others which was to keep that oil out of the shallows, the nurseries for the seafood along the gulf. and is the seafood safe? yes, the seafood is safe. noaa and fda have been testing. gulf seafood seems to now be tested than most seafood americans consume. but they realize consumer confidence is a big part of the puzzle. the federal waters are open except for areas right around the wellhead and i think state waters, 96% of them are open. what s the most vulnerable when you look at landscape and sea scape? is it the turtles? the birds? is it danger, threat, to human beings? no. i think right now what we look at over the long term during the response of course we had to make sure we weren t threatening the workers, responders, people who were out there, people who lived along the gulf coast. that s why we did air and water monitoring. now as we look at the longer story, and there s reassuring data that come back, we want to continue to get that data. there are multi-year studie
to appropriately inform the public there. so let me ask you about this concern. a lot of people talking about and wondering about seafood from japan. hong kolonhong kong has ban the it. how concerned are you about that? is the seafood safe do you think with radioactive material heading into the soil and water? there s obviously very well established methods for them to monitor. you mentioned that there was something in the water close to the plant. they re also monitoring several miles away from the plant. those are well below regulated limits. but they take into account the fact that it s going to get into the water like this, that s t s going to work its way through the ecosystem. and there s predetermined measurements for them to take, and if it s appropriate for them to quarantine the seafood and not allow it to be sold, again, that s very well established. in fact, it s very similar to
testing done before they were used. obviously this is a difficult decision. are you talking about oil which is highly toxic in the environment. epa looked at this issue. a decision was made to use dispersants. then a decision was made to dramatically reduce the amount of dispersants being used. a 72% reduction. we re going to continue to monitor, continue to test. right now there s no anomalies. toxicity levels are not above what you might normally see in the gulf but we need to remain vij leapt and we will. is the seafood safe to eat? we ve been opening fisheries. they go through rigorous testing before they are reopened. we ll continue that testing. i m going to 234r0rd latflorida today. i look forward to eating florida seafood. i think the public can eat sea fo food with confidence because we only reopen these fisheries after extensive testing with the fish. we re delighted to see the light at the end of the tunnel with this natural disaster. carol browning, thank you. . a b
is the seafood safe? yes. and you say? we have a extensive program between noaa, the gulf states and the fda, working too the to insure that is hefoe seafood is. but no one can be sure. we ve been talking to scientists and they say the oil as it starts to break up, you get all of these variable compounds that are not oil, so to speak any more, they re just, these aromatic hydro carbons and they can go all over the place. and that s what i think, makes is so difficult. how do you know it s not oil per se, but some of the toxic medals. that s why the testing program deals with the detecting the oil and the analytical chemistry to also detect the aeromatic titer carbons.
and talk to people about what s happening here in the gulf. the question always comes up, is the seafood safe. yes. and you say? yes. we have an extensive program in place, a cooperative program between noaa, fda, epa, the gulf states and we re all working together to ensure that the seafood is safe. reporter: but no one can be sure. that s because we don t know exactly how much oil is leaking. more importantly, exactly where it is going. we ve been talking with a lot of scientists and they say the oil as it starts to break up, you get all of these various compounds that are not oil, so to speak, anymore. and they re just aromatic hydrocarbons. these volatile compounds. yes. they can go all over the place. it s not, that s what i think makes it so difficult. how do you know if it s not oil per se but still some of the toxic elements and end up further away in an area that doesn t a oil.