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My answer is as of May 25, 2010. This is an ongoing event, and information can change rapidly.

Yes, no and maybe!

If a dispersant were sprayed in a body of water that did not have oil, it would be considered to be contaminating the water and ecosystem. They have special handling instructions to be applied safely.

They are applied to break up another harmful substance, namely oil, and hasten the weathering/ evaporation process. The idea is that the remaining oil in a more dispersed (less concentrated) form will have less environmental impact. There is a natural degradation of oil by bacteria that occurs.

The use of dispersants is controversial. Any use must be approved by the EPA. Decisions are done rapidly because in mitigating oil spills, time is of the essence. The particular dispersant that BP is using has toxic effects and there are ongoing discussions between EPA and BP on the current selections.

Biologists have noted that if the dispersants are able to flow out of the gulf, there affect on corals could be devastating.

An excellent summary of dispersants is attached. You can find many links on the particular dispersants being used by doing a Google search.

See related link.

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15y ago

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