Uh oh. Cascading Effect on the Environment Expected [View all]

[Bonobo]

http://planetsave.com/2010/07/19/cascading-effect-on-the-environment-expected/

Scientists studying the BP oil spill which has only recently been capped believe there could be a decades-long “cascading” effect on marine life.

Experts estimate that some 400 species could be at risk from the impact of oil and the chemical dispersants laid down in an effort to disperse the oil. They believe a massive impact could hit the marine life and shift into an overall biological network shift in the Gulf of Mexico, and that it could have already begun.

Animals like the tiny oil-eating bacteria, up to shrimp and crabs, further up to endangered sea turtles, brown pelicans and even sperm whales are all at risk. But it isn’t just those currently being affected by the oil, but future generations of these animals.

Ron Kendall, director of the Institute of Environmental and Human Health at Texas Tech University told the AFP that “a major environmental experiment is underway.” Sadly, this isn’t Kendall’s first rodeo either. He was one of those who helped study the effects of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and its impact on the wildlife in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

On top of that is the possibility that the dispersants could enter the food chain of marine life and, potentially, our own food supplies.
Source: Planetsave (http://s.tt/13BL4)