Oysters likely suffered toxic effects from the oil dispersant Corexit® 9500 when it was used to clean up the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, said Morris Animal Foundation-funded researchers at the University of Connecticut.
Team determined this by comparing the low levels of toxicity of oil, the dispersant and a mixture of the two on Eastern oysters. The team published their findings in the journal Aquatic Toxicology. After the Deepwater Horizon oil rig spilled more than 170 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, nearly two million gallons of Corexit® 9500 was deployed into the Gulf to break the oil down.
“There’s an unfortunate tradeoff to using dispersants like this,” said Lindsay Jasperse, a member of the university’s research team that published the study. “They may prevent giant oil spills from washing ashore and damaging wetlands, but they also cause negative effects for species below the ocean’s surface that might have been spared if dispersants weren’t used.”esearchers at the University of Connecticut.
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