Study to Examine Health Impact of BP Oil Spill

Bethesda, MDA US National Institutes of Health (NIH) study will look into the potential health hazards caused by the BP oil spill, using $10 million in funding from the oil giant.

The NIH will also provide $10 million for this multi-year Gulf Worker Study, which begins this fall, according to FOXBusiness.

The study's initial phases will be run by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, a 10-year, $500 million research program that was set up by BP in response to the potential impact that the spill in the Gulf of Mexico may have on the environment and peoples' health.

One of the main focuses of the study will be examining how clean-up workers' health has been affected by the BP oil spill.

"Clean-up workers are likely to be the most heavily exposed of all population groups in the Gulf Coast region," Dr. Dale Sandler, chief of the Epidemiology Branch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which will head the project, told the news source.

The BP oil spill began on April 20 when the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig exploded, killing 11 workers and spilling millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.