Dolphins Suffer Lung Disease from Gulf Oil Spill Cameron McWhirter and Tom Fowler - WSJ.com
go to original December 18, 2013

Dolphins in an area hard hit by the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill are suffering from lung diseases and other abnormalities that are "consistent with petroleum hydrocarbon exposure and toxicity," according to a new federal-backed scientific study released Wednesday.

The peer-reviewed paper, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, makes the strongest connection to date between the spill and dolphin deaths, which spiked in the Gulf of Mexico after the spill.

BP disputes that the report shows any clear link between the spill and dolphin illnesses.

Scientists, including those from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, caught, examined and released about 30 bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, in 2011. Moderate to severe lung diseases associated with oil contamination were prevalent among many of the dolphins, and almost half had "a guarded or worse prognosis, and 17% were considered poor or grave, indicating they were not expected to live," according to the study. Dolphins in the area likely will have more difficulty reproducing, the study found.

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