good at figuring this stuff out. This is what the Exxon Valdez scientists thought would happen, this trophic cascade where you lose the kelp and the herring and other fishes and going up. They thought that eventually the killer whale would be at the top of this cascade. And then here's what really happened, much more complicated, much more specific. Actually the kelp and the barnacles that attach to the rock were decimated by the combination of Corexit and the oil. They were replaced by invasive species, which had less holding power to the rock. Storms came along. They ripped out of the rock. And this was the entire food web for the sea ducks. And as you know, we lost about 300,000 sea ducks from the Exxon Valdez spill, and they haven't come back.
我們開始假設: 我們知道哪些事? 食物鏈會有什麼影響? 這表示底層的生物將嚴重受傷, 而吃掉這些東西的傢伙 則會死掉。 所以我們的想法是 -- 這是很簡單的推理程序,但 ... 很明顯的浮游生物和濾食性魚類, 是我們目前知道會被影響的生物, 但接下來會有什麼生物受到影響,我們就不太知道了。 以下是埃克森美孚公司的科學家判斷會發生的事, 他們認為在這個食物鏈中, 海草和鯡魚(鯖魚) 以及其他魚類會先死亡, 最後則是輪到食物鏈 最上層的殺人鯨。 到那時,將會發生 更多、更複雜、更明確的問題。 事實上,海草 以及附著在岩石上的藤壺, 已經因為 Corexit 和油的交互作用 而大量死亡了, 它們已經被一些附著岩石能力較弱 的侵略性物種所取代。 緊接著暴風雨來襲, 它們全都被暴雨從岩石上沖下來, 這就是海鴨的食物來源。 你知道嗎,在埃克森美孚公司漏油事件中, 有大約 30 萬隻海鴨死掉了, 它們的數量到現在都還沒有恢復過來。
So we are launching an independent study. And by independent, I do not mean alone; I mean independent in the sense of not tied to the kind of crime-scene secrecy that's going on in the Gulf now. But we are actually going to be assessing toxic impacts, but we need lots and lots of partners to do this intelligently. We have some of the partners lined up. And Dave Gallo signed on. Sylvia's in here. And we hope that some of you will help us. My question to you is: why shouldn't we know? Don't we have the right to know? Surely we have the right to learn what loss we are going through in the Gulf. And my wish would be -- for the gulf prize -- would be that we have the truth. Whatever it is, please let us have the truth. And to get there, we need to do the assessment.
所以我們正在進行 一個獨立的研究, 獨立這個字,並不代表孤單, 獨立的意思是指 它不會牽涉到 任何犯罪現場的秘密, 如同墨西哥灣正在上演的事情。 我們確實在進行毒害影響評估, 但是我們需要更多的夥伴, 讓我們能有智慧地進行這件事。 我們已經有一些夥伴加入, Dave Gallo 已經加入了, Sylvia 也在名單中。 而我們希望你們之中也有人能幫助我們。 我希望大家思考的問題是:我們為什麼不能知道? 我們沒有權利知道嗎? 我們當然有權利去了解 墨西哥灣漏油事件所造成的損失。 我衷心希望 墨西哥灣事件 能讓我們獲得真相。 不論結果是什麼,請告訴我們真相。 為了達到這個目的, 我們必須進行評估作業。
So I appreciate being here. Thank you.
我很高興能來到這裡。謝謝大家。
(Applause)
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