Friday, March 4, 2011

BP Oil Spill Scientist Bob Naman: Seafood Still Not Safe

http://www.projectgulfimpact.org

Gavin Garrison, Matt Smith, and Heather Rally

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Robert Naman is an analytical chemist with over 30 years of experience and the president of Act Laboratory Inc in Mobile, AL. ACT is a private environmental testing laboratory. ACT labs offers: Soil Testing Labs, Standards Testing Labs, Independent Testing Laboratory, Pacific Testing Labs and Environmental Test Labs. Naman has been an instrumental figure in much of the testing that has happened in the Gulf of Mexico since the BP oil spill.

In the latest Project Gulf Impact video, Naman discusses the EPA's role in determining acceptable PAH levels, and how those acceptable limits are set higher than what is safe for children and the average adult. He also addresses recent water testing performed in Orange Beach, AL, which found some of the highest levels of oil and grease to date. Naman also has an incredibly interesting take on seafood consumption and his personal decision not to eat seafood out of the Gulf.

From the Huffington Post regarding one of his most recent samplings: "Naman tested various samples for petroleum, and said he expected to find no more than 5 parts per million (ppm). Instead, Naman found results that far exceed his expectations: 16 ppm from waters at Katrina Key, and 29 ppm at Orange Beach.

The most shocking results came from a sample of water collected near boom at Dauphin Island Marina. When Naman combined the sample with an organic solvent that separates the oil from the water, which he did for all the other samples as well, it exploded in his lab, breaking the container and destroying the sample in the process. Naman thinks the reaction was caused by the presence of methane gas or Corexit, the dispersant that BP has been using in the Gulf."

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