Around the gulf, social service providers are dealing with a rising tide of mental health crises. Groups of Baptists are deploying extra chaplains in parishes along the coast. In southern Louisiana, where the impact was felt first, about 1,500 people have received counseling services from Catholic Charities.
From past disasters, such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, health experts say they expect subtle problems to appear as people absorb the spill’s impact on their lives: depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug abuse, and domestic issues.
“We’re seeing already an increase in suspiciousness, arguing, domestic violence. . . . We’re already having reports of increased drinking, anxiety, anger and avoidance,” Howard J. Osofsky of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans said during a two-day hearing this week on the physical and emotional impact of the spill.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that will require cell phone retailers to disclose to customers the phones’ specific absorption rate, or SAR. Mayor Newsom has indicated he will sign the measure into law.
Among McChrystal’s staff, described by Rolling Stone as consisting of a “handpicked collection of killers, spies, geniuses, patriots, political operators and outright maniacs”, is a former head of Britain’s special forces.
ProPublica: Leader of Military’s Program to Treat Brain Injuries Steps Down Abruptly
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