Oil spill workers getting masks

More than 70 days into the gulf oil spill some workers are getting special breathing apparatuses.

The Deepwater Horizon Response Unified Command, which includes BP and government agencies, announced Thursday teams working at the well site, and workers conducting controlled burns of the oil are being given respirators.

Prior to this, workers had not been given breathing protection.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency oil can give off toxic vapors as it evaporates.

Chris Coulon, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the Unified Command says air sampling is being conducted and there is “no indication at all” that the respirators being distributed are necessary.  She says they are being distributed as a precaustion in case they become necessary.

Coulon says other crews working on the response, such as beach cleanup teams, and skimming vessels are not being given the protective breathing equipment, but can wear their own personal masks if they chose.

On May 27^th BP’s Director of External Affairs John Curry responded to CNN questions about why workers were not given respirators at the time by saying “We are trying to keep them (the workers) out of places that they need respirators, and all of the readings we have taken so far have shown they don’t need them.”