*Exclusive* Credit: FloridaOilSpillLaw.com
“Our heads are still swimming,” stated Barbara Schebler of Homosassa, Florida, who received word last Friday that test results on the water from her family’s swimming pool showed 50.3 ppm of 2-butoxyethanol, a marker for the dispersant Corexit 9527A used to break up and sink BP’s oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
The problems began for the Scheblers a few weeks after the April 20 blow-out. “Our first clue were rashes we both got early in May. Both my husband and I couldn’t get rid of the rashes and had to get cream from our doctor,” Schebler noted, “I never had a rash in my life.”
Then, on “July [23], my husband Warren mowed the lawn. It was hot so he got in the pool to cool off afterward. That afternoon he had severe diarrhea and very dark urine. This lasted about 2 days,” she revealed.
Initially, they reasoned this was caused by the heat. The following week Mr. Schebler again mowed the lawn and went in the pool, and again he was sickened with the same severe symptoms.
Suspicious that the pool may be a problem, the family set out to get the water tested. “We have a 15 year old and felt we owed it to him to live in a clean, healthy environment,” said Mrs. Schebler.
The Scheblers found Robert Naman, a Mobile, Alabama chemist who’s performed multiple tests (1 [3], 2 [4], 3 [5]) for WKRG Channel 5, also out of Mobile.
“Warren collected a water sample from the pool filter on August 17th… packed the sample according to Mr. Naman’s instructions, and overnighted it to his Mobile, Ala. lab that same day,” she noted.
The results were delivered by Naman over the phone on August 27 at 11:00 a.m. EDT. A copy of the findings were then e-mailed to the Scheblers. To view the document, click here [1].
“Naman [said] our pool water sample we sent him contained 50.3 ppm [parts per million] 2-butoxyethanol marker for Corexit,” according to Mrs. Schebler. Tests for arsenic came back at less than .02 ppm.
A July letter [6] from four top scientists noted, “Corexit 9527A contains 2-BTE (2-butoxyethanol), a toxic solvent that ruptures red blood cells, causing hemolysis (bleeding) and liver and kidney damage (Johanson and Bowman, 1991, Nalco, 2010).”
The safety data sheet [7] provided by Nalco, the manufacturer of Corexit 9527A, warns, “Harmful if absorbed through skin. May be harmful if swallowed. May cause liver and kidney effects and/or damage. There may be irritation to the gastro-intestinal tract.”
Mr. Schebler’s “severe diarrhea and very dark urine” appear to indicate gastro-intestinal tract irritation.
BP Press Officer Daren Beaudo released a statement [8] on August 28 that reads, “Unified Command records indicate that the last date of use of the Corexit 9527 was May 22,” almost three months before the samples were taken from the pool.
Yet, the Schebler’s report is the second time in the last 10 days that the 2-butoxyethanol marker for Corexit 9527A has been discovered near the Gulf. It has also been found near the Florida border in Cotton Bayou, AL, at about 1/4 the level as in Homosassa, FL. A WKRG segment from August 19 [5] featured an inland water sample that tested for 13.3 ppm of the Corexit dispersant.
The question remains, how did this chemical find its way into the Schebler’s pool in such a high concentration?
“At night we would hear very low aircraft, including helicopters. We figured they were just heading to help out in the Gulf,” and Mrs. Schebler added that she was told, “The prevailing winds from the Gulf are easterly — and when they spray, it is airborne — and that we are right in the path of those winds.” It was also noted that, “We had alot of rain here before my husband got sick, and wondered what was going on… We had been having daily downpours in July.”
There is no way to be sure at this point. Though she stated, “Friends a few miles away… are having [a] similar situation. They are now thinking of getting their water tested.”
As for the family’s current physical well being, “We both still have rashes that will not go away if we stop the cream we were given by our doctor. Warren still gets diarrhea on and off – this never happened with this frequency before.”
But the trauma is not only physical. Here are the answers of the Scheblers when asked about the current situation at their home and in their area:
“We spoke to a number of mothers and fathers last evening [August 27]. Most have not even heard of Corexit. … But for the most part, parents with small children were concerned.”
“Some of the neighbors we spoke to were more worried about home values than pollution.”
“We are hoping for someone to come and do more samplings, we were told we shouldn’t eat anything from outside as it probably will all be tainted. It seems that we are the first to check on this, we’re sure all our neighbors on this coast will have the same outcome.”
