No scientific effort was made to monitor the health effects after the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.

Russell notes that the few studies that do document the long-term impact of an oil spill - such as the disaster off the coast of Spain in 2002 - are cause for serious concern.

"They've shown long-term respiratory problems and some problems with endocrine malfunctions and also with DNA breakages of the sort that could potentially lead to cancers."

Call for health investigation

The Center for American Progress report calls for a coordinated public health investigation into the Gulf spill, to be directed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Coast Guard Cutter Cypress' skimmer hard at work in a large patch of oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

The agency would coordinate government-wide efforts to collect, monitor and standardize data and target funding for immediate and longer-term needs.

California Congresswoman Lois Capps supports that plan, which she says would not require new legislation or the creation of a new federal agency to proceed.

Capps adds that BP - the British oil giant primarily responsible for the spill and its cleanup - should not be entrusted with monitoring the health effects of the oil disaster.

"They are not a public health entity," says Capps. "And they lack the experience, the expertise and even the incentive to faithfully protect public health and safety."