Cleanup workers in the Gulf of Mexico are getting sick, and BP CEO Tony Hayward thinks it's food poisoning.

 

Hayward said "You know, there's a — food poisoning is a really big issue when you've got a concentration of this many people in ten pre-cabs, ten pre-accommodations. It's something we have to be very, very mindful of. It's one of the big issues of keeping the army operating. Armies march on their stomachs."

 

Here's a thought: if indeed the sick workers did have food poisoning, wouldn't that mean that BP was doing a bad job of being very, very mindful of food poisoning? If they can't keep their workers' food clean, shouldn't we be worried about their management of things like oil rigs?

 

And if it's not food poisoning (it's most certainly not food poisoning), then what else could be causing the workers to get sick? It couldn't be the toxic crude oil and oil dispersants they're having unmasked contact with, now could it?

 

Exxon Valdez cleanup workers got sick 20 years ago and ExxonMobil wrote it off as an upper respiratory illness spread in the communal living space the workers shared. It must have been one hell of a bug because a lot of the workers have yet to recover from the flu-like symptoms.

 

The government needs to put BP into temporary receivership so we can really get a handle on this slow-motion tragedy. It's bad enough as it is now; we can't let BP's bottom line be the driving force in the cleanup and recovery.

 

Tony Hayward should be put in prison for the rest of his natural life ... for starters.