Reply #8: Reminds me of the post-Exxon/Valdez PR campaign

[skeptical cynic]

to make sure people kept buying Alaska seafood. The state had health inspectors stationed at every fish vacuum sniffing the gills of every 20th salmon on the conveyor for the smell of oil.

Were the fish safe to eat? The salmon probably were because they only migrate through Prince William Sound. But the same thing would have been said, with the same special interests behind the PR, if the fish hadn't been safe to eat.

Aside: Twenty-one years later, the herring still haven't recovered in this "un-impacted" fishery. A combination of two things: 1) Toxicity to eggs and young herring, and 2) the decision to allow continued fishing for herring without regard to replacement by your fish that weren't there.

Watch for similar "scientific fishery management" following this event. On the bright side, and 42,000 gallons a day, it will take about nine months to spill as much oil as Exxon says was spilled in Prince William Sound, or about two years to spill as much oil as unbiased interests believe was spilled in Prince William Sound.

Be aware Gulf Coast. You are about to hear a lot of BS from special interests, including captured federal and state agencies doing what those special interests tell them to do via their political puppets.