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November 16, 2005: Army sunk poison gas off B.C.

B.C.

Army sunk poison gas off B.C.

National Defence says sinking of gas barrels was 'acceptable' in 1947

 

Kim Westad

Victoria Times Colonist

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

 

 

 

VICTORIA - Undisclosed amounts of mustard gas and phosgene were dumped into the Pacific Ocean 160 kilometres off Vancouver Island in 1947, the Department of National Defence has confirmed.

"We received credible information that there is a site there," Judith Bennett, an environmental engineer with the Department of National Defence said in Ottawa on Monday.

The quantity of chemical warfare agents and their location will not be precisely known until further study is carried out. The Department of National Defence has notified the Canadian Hydrographic Service and will also do a risk assessment, even though it believes danger from the long-discarded chemicals is low.

"This is really far off the coast and in very deep waters," Bennett said. "That alone makes the risk relatively low."

The chemicals are believed to be 2.5 kilometres beneath the ocean surface, dumped there in 1947 when that was considered an appropriate way of disposing of chemical warfare agents that were stored in canisters or barrels.

"This was considered an acceptable method of disposal internationally, and our country used it as well," Bennett said.

The confirmation comes as part of the Warfare Agent Disposal Project, which aims to identify and assess water and land-based sites where chemical or biological warfare agents may still exist.

There have been longstanding rumours of a chemical dump off the coast of Vancouver Island and the consulting group conducting research for the project found corroborative information in the form of national archive documents. It advertised in Legion magazine to talk to veterans, as well as former DND employees. Information was evaluated and cross-referenced with other anecdotal information, as well as documents, Bennett said.

Joan Harmston, an 88-year-old Ottawa woman, said it's about time suspicion about the dump has been confirmed. She believes her husband Ted Harmston was involved in transporting chemicals in 1947.

Harmston said that in September 1947, her soldier husband was ordered to travel to Suffield, Alta. with another man. From there the two boarded a train carrying about 15 boxcars filled with "ammunition" and headed west.

The train was put on a barge when it got to the Lower Mainland, and ended up at the government drydock in Esquimalt, near Victoria, on Sept. 17, 1947.

Her husband didn't accompany the barge that transported the canisters off the Island, and he didn't talk about it, but Harmston had her suspicions.

"I think these things should be revealed," she said Monday while visiting in Victoria.

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CHEMICAL WARFARE

- Mustard gas is a chemical compound that was first used as a chemical weapon in the First World War. In pure form, it is a colourless, odourless, viscous liquid at room temperature and causes skin blistering.

- Phosgene is a toxic gas or refrigerated liquid that was used as a chemical weapon in the First World War. It has no colour, but is detectable in air by its odour, which resembles mouldy hay.

Ran with fact box "Chemical warfare", which has been appended to the end of the story.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=8b2e5f1a-7695-43b7-9b56-95d87e412caa

Topic(s): Pollution and Waste News, Poor Performers, Toxics and Health News, War & Peace

Posted By EcoBC

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