Cruise Law News : Maritime Lawyer & Attorney : James M. Walker : Walker & O'Neill Law Firm : Admiralty Law, Cruise Ship Accidents & Injuries

The Sunday Times of London published a disturbing story today regarding paint used on cruise ships and other vessels which could leach into the ship's water tanks.  The newspaper reports that the potable water supplies may have been contaminated and posed a cancer risk to thousands of cruise passengers.  

The paint could leach the toxin acrylonitrile, described as a tumor-causing probable carcinogen, into the cruise ship's drinking water. 

After an inspector, Brian Bradford, discovered the problem with the paint, the paint manufacturer, Danish corporation Hempel, successfully sought an injunction against Mr. Bradford to keep him quite.    

The New York Post picked up the story today, and published an article "Cancer Scare Over Cruise Ships’ Suspect H2O."  The Post refers to the Sunday Times "bombshell report" and raises the alarming question whether "thousands of New Yorkers may have been exposed to cancer-causing drinking water aboard a flotilla of luxury cruise liners." 

The Post refers to a "defective paint"  used inside water tanks on many ships, some owned by cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line as well as other companies.

The articles report that Hempel managed to keep the danger secret due to a "super-injunction" which effectively gagged Mr. Bradford from blowing the whistle on the paint manufacturer and the cruise lines.  The articles state that Mr. Bradford was a paint inspector who was overseeing the repainting of water tanks on the Norwegian Dawn and the Norwegian Star. 

The Post states that "Bradford discovered a black residue on tanks, told Norwegian Cruise Line about it, and was axed."  Mr. Bradford remains muzzled for speaking out about the danger, but the Sunday Times apparently is not bound by the injunction.   

Norwegian Cruise Line issued a statement, claiming that: “the drinking water on Norwegian Star and Norwegian Dawn has always been and remains safe.”

We reported on the problem with the allegedly toxic cruise ship water last March in our article Did Cruise Industry Hide Evidence of Toxic Water Tanks?   Our article was based on an article which was published in the Telegraph in London.  At that time we raised the issue of what cruise ships had the Hempel paint and which cruise lines knew of the problem.  

Cruise expert Professor Ross Klein also published an interesting editorial on this problem - Is Drinking Water Safe on Cruise Ships?  

It's interesting to see the London based newspapers taking the lead reporting on such a public hazard involving the cruise industry based here in Miami. 

When will the major U.S. media focus on this important story?

Photo credit:  Top - heraldsun.com.au

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Sad news.  Cruise passenger Janet Richardson, who was dropped from off of a stretcher while rescue staff tried to transfer her from the Ocean Countess cruise ship to a rescue vessel, died in the hospital in the U.K.

Ms. Richardson suffered from some medical problems and apparently was experiencing internal bleeding when a decision was made to take her to hospital by a rescue vessel.  We have reported on the disastrous circumstances which thereafter followed in prior articles.

The news sources we have read indicate that she remained in the freezing waters from 4 to 8 minutes.  An autopsy may indicate whether her death was due to her illness or the shock of the fall and exposure to freezing water.

According to the U.K. press, Ms. Richardson's husband, George, said: “Janet died peacefully on Thursday night in the Cumberland infirmary with her family and friends around her."

The cruise ship was operated by Cruise and Maritime voyages.  A spokesperson for the cruise operator told the U.K. press: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the richardson ­family at this sad time.”

We first learned of Ms. Richardson's passing when her niece left a message on our YouTube site which has a video regarding the incident:

"This is my auntie .  .  .  such a lovely kind and very caring person who will be greatly missed, we all love you so much  . . ." 

Photo credit:  Patrick Hill via BBC News 

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SkyNews has an interesting update on the situation involving  cruise passenger Janet Richardson who was dropped from off of a stretcher while trying to transfer from the Ocean countess cruise ship to a rescue vessel into -3 Celsius waters off the coast of Norway (there is a reason why I live in South Florida).  Regrettably, Ms. Richardson does not seem to be improving.

We have written prior article about this incident: Cruise Passenger Dropped into Freezing Waters During Botched Rescue and yesterday we posted photographs of the terrifying ordeal. 

Video:  SkyNews

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Today, a number of newspapers in the U.K. published articles about an incident we reported on April 6th - Cruise Passenger Dropped into Freezing Waters During Botched Rescue - involving a seriously ill British passenger from the Ocean Countess cruise ship who was inadvertently dumped into freezing waters off of the coast of Norway by the crew of a rescue vessel.  Our article was based on a news account from the U.K.'s Champion newspaper.     

