A broad federal study of the human health fallout from BP PLC's Gulf of Mexico gusher will receive $10 million from the oil company through its 10-year program to support scientific research into the aftereffects of the 86-day disaster.

The $10 million pledge stands to double the existing money available to launch the National Institutes of Health's planned long-term health study of about 50,000 Gulf Coast cleanup workers and locals who were exposed to oil and chemical dispersants during this summer's spill. In announcing the new funding today, BP stated that decisions on where and how to spend the $10 million would be made by NIH, "with input from" academics and officials in the region.

Bob Dudley, the BP managing director who is leading Gulf remediation efforts ahead of his expected ascension to CEO next month, issued a statement that touted the company's worker-health monitoring before adding: "But there is much still to be learned from this incident, and BP is providing this funding to NIH because it is well positioned to assure the quality and the integrity of the independent research process."

NIH set aside $10 million of its own for the long-term public health study being led by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, but NIEHS Director Linda Birnbaum warned last month that more money would be needed to make good on federal scientists' goal of widespread outreach to Gulf locals (Greenwire, Aug. 19).

To that end, NIEHS reiterated today that it plans to give residents and local groups a seat at the table in designing the study -- which is poised to make a significant contribution to the sparse amount of available research on the human health impact of oil spills.

"Community involvement and participation is critical to the success of this study," Birnbaum said in a statement.

The $10 million set aside by BP for the human health study comes from the company's Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, a decadelong plan to invest $500 million in scientific studies of the gusher. The program has attracted no shortage of scrutiny since its unveiling, with two top House Democrats cautioning BP in July to steer clear of required confidentiality agreements for scientists who receive a share of the funds (E&E Daily, July 30).