The wreckage of the oil tanker ‘Erika’—human health risk assessment of beach cleaning, sunbathing and swimming

Abstract

In December 1999 the oil tanker ‘Erika’, carrying approximately 30 tons of heavy fuel oil, wrecked before the coast of Brittany (France), polluting the local beaches and rocks over a distance of some 500 km. Also numerous birds were affected. During the first months of 2000 the coastal area and many birds were cleaned. The health risk for people involved in these cleaning activities and for tourists was evaluated with emphasis on the carcinogenic properties of this oil. The outcome indicates that the risks were limited to people who had been in bare-handed contact with the oil. Firstly they had an increased risk for developing skin irritation and dermatitis, however, these effects are in general reversible. Secondly they had an increased risk for developing skin tumours, but since the dermal contacts with the oil were of relative short duration, this risk is considered to be very limited.

Introduction

On Sunday December 12, 1999, the 30 000 ton Maltese oil tanker ‘Erika’ wrecked on the Atlantic Ocean about 65 km south of Penmarch (Brittany, France), causing a spillage of approximately 10 000 tons of oil, contaminating the French coast and its small islands from Southern Brittany to the Vendée over about 400–500 km (Fig. 1). For a large part, cleaning of the polluted coast had to be done by hand due to the rough and rocky nature of the coast; in addition numerous oil-contaminated birds were cleaned.

Early February 2000, the French Ministry of the Environment (Ministère de l'Aménagement du Territoire et de l'Environnement, Direction de la Prévention et des Risques, Paris) asked the Dutch National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) for an independent risk assessment for humans involved in the beach-cleaning operations, at mid-April followed by a similar request dealing with tourist activities on these beaches.