The rescue vessel and cruise ship drifted apart as the passenger, 73 year old Janet Richardson, was in a precarious position between the two vessels, causing the crew to dump the passenger from the stretcher into the icy waters. 

The most remarkable photographs (taken by Patrick Hill) are found in the U.K.'s Mail Online, showing the sequence of events as the crew attempts to transfer the stretcher between the vessels (top), the passenger in the water after being dumped (middle), and the vessels begin to leave the passenger behind (bottom).

As we mentioned in our prior article, the passenger remained in the water for approximately eight minutes before being finally pulled into the rescue vessel.  It is extraordinarily negligent for the passenger not to have been thrown a rope immediately or for her not to have been fitted with a rope attached to a life-vest, not to mention being dumped from the stretcher into the water in the first place.  

Photo credit:  Patrick Hill via U.K.'s Mail Online

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The Telegraph newspaper in the U.K. contains an interesting story today about the use of gag orders by large corporations in England to prevent the public from learning of potential safety hazards.     

Called "hyper-injunctions," the gag orders are used to protect a corporation's reputation by barring an individual from discussing embarrassing information which may affect a corporation's business and legal interests.  

The newspaper reports that  a hyper-injunction was obtained at the High Court in 2006 which prevented an individual from "saying that paint used in water tanks on passenger ships could break down and release potentially toxic chemicals." 

The injunction barred the person from discussing the case with members of Parliament, journalists and lawyers, along with the US Coast Guard and any ship owners, and also forbids any speculation linking chemicals in the paint with the illness of any individuals.

According to the Telegraph, the unidentified individual was given a two-week suspended sentence after talking to a lawyer about whether he would take the case.  A U.K. politician commented on the situation saying: 

"What we have, therefore, is passenger vessels trundling around the world with potentially toxic substances being released into the tanks.  One of those who worked on the tanks collapsed as a result.

From a health and safety point of view, we want to think that the water we are drinking is safe and that it will not cause health problems.  The difficulty in this case is that we do not know.

What we do know is that corporations used the massive force of the law to gag an individual and truss him up so much that he could not really challenge the process."

The article does not mention who obtained the gag order.  Did a cruise line use the "hyper-injunction" to suppress information from a former employee?

Does anyone have information about this?  Please leave a comment below.

November 13, 2011 Update:  Looks like NCL and Royal Caribbean cruise ships contained the paint in question.  The terminated paint inspector was Brian Bradford.  You can read about the new information here.

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Pirate attacks against cruise ships have occurred and will continue to occur in the future.  It's a subject we have written about:  Cruise Line Liability for Injuries to Passengers and Crew Members Caused by Pirate Attacks, Are Cruise Lines Taking Adequate Steps to Protect Passengers from Pirate Attacks?, and Somali Pirates - A Threat To Cruise Ships? 

A marine expert warned that the successful capture of a cruise ship with thousands of passengers on board would provide Somali pirates with “the mother of all ransoms.”

Cruise ships have used a wide variety of measures against pirates, including Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD) which emit powerful sound waves. 

A  company Security Alliance For Effective Solutions, LLC (SAFE) has designed a new device designed to prevent pirates from boarding ships. Called the "Nemesis 5000," the revolving water gun shoots an 80mph “360-degree curtain of water” to blast the pirates and keep them from using harpoon ladders to scale the side of vessels. The water blast is twice the blast as a high pressure fire hose.

The Express newspaper in the U.K. reports that at least 28 vessels and more than 500 hostages are currently being held by Somali pirates who netted more than $120 million in ransom payments last year. 
 

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For those of you who read Cruise Law News know that I report regularly on the numerous norovirus cases which plague the cruise industry.  I am rather fascinated by the cruise lines' PR departments which always blame norovirus outbreaks on the passengers for bringing the virus aboard, rather than contaminated food and water which infect the passengers.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), whereas "person to person" transmission of norovirus has been documented, "norwalk gastroenteritis is transmitted by the fecal-oral route via contaminated water and foods."  The FDA indicates that contaminated water is one of the most likely causes of norovirus.  The FDA reports that "water is the most common source of outbreaks and may include water from municipal supplies, well, recreational lakes, swimming pools, and water stored aboard cruise ships.

The question I have always wondered is how does the water become infected with norovirus?

So I was rather exciting after receiving an email yesterday from a kindred spirit from Britain, Mr. Pat Gardiner, who combines a maritime background with a keen interest in zoonotic disease.  Mr. Gardiner referred me to a recent study from Swedish researchers finding a direct correlation between pig effluent and water sources contaminated with norovirus.  Mr. Gardiner agreed to be a guest blogger, and for that my little blog is richer. 

