Hurricane Irene.Photo: NASA's Marshall Space Flight CenterCross-posted from National Resources Defense Council. Like most people on the East Coast, I'm anxiously watching the approach of Hurricane Irene, a swirling knot of wind and rain taking dead aim at New York City, where I'm currently visiting my family. I had been hoping to fly home to California on Monday morning, but now I'm wondering if that will happen. I'm also wondering about what kind of damage and health threats this hurricane will bring. Almost precisely six years ago today, I watched anxiously as Hurricane Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast. …

Working to clean up the Gulf oil spill Cross-posted from NRDC's Simple Steps blog. Venice, La. - "You shoulda been out here last evening" said Carey, the shrimp boat captain who took me out to South Pass today. He saw that I was taking air samples with a hand-held monitoring device, and recounted the strong smell and choking fumes he had suffered through yesterday when he went out to rescue a stranded boat in the Main Pass channel. "Those guys on that boat had it worse than me" he added. "They were pretty sick - headaches and sick to their …

Cleanup crews get the highest exposures to both the oil spill itself and chemical dispersants.Cross-posted from NRDC's Simple Steps blog. Oil spill clean-up brings workers and volunteers into close contact with chemicals that are known to be hazardous to human health.  As we deal with the oil spill in the Gulf, it helps to brush up on history.  After the Exxon Valdez disaster, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reported an increase in respiratory symptoms, headaches, throat and eye irritation, rashes and other skin problems among the clean-up workers.  More recently, a study of beach clean-up workers …

Cleanup crews are getting the highest exposures to both the oil spill itself and chemical dispersants.Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Cross-posted from NRDC's Simple Steps blog. Dr. Gina Solomon provides answers to the health questions raised by the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig explosion and the efforts being made to contain it. How do you think the health of local communities around the gulf will be impacted from the oil? The petroleum vapors and mists can cause a variety of immediate health effects. There are also long-term health concerns because some of the contaminants from the oil will remain for a …