“We are lost. We would like more testing. We’ve reached out to a few people we thought could tell us where we go from here, but haven’t as of yet received any direction. We are not completely able to grasp what this means.”
“We feel it is a horrible environment to live in and frankly, would like to leave the area. We believe that if this substance is in our pool, it could very well be in the air, especially because of the rashes we continue to apply medication to. We’re not sure if this will enter the groundwater, or even already has. We feel other people need to know that if it’s in our backyard, it is most definitely in other backyards.”
“Where we go from here, we do not know.”
Additional responses shared by the Scheblers:
•A friend told us a few months ago that [the nuclear power station located less than 15 miles north is] checking constantly for the underwater plumes, because they could shut down the plant.
•Warren cleans the lanai [around the pool] with a power washer, no chemicals at all. We’ve never used or purchased Simple Green [which contains 2-butoxyethanol].
•We were stunned to see our beautiful, wine red daylillies turn a yellow-white color and die [around the end of June]. The plant kept producing sickly blooms after that, which would die on the stem. We’ve never seen a red flower turn color. The plants are 3 years old. Extremely odd – we should have taken pictures of that, but didn’t…
•One of our dogs had severe diarrhea for a week [in early May]. Neighbors have reported similar findings.
Additional information on dispersant use:
•BP Press Officer Daren Beaudo’s August 28 statement [8] on dispersant use: “The last day of all dispersant use was July 19… Unified Command has not used any dispersants since then.”
•Because the Unified Command claims to no longer be using dispersant since as of July 19, does not mean all dispersant use has ended. As BP Mobile Incident Commander Keith Seilhan revealed [9] last week, “‘We are not using dispersants and haven’t been for some time’… But when asked whether contractors who operate in state waters could be, he said he could not be certain. ‘We have lots of contractors, but no one should be using them.’”
•Why would dispersants still be in use? See yesterday’s article [10] in the Pensacola News Journal, that reported documents show tons of submerged oil being removed by the bucket full from Pensacola coast — Feds, BP still in public denial [11]
•Aug. 28: INLAND: City officials find 66 ppm of COREXIT DISPERSANT near Florida/Alabama border (VIDEO) [12]
•Aug. 25: 13.3 ppm of COREXIT found INLAND, near Florida border — Chemist says tests show “toxic solvent” 2-butoxyethanol that “RUPTURES red blood cells”
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Thursday, September 2, 2010
The Neutered Gospel
Michael Boldea Jr.
I will say the following plainly, because I could think of no other way of saying it. At the risk of bringing the readership of this blog to zero, at the risk of having to wade through dozens of less than friendly e-mails, the following must be stated, and clearly so.
If the gospel messages you’ve been hearing lo’ these many years have never once made you feel uncomfortable then you’ve never really heard the true gospel message. If the gospel messages you’ve been hearing lo’ these many years have never once challenged you then you’ve never really heard the true gospel message. If the gospel messages you’ve been hearing lo’ these many years haven’t accentuated Christ and the cross in perpetuity then you’ve never really heard the true gospel message. If the gospel messages you’ve been hearing lo’ these many years have never once stirred you to repentance, prompted inward introspection, humbled you, caused you to weep and truly see the enormity of your sin, then you’ve never really heard the true gospel message, but a neutered version wherein God is always smiling, the sun is always shining, the birds are always chirping and no matter what you do, God’s holding onto you so tight that you’ll never be able to get away.
In this brave new world of ours, pastors have redefined their roles and become life coaches, no longer preaching a crucified Christ, but rather playing the part of guidance counselor to scores of individuals that can be likened to overactive, petulant, and overgrown children who will not accept being accountable to anyone, be they God or man.
Preachers too have redefined their roles and rather than be concerned about the spiritual wellbeing of those to whom they are ministering they play the therapist, speaking soothing words, in a soothing tone, ensuring anyone within earshot that everything’s going to be alright, that God has mellowed over the centuries, and as long as they ‘bring the tithe into the storehouse’ God will overlook everything else.
It is an understatement when I say that there is enough blame to go around for the farce of a faith many are presenting, living and promulgating today, and the sheep are just as much to blame as the shepherds. In the end these so called shepherds are just giving the people what they wanted aren’t they?
If you preach the truth, if you preach the unadulterated Word of God, wherever you happen to be, you are bound to hear those famous words that seem to be on everyone’s lips nowadays: ‘That’s not the god I serve!’