Be sure to read Mr. Gardiner's rather fascinating background at the end of the article.    

Norovirus - Something in the Water - By Pat Gardiner:  

The constant outbreaks of Norovirus on cruise ships are bringing a powerful industry to its knees, quite aside from the distress and risk to the passengers.  Yet, new evidence yesterday suggests the problem may be ashore and entering the ship with the water supply.

Eureka moments do not come from thin air.  They come from relevant, sometimes diverse experience in the right place at the right time.  Few people can have had the delights of a career in Britain’s most successful seaports, retiring early to raise livestock in an area plagued by constant animal epidemics.

The writer has had a ten-year battle with the British authorities over the appalling handling of animal disease spreading to the human population.  Years ago, he noticed an apparent link between the locations of severe animal disease and the schedules of cruise ships. The ships were calling at ports worldwide in areas where pig disease was rife.

Norovirus is a disease shared between humans and pigs.

Few passengers, once on board, give a thought to the source of the water they use to wash and brush their teeth.  Every cruise ship fills with water, before, during and after every voyage at pretty well every port of call. That water comes from the public supply.

So a ship leaving the UK for a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords would take water from the same country as the passengers embarking – Harwich for example. Vessels calling at Harwich were some of the first to encounter norovirus at the same time as the pigs in the area were getting ill. Now, even ferries from the Scottish mainland to the Scottish islands are becoming infected.

For years, the mechanism by which the norovirus reached the ship baffled the writer.

Smuggling of live pigs and bacon sandwiches on board seemed unlikely for passengers bent on a holiday of glamour and luxury.

Then yesterday the ultra clean Swedes provided the missing link. They found norovirus in the sludge intrinsic to their public water system.

We know that pig effluent can contaminate the surface water and the water supply. Incidents are frequent despite the best efforts of everyone. We know that pigs can carry norovirus.  

We also know that, like everyone else, the Swedes have had outbreaks of various pig diseases.

If the water authority do not look for norovirus or do not detect it, the pathogen will be pumped straight into the cruise ship: directly into the ideal environment for spread to a usually elderly population in an enclosed area.

Any vessel calling at, or sailing via, ports in pig farming country is at risk.

It would be grand to think that the writer has repaid the debt of a satisfying career in shipping by helping to solve one of the most damaging problems imaginable, both to shipping and their customers.

Testing the water is cheap and easy, and the ship owners can do it tomorrow.

About Pat Gardiner:

Mr. Gardiner was too modest to provide me with a biography, but I managed to piece together his background from newspapers and information on line. 

Mr Gardiner started out in the maritime shipping business in the 1960's, working for Blue Star Line in Britain.  He rose to the top of the ship and line agencies in Britain's premier port of Felixstowe.  He has enjoyed a long standing relationship with the U.S., which includes working with what is now the U.S. Sealift Command. He managed his own companies (which acted as agent for U.S. Line among others).  He is a well known figure in the U.K. port and shipping business, and also wrote for newspapers about the shipping and port business.  He twice sold his group of successful shipping and freight businesses, and retired from the maritime freight business while he was still in his forties.   

After his retirement, Mr. Gardiner developed an interest in animal health and zoonotic disease.  In the process, he developed an appropriate distrust of the U.K. veterinary services.

He is the author of two blogs - Animal-Epidemics and  Go Self Sufficient.

Mr. Gardiner is a pancreatic cancer survivor.  He also survived a unsuccessful campaign to ruin his reputation by members of the pig farming and vet industries. 

In 2005, Mr. Gardiner drove across the U.S. in 2005 with his wife.  They are pictured above at my favorite vacation destination, a U.S. national park (Grand Canyon).  Mr. Gardiner can be reached at: patgardiner@btinternet.com 

Additional information:

The "Gardiner Hypothesis:"  Mutated Circovirus in pigs, the consequences of being treated with heavy use of antibiotics, is followed by MRSA in pigs and then MRSA and C.Diff epidemics take off in humans. A circovirus mutation in Britain in 1999 was covered up. The resulting epidemics spread first around the UK, then to Canada and from there, most recently, to the United States.

Learn a new word:

"Zoonotic diseases" - diseases caused by infectious agents that can be transmitted between, or are shared by, animals and humans.

Read Other Cruise Law News Blogs About Cruise Ship Norovirus:

Norovirus On Royal Caribbean's Jewel Of The Seas?   

Centers for Disease Control: "Shut Mercury Cruise Ship Down!"

"Cruise Ship Sickness" - Is Norovirus In The Food and Water?

