The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is set to launch a multiyear study to assess the impact of the Deepwater Horizon spill on workers involved in the cleanup operation.

Announcing the landmark Gulf Worker Study, the NIH's director Francis Collins said that BP will provide $10 million in additional funding to ensure the investigation is undertaken swiftly.

The study is due to commence in the autumn, with the NIH set to carry out extensive interviews and health assessments on workers involved in the Gulf cleanup operation.

As part of a control test, the NIH will also interview those who completed oil and gas safety training modules to take part in the spill but who were not deployed in the region.

"We plan to enroll workers with varying levels of exposure. For example, we hope to recruit workers involved in oil burning, skimming and booming, equipment decontamination, wildlife cleanup, and also those with lower exposure such as shoreline clean-up workers," said Dale Sandler, chief of the epidemiology branch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and lead researcher on the study.

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