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The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Through the Lens of Human Health and the Ecosystem

  • Global Environmental Health and Sustainability (W Al-Delaimy, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

This review examines current research ascertaining the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on human health and ecosystems. Driven by the need to strategically focus research funding, the authors also assess the implications of those findings and promote a transdisciplinary research agenda addressing critical gaps.Epidemiologic studies conducted in workers and vulnerable communities in the spill’s aftermath showed that non-chemical stressors affect resilience. Ecosystem-wise salt marsh species showed variability in structural and functional changes, attributed to species-specific tolerance, oil exposure, and belowground plant organs damage.Lacking baseline exposure assessment data hampers assessing the impact of chemical stressors. Research priorities include leveraging existing women/child dyads and worker cohorts to advance exposure characterization and counter early adverse effects in most vulnerable populations. Key policy gaps include mandated just-in-time emergency resources to ascertain immediate post-event exposures and contemporary legislation addressing human and ecosystem health in an integrated rather than silo fashion.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health grant number 5U19ES020677. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

This research was supported in part by the Gulf Region Health Outreach Program, which is funded from the Deepwater Horizon Medical Benefits Class Action Settlement approved by the US District Court in New Orleans on January 11, 2013 and made effective on February 12, 2014.

This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Global Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal Street, Suite 2100, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Maureen Lichtveld, Samendra Sherchan & Lissa Soares

  2. Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, P.O. Box 12233, Mail Drop A3-05, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA

    Kaitlyn B. Gam & Richard K. Kwok

  3. Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Kaitlyn B. Gam

  4. Hiram College, P.O. Box 67, Hiram, OH, 44234, USA

    Christopher Mundorf

  5. Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal Street, Suite 2000, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Arti Shankar

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  1. Maureen Lichtveld
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Correspondence to Maureen Lichtveld.

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Conflict of Interest

Maureen Lichtveld reports grants from NIH/NIEHS and GRHOP. Christopher Mundorf reports grants from National Institutes of Health. Samendra Sherchan, Kaitlyn B. Gam, Richard K. Kwok, Arti Shankar, and Lissa Soares declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Lichtveld, M., Sherchan, S., Gam, K.B. et al. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Through the Lens of Human Health and the Ecosystem. Curr Envir Health Rpt 3, 370–378 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-016-0119-7

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