Gift-Fische aus Nord- und Ostsee
Jana Heinze
By Rob Edwards
Environment Correspondent
Sunday Herald - London
6-17-2002
More than half a century ago, Britain dumped over 100,000 tonnes of
the Nazi's deadly chemical weapons in the sea. Now they are coming
back to haunt us.
Scientists fear millions of ancient shells and bombs resting on the
short stretch of seabed between Denmark and Norway have begun to leak
their lethal payload. Danish fishermen have been injured, Norway has
launched an investigation and coastal authorities are worried a
'historic time bomb' could be about to explode.
The Sunday Herald has obtained a copy of a report by the Ministry of
Defence which details for the first time the extraordinary scale of
the postwar operation to get rid of Germany's chemical weapons.
Between 1945 and 1947, at least 112,000 tonnes were loaded into 33
German boats, which were then scuttled in Skagerrak, the strait across
the North Sea that separates Norway and Denmark (see table).
The chemicals, confiscated from Hitler's Third Reich at the end of the
second world war, were mustard gas, phosgene, tabun and lewisite, all
of which can inflict appalling injuries. They may also have included
hydrocyanic acid and Cyclone B, two of the poisons used to murder
millions of Jews in Nazi concentration camps.
Before they were packed into the hulls of ships, the weapons were put
into wicker baskets by German workers. The hope was that any chemicals
that leaked out would be absorbed by the wicker, and prevented from
contaminating the sea.
That may have been a false hope, however. An expedition to Skagerrak
by Russian scientists has discovered evidence that the weapons --
sometimes only two hundreds metres deep -- are falling apart and
spilling their contents into the marine environment.
The investigation by the Russian Academy of Science in St Petersburg
found levels of arsenic up to 200 parts per million around one of the
dump sites. This was 'extremely high', they said, and was probably due
to arsenic leaching from corroding weapons.
They also detected high concentrations of lead and other heavy metals.
The weapons could poison fishermen who pulled them up from the seabed,
were a target for terrorists and posed 'a large danger to the
environment', the Russian scientists warned.
'It is a terrible menace for Europeans,' said Albert Bikmullin, from
the International Ecological Parliament, a Russian environmental
group. 'Poison gas, dissolving slowly in the water, is able to pollute
vast areas and get into food chains.'
He added: 'Plankton absorbs poison gas very easily, is mutated and
gets into fish as a food. Fish, in their turn, get to carnivores and
in this way poison gets into a man's meal.'
The Russian government has formally approached NATO, seeking support
for a programme to monitor and prevent leakages from the chemical
dumps. But NATO, which is considering the request through its
Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society, has not yet decided
what to do.
Meanwhile the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority has just begun its
own investigation, which involves sending a remote-controlled mini-sub
marine to the seabed to take pictures and samples. 'We have to keep it
under control to make sure that it doesn't harm people,' said Hilde
Keilen, the authority's senior executive officer.
Danish studies have suggested that over 150 fishermen have
accidentally brought up chemical munitions in their nets. In some
cases, they have been burnt by leaking mustard gas, which, despite its
name, is a thick, viscous liquid.
KIMO, an organisation which brings together over 100 local authorities
representing five million people around the coasts of northern Europe,
is planning a Scottish conference on chemical dumps at sea this
November. Due to take place in Ayr, it is entitled Time Bombs From The
Past.
'We are increasingly concerned about the historic time bomb which is
ticking away at over 80 dump sites in northern seas. We are asking
governments to investigate the exact locations of chemical and
conventional weapons dump sites, compile inventories and make this
information available,' said KIMO's Rick Nickerson.
'These materials are increasingly washing up on our coasts and
endangering fishermen at sea. It is important that a clear picture is
obtained of the state of these dumps so that appropriate action can be
taken if and when a site becomes a problem.'
The cause has been taken up by the Labour MP for Glasgow Baillieston,
Jimmy Wray. He has put down an motion in the House of Commons calling
on the British government to combat the pollution from the sunken
ships, and has been backed by 28 other MPs.
'It is important that this kind of pollution is dealt with soon. These
ships have been sitting on the seabed for the past 50 years and are
now rotting away. Dangerous chemicals are being leaked into the sea,
and we could have an environmental catastrophe on our hands within a
few years,' he said.
The British government, however, has no plans to even monitor the
chemicals dumped in Skagerrak. 'The consensus of international
scientific opinion is that munitions on the seabed present no risk to
human health or the marine environment, provided they are left
undisturbed,' said the defence minister, Dr Lewis Moonie.
