Study: Gulf's Carcinogen Levels Explode 40-Fold

Researchers have detected a 40-fold increase in potentially cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons off the coast of Louisiana’s Grande Isle. The study is especially scary because it only measured PAHs that could seep through a biological membrane, the Huffington Post explains. “This is a measure of what would enter into an organism,” says one professor, “and that means they can essentially be uptaken by organisms throughout the food chain.”

The Interior Department, meanwhile, issued new oil rig safety rules, the LA Times reports, in a move toward lifting its offshore drilling moratorium. The new rules, which involve both drilling safety and workplace safety, are based in part on the testimony of workers from the Deepwater Horizon, and include tightened standards for drilling fluids, well-bore casing, and blowout preventers. (More Gulf oil spill stories.)