Psychological Health Effects of Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill

Introduction
Oil spills happens every year through cleaning of tankers. These spills contribute more petro-pollutants to the ocean than offshore rig blowouts though less attention is generated when compared to blowouts of oil rigs (Nadakavukaren, 2006). Whenever there is a rig blowout or tanker spill, far more attention is attracted as in the case of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is an oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico with oil spilling for three months in 2010. This spill generated a lot of attention and the EPA is monitoring the air, water, sediments and waste management data so as to protect people from this environmental disaster “The EPA has an active oil spill prevention program which focuses on activities to prevent, respond and prepare to oil spills” (EPA, 2010). There are environmental, economic, health and political consequences of this spill. The psychological health effects of deep water oil spill will be discussed with evaluation of previous psychological health effects of previous oil spills. To understand and evaluate the health effects or consequences of this oil spill, it is imperative to also review the psychological effects of previous spills. Adverse health effects on disaster cleanup workers, fisherman, and others have been studied from previous oil spills. Acute symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, eye irritation, headaches will not be discussed. This paper will review the psychological health effects of deep water horizon oil spill.
Events
The Gulf of Mexico spill of 2010 was caused by an explosion on the deep water horizon offshore oil plat form off the Gulf of Mexico. This explosion caused crude oil to gush out into the ocean and can be attributed to both company and ...

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...le to address the needs of children.
It will be prudent to extent acute term and long term behavioral problem counseling and treatment to other communities, not only limiting counseling to areas that are directly hit
Conclusion
This was a tragedy that could have been avoided, and other spills could have been avoided as well. Emphasizes should be placed on how to prevent future accidents or spills. Though each spill is different, they all have similar characteristics. Some lesson learned from previous spills was applied to the deep horizon oil spill. The economic, health, political and environmental impact of this spill will be felt years later since it is too early to tell the lasting effect of this spill. However, it is possible to tell the long term effects based on previous spills. Contingencies should be in place to deal with long term mental health effects.