He confessed that much of the historical documentation detailing the
dumping had been lost. 'After the second world war it was the
administrative practice to destroy records of sea disposals of
munitions, including chemical weapons, when such records were
perceived to be of no further administrative use,' he explained.
The admission has infuriated Wray. 'It is terrible that important
documents have been destroyed by the Ministry of Defence,' he
declared. 'It doesn't bear thinking what other documents have been
disposed of.'
R.Freitag
[...]
ein Blick auf die in der Sig angegebene Page
erweitert dass Problem (nicht aber den Horizont)
Wieso hat Hitler Giftgas produziert? das war doch im ersten Weltkrieg?
oder irre ich mich da ??
Robert
--
http://bildung.freepage.de/heerwagen
-- und es bleibt das Lachen im Halse stecken.
Klaus Schleicherdt
"Jana Heinze" <iswi...@gmx.de> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:155aabc5.02061...@posting.google.com...
> British Dumping Of WWII Chemical Weapons Threatens Europe
[...]
Ich bin davon überzeugt, dass Du schon zu viel Fisch gegessen hast.
Mach weiter so.
Gruß, Klaus.
W.Sondermann
"Klaus Peter" schrieb...
> R.Freitag schrieb:
>
> > Wieso hat Hitler Giftgas produziert? das war doch im ersten
> > Weltkrieg?
> > oder irre ich mich da ??
>
Ich dachte bisher auch, nur Italien haette im WK-II Giftgas
eingesetzt, und zwar gegen die Neger in Afrika (Eritrea).
In der Ostsee kommt es manchmal noch zu Zwischenfaellen mit Gelbkreuz,
das aber nachweislich aus dem WK-I stammt.
Tschau,
Werner
Michael Holtermann
W.Sondermann schrieb in news:3d0f222b$0$15171$9b62...@news.freenet.de:
> Ich dachte bisher auch, nur Italien haette im WK-II Giftgas
> eingesetzt, und zwar gegen die Neger in Afrika (Eritrea).
Was ist mit Zyklon B und änlichem Dreckszeug?
Micha.
Klaus Schleicherdt
"Michael Holtermann" <nwsg...@yahoo.de> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:aenv5a$8hpsk$1...@ID-3470.news.dfncis.de...
Nun...in meine, daß wir in den letzten 20 Jahren mehr "Dreckszeug" in
den Teich gekippt haben.
Da erscheinen mir das "Dreckszeug" aus den letzten beiden Kriegen eher
als Flatulenz in der Badewanne.
Aber ob ich nun tief Luft hole, oder Fisch esse....
Mir schmeckt Fisch und die Rezepte, die ich hier still und heimlich
sammle, haben mir schon viel Freude bereitet!
Gruß, Klaus.
Rene Gagnaux
Guten Tag Michael, guten Tag allerseits,
On 18 Jun 2002 18:46:02 GMT, Michael Holtermann <nwsg...@yahoo.de> wrote
(<aenv5a$8hpsk$1...@ID-3470.news.dfncis.de>):
>> Ich dachte bisher auch, nur Italien haette im WK-II Giftgas
>> eingesetzt, und zwar gegen die Neger in Afrika (Eritrea).
>
>Was ist mit Zyklon B und änlichem Dreckszeug?
Eine Erweiterung der Diskussion die hier - de.rec.mampf - nichts zu suchen
hat?
Salut
René
Londo
poison is believed to be mustard gas, a chemical weapon. It was reported
that this substance is oily, i.e. does not mix with sea water and has a
specific gravity >1.04 g.cm3, i.e. will therfore stay on the sea bottom,
unless there is heavy turbulence.
This does not make the mess (german: "Sauerei") any smaller but puts it into
context. It is interesting though, that the authorities seem approach the
problem by ignoring it, apparently driven by the hope that it will solve
itself, somehow....
"Jana Heinze" <iswi...@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:155aabc5.02061...@posting.google.com...
W.Sondermann
"Klaus Peter" schrieb...
> Sicher, dass nur Giftgas nur aus dem WW-I in der Ostsee versenkt wurde?
> AFAIK wurde auch Muntion und Giftgas aus dem WW-II dort abgeladen.
Sicher bin ich mir da natuerlich nicht.
Veraetzungen durch Senfgas kommen manchmal bei den Berufsfischern in
der Ostsee vor, was ja nachweislich noch aus dem WK I stammt.
Das war mal - glaub ich - in den 70er Jahren in der Presse zu lesen.
Am besten mal einfach "Ostsee Senfgas" bei www.metager.de eingeben.
Tschau,
Werner