2013 CPEO Military List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 00:40:46 -0800 (PST)
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] GLOBAL: "Okinawa: the junk heap of the Pacific"
 
Okinawa: the junk heap of the Pacific
Decades of Pentagon pollution poison service members, residents and future plans for the island

by Jon Mitchell
Japan Times
November 11, 2013

In June, construction workers unearthed more than 20 rusty barrels from beneath a soccer pitch in Okinawa City. The land had once been part of Kadena Air Base - the Pentagon’s largest installation in the Pacific region - but was returned to civilian usage in 1987. Tests revealed that the barrels contained two ingredients of military defoliants used in the Vietnam War: the herbicide 2,4,5-T and 2,3,7,8,-TCDD dioxin. Levels of the highly toxic TCDD in nearby water measured 280 times the safe limit.

The Pentagon has repeatedly denied storing of defoliants - including Agent Orange - on Okinawa. Following the discovery, it distanced itself from the barrels; a spokesperson said the Defense Department was investigating whether they had been buried after the land’s return in 1987, and a U.S. government-sponsored scientist suggested they may merely have contained kitchen or medical waste. However, the conclusions of the Japanese and international scientific community were unequivocal: Not only did the barrels disprove Pentagon denials of the presence of military defoliants in Japan, but the polluted land also posed a threat to the health of local residents and required immediate remediation.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/11/11/issues/okinawa-the- junk-heap-of-the-pacific/

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

_______________________________________________
Military mailing list
Military@lists.cpeo.org
http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/military-cpeo.org

  Prev by Date: [CPEO-MEF] MUNITIONS: RDX found in Fort Jackson (SC) groundwater
Next by Date: [CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS, GLOBAL: "West Faces Challenge in Moving Syrian Chemical Arms Through Battlefields"
  Prev by Thread: [CPEO-MEF] MUNITIONS: RDX found in Fort Jackson (SC) groundwater
Next by Thread: [CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS, GLOBAL: "West Faces Challenge in Moving Syrian Chemical Arms Through Battlefields"

CPEO Home
CPEO Lists
Author Index
Date Index
Thread Index