Seafood Testing After Oil Spill May Last Decades

Testing seafood caught in the oil-hit Gulf of Mexico could be necessary for decades following the Deepwater Horizon explosion, according to officials and scientists.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service acting director Rowan Gould said the spill will affect the Gulf, and possibly the entire North American region, for years if not decades.

Oil contains chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that can cause cancer if ingested by humans in high concentrations, according to Tulane University Center for Applied Environmental Public Health.

The scientists suggested testing should include daily laboratory samples and the use of “sniffers”, people trained to detect the presence of oil in seafood by using their noses.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it is also doubling the area in the Gulf where commercial and recreational fishing is temporarily off-limits as the oil slick spreads to the south and east.

The prohibited area is now about 46,000 square miles and federal officials have already shut down fishing from the Mississippi River to the Florida Panhandle.