US Legacy Revealed: Ocean Dumping Chemical Weapons

[StarmanSkye]

... And NOW the Pentagon wonks realize the dumping may have been far more widespread than even they thought, and constitute a very serious danger to the world's oceanic ecosystems.<br><br>Considering how downright hazardous the Pentagon made Iraq's nonexistent WMD out to be while ignoring the US's 60-year habit of dumping the world's most dangerous chemical poisons into pristine ocean depths, you'd think a reasonable person might ask, 'Well, what ELSE might we be doing that is really more dangerous than currently thought?'<br><br>But then, that would require at least a modest degree of honesty and integrity -- characteristics that are greatly out-of-favor with officials under the influence of the Bush Gang.<br><br>Starman<br>******<br><br>DISPOSAL OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS IN THE OCEAN, AND MORE (CRS) <br><br><br>"The U.S. Armed Forces disposed of chemical weapons in the ocean from World War I through 1970," the Congressional Research Service recalled in a valuable new report. <br><br>"At that time, it was thought that the vastness of ocean waters would absorb chemical agents that may leak from these weapons. However, public concerns about human health and environmental risks, and the economic effects of potential damage to marine resources, led to a statutory prohibition on the disposal of chemical weapons in the ocean in 1972." <br><br>"For many years, there was little attention to weapons that had been dumped offshore prior to this prohibition. However, the U.S. Army completed a report in 2001 indicating that the past disposal of chemical weapons in the ocean had been more common and widespread geographically than previously acknowledged." <br><br>"The Army cataloged 74 instances of disposal through 1970, including 32 instances off U.S. shores and 42 instances off foreign shores. The disclosure of these records has renewed public concern about lingering risks from chemical weapons still in the ocean today." <br><br>See "U.S. Disposal of Chemical Weapons in the Ocean: Background and Issues for Congress," May 24, 2006: <br> <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33432.pdf">www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33432.pdf</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

Plus the radiation across all America from nuke testing and power plants and jet fuel ingredients (perchloate) in the water supply.<br><br>The Pentagon is the biggest threat to Americans today.<br><br>AND it has all our money, too. "Proud to be..." ech. <p></p><i></i>

[LoganSquare]

Not just chemical weapons, but nuclear waste too--some as shallow as 300ft--in one of the richest fishing waters in the world.<br><br>Between 1946 and 1970, approximately 47,800 large containers of low-level radioactive<br>waste were dumped in the Pacific Ocean west of San Francisco. These containers, mostly 55-<br>gallon (208 liter) drums, were to be dumped at three designated sites in the Gulf of the<br>Farallones, but many were not dropped on target, probably because of inclement weather and<br>navigational uncertainties. The drums actually litter a 1,400-km2 (540 mi2) area of sea floor,<br>much of it in what is now the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, which was<br>established by Congress in 1981 (fig 1).<br>The area of the sea floor where the drums lie is commonly referred to as the &#8220;Farallon Islands<br>RadioactiveWaste Dump&#8221; (FIRWD). Because the actual distribution of the drums on the sea floor<br>was unknown, assessing any potential environmental hazard from radiation or contamination has<br>been nearly impossible. Such assessment requires retrieving individual drums for study, sampling<br>sediment and living things around the drums, and directly measuring radiation levels.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/circular/c1198/chapters/207-217_RadWaste.pdf">geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/circu...dWaste.pdf</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br> <p></p><i></i>