Greetings,
I will grant Chesapeake oysters
some leeway based on the anecdotal evidence given thus far BUT in NO WAY can I ever be paid enough money to eat a Gulf of Mexico oyster or
any seafood that originates there.
The attached link is biased against oil drilling but the information provided regarding the 1.84 MILLION gallons of Corexit dispersant (banned in the UK) and it's toxicity, is accurate from other research I have done...
Dispersants
Given that oysters are filter feeders and as noted, DO clean up the water they live in, I am not taking any chances with them or any Gulf species.
Please note that I say this with no disrespect intended, this is one of those spots where the written tone is not correctly relaying what I intend.
But you do realize how big the Gulf is, right? Many people from other parts of the world do not. Just last week I was at a meeting in Lake Tahoe and chatting with an intelligent, well educated, outdoorsy Canadian who asked me if you could see across the Gulf. When I tell people where I live, (on the coast south of Tallahassee) they often say, "oh, so really close to Pensacola?" Pensacola is 230 miles from here.
I worked as a fishing guide for many years in the area from Apalach to St. Marks, including the year of the BP spill. I was on the water at least 6 days out of every week that summer. I can tell you for an absolute certainty, thankfully, that not a single drop of oil, dispersant, whatever, made it within 200 miles of Apalachicola.
There are also no oil rigs anywhere near here.
We have our environmental issues like everywhere else, but that is not one of them. It would be like someone from San Francisco not going outside because there was smog in L.A.
Again, no disrespect, I can see how you wouldn't know, the media made it sound way worse than it really was, at least in Florida. Panic sells, you know.
Ski is right though, it's tough to get fresh oysters when they come from more than 500 miles away.