[Health effects of exposure to oil spills]

The sinking of the oil tanker Prestige off the coast of Galicia was not only the worst ecological disaster ever to affect Spain, it also led to thousands of people who participated in the cleanup of the contaminated areas being exposed to potentially dangerous toxic substances. As the airway is one of the principal routes of entry into the body of these toxic compounds, the possible effects of exposure to such spills is of particular interest and concern to respiratory specialists. The paucity of clinical information available on the subject was the motive for this paper, which reviews the scientific studies undertaken in the aftermath of other accidents involving oil tankers and concludes with a summary of the clinical and epidemiological data published to date on the Prestige oil spill.