This is a special problem for small islands that have served as
\nmilitary bases for the major powers. . . . When such bases are
\nabandoned or returned by the United States military services there is
\na unique problem — the terms and conditions under which the local
\ncountry is assisted or endemnified for environmental or toxic
\nproblems being left behind are NOT set by US Government law or
\ngeneral regulation, but by negotiated agreements reached by the
\nmilitary commander AT THE BASE at the time of closure. This form of
\nplausible deniability allows the US Government to say that they fully
\ncomply with the law (there isn’t any!), and that the local host
\ngovernment is in full agreement with the arrangements made.<\/p>\n
Dumped chemical weapons missing at sea<\/em><\/p>\n THE last thing you might expect to encounter exploring the ocean Between 1946 and 1972, the US and other countries pitched 300,000 But the military have lost track of most of the weapons because of The Chemical Weapons Convention does not cover the destruction of If the chemicals leak from their containers, they will break down A team led by Roy Wilkens at the University of Hawaii in Manoa is This is a special problem for small islands that have served as military bases for the major powers. . . . When such bases are abandoned or returned by the United States military services there is a unique problem — the terms and conditions under which the local country is assisted or endemnified for environmental […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[10,11,23,33,42],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nfloor is a chemical weapon. But it seems hundreds of thousands of
\ntonnes of them have been dumped into the sea, and no one knows
\nexactly where the weapons are. Now, scientists are calling for
\nweapons sites to be mapped for safety’s sake.<\/p>\n
\ntonnes of chemical weapons over the sides of ships or scuttled them
\nalong with useless vessels, according to public reports by the Medea
\nCommittee, a group of scientists given access to intelligence data
\nso they can advise the US government on environmental issues.<\/p>\n
\nhaphazard record keeping combined with imprecise navigation. Even
\nthe exact chemicals were not always noted, though there are records
\nof shells, rockets and barrels containing sulphur mustard and nerve
\nagents such as sarin.<\/p>\n
\nthe sea-dumped weapons, which are considered abandoned. “There’s no
\npiece of legislation or treaty that deals with this stuff,” says
\nPeter Brewer, an ocean chemist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
\nInstitute in Moss Landing, California. “It’s in limbo.”<\/p>\n
\nslowly in the cold seawater. But it is unclear what will happen if
\nthe chemicals bind to sediment or sink into anoxic zones, says
\nBrewer (Environmental Science and Technology, vol 42, p 1394).<\/p>\n
\nplanning to look for munitions dumped off the island of Oahu.
\nRecords only note that the weapons were dumped about “five miles
\nsouth of Pearl Harbour”. Finding them will involve a search of 60
\nsquare kilometres, says Wilkens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"