U.S. to Block Arrival of Queen Victoria After Norovirus Outbreak?

Cruise Ship Norovirus - Clean the Damn Toilets!

Best in Law Blogs: 

Mr. Gardiner's article won a top 10 award for Best in Law Blogs today as part of Lexblog's 3,000 blogs.

Thanks Pat!  

 Credits:

Photographs          Pat Gardiner

Diagram            Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Tech

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Obtaining accurate information from the cruise industry is difficult.  Whenever passengers have a complaint, the cruise lines either ignore them or the cruise lines' customer relations departments send them a nonsensical letter several weeks later dismissing their complaints or offering a 25% on a future cruise.  This often infuriates the passengers who have no intention of ever sailing on a particular cruise line again and are seeking specific information to their legitimate inquiries. 

There are websites which provide an excellent source of information that the cruise lines don't want you to know.  One is CruiseJunkie, run by Professor Ross Klein in Canada.  Dr. Klein tracks safety issues, environmental concerns, and passenger and crew complaints. He has testified several times regarding cruise ship crime before our U.S. Congress.

This morning I read an interesting article on CruiseJunkie regarding a passenger's complaint that the water in the sink and toilet was brown and disgusting looking.  The passenger was a cancer survivor and was concerned whether the water may have been toxic.  Photos of the sink and toilet are courtesy of CruiseJunkie.  Take a look. 

Gross!

But the purpose of writing about this is not just to gross you out.  It is to demonstrate how cruise lines respond to concerns like this.

The shipboard officers and crew offered no assistance or explanation, and would not even send a few complimentary bottles of water to the cabin.  And when the passenger returned home and wrote to Carnival, the cruise line's "Guest Care" team sent what the passenger accurately characterized as a "nonsensical letter" stating "Designing memorable trips is the heart of our business . . . Great food and service . . . will create wonderful memories . . ."  The letter ended with no explanation regarding the source of the contaminated water but regretted that the passenger "felt let down."

The passenger contacted the Florida Division of Consumer Services, the US Public Health Service, and the Federal Maritime Commission - all of whom informed him that they have no regulatory authority over the cruise line industry.

This is what happens when the cruise industry is unregulated and is not obligated to report incidents to health or safety regulators.  Cruise lines like Carnival are not forthcoming with truthful information.  Whether it's the senior PR spokesperson or a low level clerk in the customer services' department, they will write a letter or issue a press statement treating the U.S. public like idiots.  

So the mystery of the disgusting water on Carnival's Liberty will remain, like many disturbing incidents on cruise ships, a mystery.    

Photographs courtesy CruiseJunkie.com

May 3, 2010 Update:

This is not the first time passengers have complained about the water on Carnival's Liberty cruise ship.  A reader brought the following YouTube video to our attention.  Take a look: 

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Caitlin Burke returns as a guest blogger today to discuss environmental issues and the cruise industry.  We have written many articles about cruise ships and the problem with pollution. 

Black water, gray water, oily bilge water, sewage, bunker fuel, smokestack exhaust . . . all discharging and billowing out of cruise ships and into our ocean and air. 

According to Friends of the Earth, a large cruise ship (the largest of which can carry over 5,000 passengers and crew) on a one week voyage is estimated to generate 210,000 gallons (or 5 large swimming pools) of human sewage and 1 million gallons (33 more swimming pools) of gray water (water from sinks, baths, showers, laundry, and galleys). Cruise ships also generate large volumes of oily bilge water, sewage sludge, garbage and hazardous wastes.

The few international regulations which apply to cruise ship discharges and emissions are archaic and are ignored by the cruise industry with little consequence.  

A few states, like Alaska, have strict state guidelines. But take a look at Cruise Junkie’s website and see how often cruise lines "comply" with waste water restrictions. A quick browse of the list leads to the conclusion that cruise ships are not so eco-friendly.

Oceania reports that "cruise ships are one of the largest sources of unregulated ocean pollution and exempt from the discharge permitting program of the Clean Water Act, the nation’s preeminent water pollution control law." Oceania further reports that "this means that the monitoring, inspection, reporting, and enforcement provisions of this law do not apply to cruise ships ... As a result, the public has no way of knowing whether or not they are following their corporate environmental policies."

The cruise industry’s practices has the attention of Congress. Senator Dick Durbin and Congressman Sam Farr are on a mission to change the cruise industry. In October 2009, these Congressmen introduced two bills in both Houses of Congress to prevent cruise ships from discharging raw (untreated) sewage in U.S. coastal waters. Congressman Farr released a statement that "laws currently allowing cruise lines to dump untreated sewage three miles from the shore endangers public health, the environment and the economy."

