(NaturalNews) Just days after the publication of a study finding
that chemical dispersants meant to clean up the 2010 Deepwater
Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico actually made the oil
more toxic, a study in Environmental Science & Technology
reveals that the dispersants failed even at their primary goal:
preventing oil from reaching the ocean surface. The study was
conducted by researchers from the University of Miami , Columbia
University , Colorado School of Mines and SUNY at Stony Brook
The 2010 blowout of the deep water Macondo well produced the
worst gulf oil spill in U.S. history. As experts searched for a
way to cap the rupture, the Environmental Protection Agency
ordered the injection of chemical dispersants at the wellhead.
This was the first time that such chemicals had been used in
large quantities and over a prolonged period of time in deep
water (they are designed for breaking up oil slicks on the
surface of the water). The idea was that the dispersants would
break up and scatter the oil as