"A dearth of information about the ingredients of various oil-dispersing formulas is complicating an increasingly rancorous debate over which, if any, is the best choice for cleaning up the catastrophic spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

As the quantity of dispersant that BP has sprayed on the spill surpassed 800,000 gallons last weekend, experts say the secret formulas, combined with the sparse water-quality data released by U.S. EPA, make an independent assessment of the dispersant strategy next to impossible.

Some scientists are calling for all dispersant use to be halted until the ingredients and effects are better understood."

Paul Quinlan reports for Greenwire May 24, 2010. [2]