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U.S. Dumped Chemical Weapons in International Waters
The U.S. Army in the wake of World War II dumped chemical weapons off the coasts of 11 countries, The Daily Press of Newport News, Va., reported Monday (see GSN, Oct. 31). From 1944 to 1970, weapons were deposited near Italy, France, India, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, Denmark, Norway and other nations, according to a 2001 Army report. Some of these weapons have washed up or been discovered by fisherman. The munitions have harmed at least 200 people, according to the Daily Press. The United States has dumped weapons at more than 30 sites around the world, the report said. “It's a disaster looming — a time bomb,” said Gert Harigel of the Geneva International Peace Research Institute. “The scientific community knows very little about it. It scares me a lot.” The United States in 1975 signed a treaty barring chemical weapons from being left in oceans, but the pact does not address munitions abandoned before its signing. As the weapons dumps are in international waters, the United States is not legally responsible, said Peter Kaiser, spokesman for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. “Legally, nothing can be done,” Harigel said. “But from a humanitarian point of view, they need to be pressured to do something.” Documents reviewed by the Daily Press indicate that the United States also left chemical weapons near New Zealand, China, the former Soviet Union and undisclosed Latin American countries. The documents suggest that Panama is one of the Latin American countries (see GSN, Aug. 13, 2004). The United States has informed these countries about the leftover bombs, rockets and grenades, but asked the governments not to comment publicly on the matter, according to the Daily Press. Czech scientist Jiri Matousek, in a 2004 study found that the submerged munitions were probably leaking. The hazard caused by these leaks would continued for “another tens to hundreds of years. It is also without doubt that long-term monitoring at areas of concern is needed as a categorical imperative,” according to Matousek. The U.S. Army has admitted that only four of the 26 dumpsites off the U.S. coast have been inspected, according to the Daily Press. Inspections last occurred in 1975. Some countries were not told of the weapons dumps. An official Japanese inquiry determined in 1973 that weapons left by the United States or Japanese military upon the close of World War II had injured more than 85 fishermen. Australia discovered 60 million pounds of U.S. chemical weapons off the Brisbane coast in 2003. It has marked the area as off-limits, according to the Daily Press. Canada’s National Defense Department has worked for three years to locate U.S. or Canadian dumpsites. The United States is thought to be responsible for one of the three sites found. Canada is looking at another 1,200 underwater locations that could be dump grounds, including sites 100 miles off Vancouver Island in British Columbia. “I won't say there's nothing there that belongs to us,” said William Brankowitz, deputy project manager in the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency. Two chemical weapons dumpsites in Canada are near Sable Island and Nova Scotia. The sites span at least 30 nautical miles and are thought to have been created by the Canadian government after World War II. “Fisheries are dying. The sea bottom is going bare. It's terrible,” said Nova Scotia-area antiques dealer Myles Kehoe. “We are finding crab mutations that no one can explain. Cod are dying at their larval stage. Most of that stuff is starting to leach now.” Over the years, leaking weapons have injured fishermen. “Around the world, accidents have happened,” Brankowitz said. “Fortunately, there has been nothing I would call colossal or catastrophic accidents.” Denmark has estimated that British and U.S. weapons have hurt 150 mariners and have washed ashore. In 1984, mustard gas burned 11 fishermen. Danish fishermen have taken to wearing protective suits when near the dumpsites. Ships in some areas of the Baltic Sea must carry gas masks and special medical kits. Sunken mustard gas has killed five Italian fishermen have died and injured 232 since 1946, according to scientists at the University of Bari. The Army does not challenge these findings (John Bull, The Daily Press I, Oct. 31). The Army’s chemical weapons abandonment program ended when Congress learned that a dump was planned near New York City, according to the Daily Press. After learning that a ship carrying nerve gas encased in concrete was to be scuttled near the city in the late 1960s New York Congressman Richard McCarthy asked the National Academy of Sciences to study possible effects. “That dump could have killed everyone in Manhattan,” said Harvard professor Matthew Meselson, who testified at a congressional hearing on the matter. “The Army had maintained this was very far into the sea, and they maintained it was very deep — too deep for fish. That wasn't right. Our report put the kibosh on the Army's plan.” Meselson said that scientists were afraid that increased pressure on the ship would set off an explosion and blow up the ship, sending toxic gas into the air toward New York. The Army following the hearing canceled the program. Congress two years later passed a law banning dumping of chemical munitions in the ocean (John Bull, The Daily Press II, Oct. 31).
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