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The GuLF Study, or Gulf Long-term Follow-up Study, is a five-year research project examining the human-health consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010.〔("GuLF Study" ), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 9 September 2012.〕 The spill followed an explosion on a drilling rig leased by BP, the British oil company, and led to the release of over four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, 48 miles off the coast of Louisiana in the United States.〔 The study was set up in June that year by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It is being conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, and aims to recruit 55,000 of the 150,000 workers who volunteered or were employed to help clean up the spill. It is led by Dale Sandler, head of the NIEHS's epidemiology branch.〔Charles W. Schmidt, ("Study to Examine Health Effects in "Deepwater Horizon" Oil Spill Cleanup workers" ), ''Environmental Health Perspectives'', 119(5), May 2011.〕 ==Deepwater Horizon oil spill== (詳細は"The 13 largest oil spills in history" ), Mother Nature Network, 16 July 2010.〕 It began on 20 April 2010 after an explosion on the ''Deepwater Horizon'', a drilling rig leased by BP to drill an exploratory well.〔Robert Bea, ("Final report on the Investigation of the Macondo Well Blowout" ), ''Deepwater Horizon'' Study Group, Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, University of California, Berkeley, 1 March 2011, p. 6.〕 Between then and 15 July, when the well was capped, over four million barrels of oil (around 170 million US gallons, or 643 million litres) spilled from a depth of 5,000 ft (1,500 m) into the Gulf of Mexico, 48 miles off the coast of Louisiana.〔("U.S. Scientific Teams Refine Estimates of Oil Flow from BP's Well Prior to Capping" ), Deepwater Horizon Unified Command, 2 August 2010: "Overall, the scientific teams estimate that approximately 4.9 million barrels of oil have been released from the well. Not all of this oil and gas flowed into the ocean; containment activities conducted by BP under U.S. direction captured approximately 800,000 barrels of oil prior to the capping of the well." *Harry R. Weber, ("BP seeks to spread blame as first phase of spill trial ends" ), ''Houston Chronicle'', 17 April 2013: "The government once estimated the spill was 4.9 million barrels, but agreed this year to lower that to 4.1 million barrels, about 172 million gallons. BP has disputed the government estimates."〕 According to the GuLF Study, the duration of the spill, the area affected, the proximity to local communities, and the number of people involved in the clean-up, were all greater than in any other spill that has been studied.〔("The GuLF STUDY" ), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, accessed 9 July 2013: "The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico differed from previous spill in that the leak was at the ocean floor rather than on the surface. However, the area covered, the proximity to populated communities, the number of potentially exposed workers and community members, and the duration of the spill were far greater than any previously studied oil spills."〕 Around 180 miles of shoreline were "heavily to moderately oiled," according to a US government report.〔("On Scene Coordinator Report: Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill" ), submitted to the National Response Team, September 2011, pp. v–vi.〕 Additional safety concerns were raised by the use of roughly nine million litres of oil dispersants, Corexit 9527 and 9500, during the clean-up operation. It was the largest known application of such dispersants to date,〔Melissa Gaskill, ("How Much Damage Did the Deepwater Horizon Spill Do to the Gulf of Mexico?" ), ''Nature'', 19 April 2011: "BP added around 9 million litres of chemical dispersants to the oil, roughly a third of it at depth." *J. Wise and J.P. Wise Sr., ("A review of the toxicity of chemical dispersants" ), ''Reviews on Environmental Health'', 26(4), 2011, pp. 281–300: "Chemical dispersants used for the cleanup and containment of crude oil toxicity became a major concern after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. During the crisis, millions of liters of chemical dispersants (Corexit 9527 and 9500) were used – the largest known application of dispersants in the field."〕 and the first use of dispersants at that depth.〔Anderson, Aileen. "BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill," in S. George Philander (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change'', Second Edition, SAGE, 2012 (pp. 146–147), (p. 147 ): "The spill was the first to release a huge amount of oil at a depth of nearly 5,000 ft (1,500 m), and the first to use dispersants at this depth."〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「GuLF Study」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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