This gets more ridiculous by the day. Why should workers have to suffer only because BP doesn’t want workers wearing safety masks? Is anyone in Washington planning to step up and push BP aside to save more lives or will BP continue to decide what the rules are going to be? BP has zero credibility so how about we focus on protecting workers who are helping to protect others?

For days now, Dr. Damon Dietrich has seen patients come through his emergency room at West Jefferson Medical Center with similar symptoms: respiratory problems, headaches and nausea.

In the past week, 11 workers who have been out on the water cleaning up oil from BP’s blown-out well have been treated for what Dietrich calls “a pattern of symptoms” that could have been caused by the burning of crude oil, noxious fumes from the oil or the dispersants dumped in the Gulf to break it up. All workers were treated and released.

“One person comes in, it could be multiple things,” he said. “Eleven people come in with these symptoms, it makes it incredibly suspicious.”