BP and Old Lace

Arsenic Levels Rising in Gulf of Mexico

The media have just discovered yet another way in which BP and Soetoro are poisoning the Gulf region -- arsenic. I don't need to tell you how deadly that element is, having been used for centuries by jealous housewives to kill their cheating husbands. It can cause immediate death in the right quantity, but its real danger is that it can accumulate over time in the body if ingested a bit at a time, leading to a slow death whose cause is not readily apparent unless toxicology screens are performed.

So this arsenic will accumulate in the fish and other animal life in the Gulf (plants too, of course, for the Vegan types who enjoy eating kelp) and then it will accumulate in you, if you eat fish, shrimp or anything else caught in the Gulf. The EPA's limit for acceptable arsenic level in drinking water is 10 parts per billion. It is a particularly nasty toxin, because it disrupts the production of Adenosine triphosphate in cells. ATP is the end product of energy metabolism, the chemical which directly powers your body. So arsenic affects every single cell.

I'm glad I've never liked seafood, but any of you that do want to order it in restaurants or pick some up at the grocery store should ask about the origin of your fish or shrimp, and if the people can't tell you or if they admit it came from the Gulf of Mexico stay from it, and especially keep children away from it. Like all the poisons coming out of BP's well and being added to the ocean by their ships and aircraft, children are at even greater risk than we.