August 4, 2010, NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco

NOTE:"It ruptures red blood cells, causes internal bleeding and liver and kidney damage," Dr. Shaw said. "This stuff is so toxic -- combined, it's not the oil alone, it's not the dispersant -- the dispersed oil that still contains this stuff, it's very, very toxic and it goes right through skin."

The claims would seem to echo a fellow toxicologist who described the effects of Corexit as the disruption of oil bilipid layers, which he called "the very basis of life."

"Each of us is made out of cells," Dr. Chris Pincetich explained in a recent interview. "Those cells are nothing more than an oil layer surrounding our proteins and RNA and all the other molecules talking to each other. You put in a chemical that disrupts that basic biological structure and you are putting yourself at risk from umpteen effects."

Mixed with toxic compounds leached from crude oil, said "umpteen effects" are completely unknown at this point, with Dr. Shaw's statements being among the first reports on the dire health effects of dispersed oil exposure.