Fishing crews in the Atlantic keep accidentally dredging up chemical weapons
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https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/75/wr/mm7508a3.htm?s_cid=OS_mm7508a3_w
What is already known about this topic?
Until 1970, unexploded chemical warfare munitions (CWMs), including sulfur mustard (mustard gas) from World War I and World War II, were disposed of at sea. Commercial fishing vessels occasionally inadvertently dredge sea-disposed CWMs, exposing workers and risking health and safety.What is added by this report?
Three incidents of recovered CWMs in New Jersey waters occurred in 2016, 2017, and 2023, resulting in severe worker injuries and large-scale food product destruction.What are the implications for public health practice?
The risk for inadvertent recovery of sea-disposed CWMs continues while munitions remain on the seafloor. Prioritizing avoidance of documented dump sites followed by engineering and administrative measures, interagency coordination, training, and use of personal protective equipment are recommended to mitigate the risk for future injuries and food contamination. -
@Mik said in Fishing crews in the Atlantic keep accidentally dredging up chemical weapons:
Seems ill advised.
Indeed, but until not all that long ago in our lifetime, the prevailing wisdom regarding toxic waste disposal was based on a false premise that maintained “the only solution to pollution is dilution”.
Dumping CWB into the oceans met two requirements in that regards; 1) it literally gets it far away and out of sight from the general public and 2) if the containment vessels do rupture, the sea water will dilute and dissipate the toxins quickly and at great depths.
There was little if any understanding of how ecosystems operated or inter-reacted or just how hazardous various man made chemical toxins really are or what cumulative damage they can do even at minute trace amounts.