I’ve heard it more times than I would like to recall, and no matter how often I hear it, it’s still shocking.
‘I don’t like your god, your god is mean, that’s not the god I serve.’
‘But all I did was read from His book’, I would retort, ‘all I did was read from the Bible!’
If you hear the truth being preached, if someone is reading out of the Bible and in your heart you say ‘that’s not the god I serve’, then may I humbly submit to you that you are not serving the true God, but a god of your own making and imagining. A god that you have fashioned in your heart who requires no submission, who requires no obedience, who requires no sacrifice on your part, but is more than happy to let you win the lotto time and again.
It is because we have refashioned and remade God in our own image that the neutered gospel is so widely accepted and received. It is because we didn’t like what God had to say that we chose rebellion rather than submission, and with hammer and chisel in hand we began to sculpt our new and improved deity.
Like the prophets of Baal however, we will know the true impotence of the gods we’ve fashioned when we need them most. When we see the gods of our own making for what they truly are, nothing more than mists and vanities, it will be too late, and though we might cut ourselves and bleed, though we might cry out to the heavens for a sign, these deities we so revel in today, these gods we so honor and worship will remain silent as the empty tomb from which the Christ, the Son of the one true God walked out of two millennia ago.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
View Blog
I will say the following plainly, because I could think of no other way of saying it. At the risk of bringing the readership of this blog to zero, at the risk of having to wade through dozens of less than friendly e-mails, the following must be stated, and clearly so.
If the gospel messages you’ve been hearing lo’ these many years have never once made you feel uncomfortable then you’ve never really heard the true gospel message. If the gospel messages you’ve been hearing lo’ these many years have never once challenged you then you’ve never really heard the true gospel message. If the gospel messages you’ve been hearing lo’ these many years haven’t accentuated Christ and the cross in perpetuity then you’ve never really heard the true gospel message. If the gospel messages you’ve been hearing lo’ these many years have never once stirred you to repentance, prompted inward introspection, humbled you, caused you to weep and truly see the enormity of your sin, then you’ve never really heard the true gospel message, but a neutered version wherein God is always smiling, the sun is always shining, the birds are always chirping and no matter what you do, God’s holding onto you so tight that you’ll never be able to get away.
In this brave new world of ours, pastors have redefined their roles and become life coaches, no longer preaching a crucified Christ, but rather playing the part of guidance counselor to scores of individuals that can be likened to overactive, petulant, and overgrown children who will not accept being accountable to anyone, be they God or man.
Preachers too have redefined their roles and rather than be concerned about the spiritual wellbeing of those to whom they are ministering they play the therapist, speaking soothing words, in a soothing tone, ensuring anyone within earshot that everything’s going to be alright, that God has mellowed over the centuries, and as long as they ‘bring the tithe into the storehouse’ God will overlook everything else.
It is an understatement when I say that there is enough blame to go around for the farce of a faith many are presenting, living and promulgating today, and the sheep are just as much to blame as the shepherds. In the end these so called shepherds are just giving the people what they wanted aren’t they?
If you preach the truth, if you preach the unadulterated Word of God, wherever you happen to be, you are bound to hear those famous words that seem to be on everyone’s lips nowadays: ‘That’s not the god I serve!’
I’ve heard it more times than I would like to recall, and no matter how often I hear it, it’s still shocking.
‘I don’t like your god, your god is mean, that’s not the god I serve.’
‘But all I did was read from His book’, I would retort, ‘all I did was read from the Bible!’
If you hear the truth being preached, if someone is reading out of the Bible and in your heart you say ‘that’s not the god I serve’, then may I humbly submit to you that you are not serving the true God, but a god of your own making and imagining. A god that you have fashioned in your heart who requires no submission, who requires no obedience, who requires no sacrifice on your part, but is more than happy to let you win the lotto time and again.
It is because we have refashioned and remade God in our own image that the neutered gospel is so widely accepted and received. It is because we didn’t like what God had to say that we chose rebellion rather than submission, and with hammer and chisel in hand we began to sculpt our new and improved deity.
Like the prophets of Baal however, we will know the true impotence of the gods we’ve fashioned when we need them most. When we see the gods of our own making for what they truly are, nothing more than mists and vanities, it will be too late, and though we might cut ourselves and bleed, though we might cry out to the heavens for a sign, these deities we so revel in today, these gods we so honor and worship will remain silent as the empty tomb from which the Christ, the Son of the one true God walked out of two millennia ago.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
View Blog
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