Decades of dumping chemical arms leave a risky legacy

Decades of dumping chemical arms leave a risky legacy

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - In the summer of 2004, a clam-dredging operation off New Jersey pulled up an old artillery shell.

The long-submerged World War I-era explosive was filled with a black tarlike substance.

Bomb disposal technicians from Dover Air Force Base, Del., were brought in to dismantle it. Three of them were injured - one hospitalized with large pus-filled blisters on an arm and hand.

The shell was filled with mustard gas in solid form.

What was long feared by the few military officials in the know had come to pass: Chemical weapons that the Army dumped at sea decades ago finally ended up on shore in the United States.

It's long been known that some chemical weapons went into the ocean, but records obtained by the Daily Press show that the previously classified weapons-dumping program was far more extensive than ever suspected.

The Army now admits that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents into the sea, along with 400,000 chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500 tons of radioactive waste - either tossed overboard or packed into the holds of scuttled vessels...

Oh, so much more....

*shakes head* You need to read the rest of the article.... Shear stupidity...

The military has been dumping/storing weapons at least since the Manhatten project. One of those sites is in upstate New York and although they(gov't/ military) would have us believe that the area is safe it is anything but. Yet they have been building on this old military depot. Recently(5 yrs) they have built a new prison on this site. Cancer cluster you say, without a doubt.

Seneca Army Depot, Romulus NY

Don't buy any land @ it or you may start glowing in the dark.

There are alot of issues with deactivated bases aroudn the US. Its going to cost alot to clean up these sites.

Remember that there were a variety of suits regardign the open pit burning of toxic waste at Area 51. Every US president since Bush Senior has signed a presidential order each year exempting the base from US environmental laws .