Health consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill effects, while even very low doses can cause mutagenic effects, with cancer of particular concern. The carcinogens of concern in crude oil are benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are present in oil and in the air as a result of offshore controlled burning of crude oil. During the 2010 BP/Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill, an estimated one of every 20 barrels of spilled oil was deliberately burned off. Routes of exposure include contact and inhalation. The EPA obtained hundreds of air samples during the spill and a review showed that none of the samples showed concentrations of benzene
Ixtoc I oil spill or littoral communities, which were not the subject of this study. Ixtoc I oil spill Ixtoc I was an exploratory oil well being drilled by the semi-submersible drilling rig "Sedco 135" in the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico, about northwest of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche in waters deep. On 3 June 1979, the well suffered a blowout resulting in one of the largest oil spills in history. Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex (Petróleos Mexicanos) was drilling a deep oil well when the drilling rig "Sedco 135" lost drilling mud circulation. In modern rotary drilling, mud is circulated