If you live in the Gulf region, you have been and probably are being exposed to some degree or another and should be undertaking a serious detoxification regimen. The combination of dispersed oil or the Corexit by itself is particularly dangerous because Corexit serves as a delivery agent for its own harmful toxins, those of the oil, and anything else in the air. Estimates of the amount of dispersants that have been broadcasted are now over 40 million gallons, according to independent investigative journalist Dahr Jamail, who has done extensive reporting on this catastrophe.

The oil is still there, sitting at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and causing damage to the environment, a Florida State University professor who studies greenhouse gases, oceans and energy said Tuesday November 23, 2010.

Professor Jeff Chanton said he thinks most of that Deepwater Horizon oil — as much as 70 percent to 79 percent of it —sank to the ocean floor, where it remains, sucking up oxygen and inhibiting life. He and his colleagues are working to determine how that layer of sludge might affect the Gulf and how long it might take for the ecosystem to recover.

Taunya James, president of the Franklin County Seafood Workers’ Association (FCSWA), repeatedly insists dispersant is being applied to the bay daily by helicopters described as black or camouflage in color. She and other seafood workers claim to be aware of serious local contamination.

Florida DEP official Darryl Boudreau asked if anyone who witnessed the application of dispersant could provide an aircraft identification number or had taken pictures. “We’re out there to work, not take pictures,” replied James.

“We’re more concerned about the dispersant and the dispersant mixed with oil–the dispersed oil, if you will–than we are about the crude oil itself.”

Tests conducted in recent months by University of Southern Maine Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health director John Wise’s lab, using human cell lines, show that dispersants cause cell death and DNA damage, which has been linked to cancer and reproductive problems.