soc.culture.pakistan

Dumped chemical weapons missing at sea

New Scientist

* 23 March 2008
*
* Magazine issue 2648

THE last thing you might expect to encounter exploring the ocean floor is a
chemical weapon. But it seems hundreds of thousands of tonnes of them have
been dumped into the sea, and no one knows exactly where the weapons are.
Now, scientists are calling for weapons sites to be mapped for safety's
sake.

Between 1946 and 1972, the US and other countries pitched 300,000 tonnes of
chemical weapons over the sides of ships or scuttled them along with useless
vessels, according to public reports by the Medea Committee, a group of
scientists given access to intelligence data so they can advise the US
government on environmental issues.

But the military have lost track of most of the weapons because of haphazard
record keeping combined with imprecise navigation. Even the exact chemicals
were not always noted, though there are records of shells, rockets and
barrels containing sulphur mustard and nerve agents.

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19726482.800-dumped-chemical-weapons-missing-at-sea.html?feedId=earth_rss20