Vieques is an island that is part of Puerto Rico, and its waters are infested with nothing less than a few hundred undersea . These have been in the water by the US Navy, which operated on Viesques for sixty years. What's worse is that these unused have been corroding away in the ocean, releasing toxins in marine habitat.
Although radioactve substances were initially believed to be leaked by these , carcinogens were found in surrounding marine wildlife. Coral, sea urchins, worms were found carrying 100,000 times more carcinogens than edible seafood.
These creatures carry cancer.
And this is not just unique to Viesques. Any undersea area that has been exposed to sea warfare will be at risk.
Clean up is no easy business either. We don't know exactly where the are, and it will be hard to trace toxic substances in so vast a mass as the ocean. But we'd better do it soon. More than anything else, I think it is an example of human carelessness. We are making our mark on our environment, and soon it will be too late to fix it.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
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3 comments:
some of the words in the blog have been censored again. this time the word is "bomb." there have been undersea bombs by the island, and these bombs are endangering marine wildlife.
I highly doubt that the US government doesn't know where these weapons are...sure, the ocean is a big place, but the US is not stupid. They probably have hundreds of records on them. If the government had just a little incentive to look for them, they'd surely find them. I think the reason they aren't looking so hard is because the environment is not a "hot" issue nowadays...it's all about the economy. The US needs to step up and lend a hand on this issue!
I wikied Vieques and it turns out that it's a really strange place. For one, the wildlife reserves on the island just happen to be on the same land that the US used for bomb testing (sounds fishy to me). Shouldn't the US be trying to preserve fertile land rather than land that is so contaminated? Also, tourism is a big thing on Vieques. Is it really safe for US tourists to be going there and getting exposed to the chemicals? Isn't our health being compromised?
How tragic. Then again, I don't think we knew at the time the these bombs were harmful to society. Back then, it was simply bombs away! at anything and no looking at the side effects or anything. Who knew that the bombs would release deadly toxins? Of course, it is quite bothersome now that we have to watch what we eat. Seafood is no longer safe, I know I wouldn't want to eat a carcinogen infested fish.
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