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The oil spill in the Gulf began washing ashore in Mobile Bay, Alabama, Thursday. At a Confederate fort on the white sand beach, reddish-brown globs appeared. Faith Kaiser and Bertice McPherson had brought rubber gloves and plastic bags to take a look and help clean up.
"It was just sickening to see this coming. We wanted to see it one more time before it was destroyed," said McPherson, of Mobile.
At least 11 oil spill response workers reportedly have become sick in the past week, suffering flu-like symptoms after patrolling the waters off Gulf Coast beaches.
But response workers -- who are trained and generally have safety equipment -- are near higher concentrations of oil, chemical dispersants and other substances. The risk to the landbound public is considered much smaller, health officials say.
Neither the CDC nor the Environmental Protection Agency have set up tracking systems for oil spill-related illnesses. States have, but they don't all track cases the same way, officials said.
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Online:
CDC oil spill page:
http://emergency.cdc.gov/chemical/
oil_spill_gm_2010.asp
American Association of Poison Control Centers: http://www.aapcc.org/DNN/
[Associated
Press;
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