Senator Durbin introduced "Durbin’s Bill," which will extend the Clean Water Act to regulate cruise ship wastewater. Congressman Farr introduced an almost identical bill. 

Both bills are commonly referred to as the Clean Cruise Ship Act.

In honor of Earth Day, I encourage you to do some research regarding the cruise industry’s practices of discharging waste and emitting bunker fuel particles.  Support the Clean Cruise Ship Act.  Make certain that you do your part to protect our waters and the air we breath.

"Generations come and generations go, but the Earth is forever."

For additional information, watch the Friends of the Earth Video "Investigating Cruise Ship Pollution."  

Credits:

Cruise Ship Cartoon      Shields via earthIsland.org and Campaign to Safeguard America's Waterways

Smokestack                  ScienceDaily.com

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The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports numerous outbreaks of norovirus on cruise ships operated by Celebrity Cruises, Cunard, Holland American Lines, and Royal Caribbean. 

Every time there is an outbreak, the cruise lines blame the passengers who board the cruise ships.  The media picks up in this theme and often reports that the problem is not with the cruise ships but the passengers who board the ships already infected with norovirus.  For example, in a recent article in the New York Times Travel Section "Stomach Bug Hits Cruise Ships," respected journalist Michelle Higgins writes " . . . the contaminated ships have since been disinfected  . . .  but such measures can’t prevent a sick passenger from coming aboard and infecting others."  Ms. Higgins suggests that " the best defense is simple: wash your hands."

Unfortunately, the issue is not so simple.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), whereas "person to person" transmission of norovirus has been documented, "norwalk gastroenteritis is transmitted by the fecal-oral route via contaminated water and foods."

Contaminated Water Supplies On Cruise Ships?

The FDA indicates that contaminated water is one of the most likely causes of norovirus.  The FDA reports that "water is the most common source of outbreaks and may include water from municipal supplies, well, recreational lakes, swimming pools, and water stored aboard cruise ships.

So whereas you always hear reports of extra cleaning of the bathrooms and cabins on infected cruise ships, there is never a mention of whether the potable water is tested and the results of the testing.

Contaminated Food Supplies On Cruise Ships?

In addition to water supplies on cruise ships being a potential source of the virus, food supplies on cruise ships can also sicken the passengers.

The FDA reports that "shellfish and salad ingredients are the foods most often implicated in norwalk outbreaks. Ingestion of raw or insufficiently steamed clams and oysters poses a high risk for infection with Norwalk virus. Foods other than shellfish are contaminated by ill food handlers."

It would be interesting to determine the job positions of the crew members infected with norovirus.  For example, the CDC reports that sixty-nine crew members were reported ill on Celebrity's Mercury and Millennium cruise ships during recent cruises.  How many of these crewmembers were cooks, waiters or food handlers?  

The issue of eating oysters and other shellfish on cruise ships presents a double whammy.  Cruise ships dump sewage 12 miles from shore, and the fecal material can contaminate shellfish which filter-feed.  Both cruise passengers and people ashore can then be infected by eating contaminated shellfish. 

Uncertainty Regarding Cause of Virus and Transmitting Agent

Although the CDC tries to determine the "causative agent" of the outbreak, this means that they are trying to determine the nature of the pathogen (i.e., whether it is norovirus or some other virus).  But the CDC does not report whether the virus came from a person boarding the cruise ship or, the more likely scenario if the FDA is correct, from contaminated food and water on the cruise ship.

The issue arises where do the cruise lines obtain their potable water?  From U.S. based vendors or from the Caribbean islands?  What testing is done at the ports before the water is brought aboard?  Where do the food products come from?  Is any of the food inspected by the FDA before it is loaded on the cruise ships?  

The CDC reports that around 600 passengers became ill on Celebrity's Mercury cruise ship on the last two cruises alone.  Are we to believe that all 600 people simply failed to wash their hands?  Or is there something in the food and water? 

Cruise lines should be required to publicly report the test results of the cruise ship's water samples, so that the U.S. public can determine the true cause of cruise ship illnesses.

If contaminated water is the culprit, all of the external cleaning of cruise ship surfaces is not going to solve the problem.   

Additional Information: 

Passengers can track the reported outbreaks on the CDC web page which tracks "Outbreak Updates for International Cruise Ships."  Not all norovirus outbreaks are required to be reported to the CDC and the CDC website is incomplete. 

A good source for additional information is found on "Illness Outbreaks on Cruise ships."  We have reported on numerous cases of cruise line illnesses in prior articles. 

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