PLEASE HELP: For the Gulf, it is death in the ocean from the top to the bottom

Our colleague and co-author Susan Shaw of MERI just returned from the Gulf where, accompanied by a London Times crew, she dove in the oil slick. Her informative short op-ed is attached. Please pass this on to your friends, colleagues, and journalists.
Gulf Sea Life Fate Worse than Death by Oil

The US EPA and NOAA need to take a strong stand to prevent further release of toxic chemical dispersants to the Gulf for one even more day, one more hour. Hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of marine lives are at stake.

Last week, BP brazenly refused to switch to a less toxic, more effective EPA-approved dispersants. Dispersit, a competitor of COREXIT 9500, is twice as effective on LA crude and about a third as toxic. Dispersit and Sea Brat #4 are water-based, biodegradable dispersants while COREXIT 9500 contains petroleum-based solvents and bioaccumulates in food webs.

The truth is, none of the chemical dispersants are without risk. Untested chemicals should not be used on a massive scale in fragile ecosystems such as the Gulf.. Unless stopped, BP plans to release another 800,000 gallons or more of COREXIT. The need for regulatory control of the reckless use of toxic chemicals in the US has never been greater.

To help stop this unprecedented marine massacre, please call, email, or write:

NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco
jane.lubchenco@noaa.gov 202-482-3436
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW Room 5128 Washington, DC 20230

US EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
jackson.lisa@epa.gov 202-564-4700
USEPA Headquarters, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W.
Mail Code: 1101A, Washington, DC 20460

President Obama at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

For more information and/or to support MERI’s work to protect our oceans:
Susan D. Shaw, DrPH
Director, Marine Environmental Research Institute (MERI), Center for Marine Studies
PO Box 1653, 55 Main Street, Blue Hill, ME 04614
Tel: (207) 374-2135 info@meriresearch.org, www.meriresearch.org

To read more in the London Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7134581.ece

Preventing the use of toxic and untested chemicals in the Gulf is yet another reason we need chemical policy reform.