munitions-CS

 After the end of WWII the Baltic Sea became a dumping ground for unused munitions. After tens of years of rust along with decay in its grey waters, old mines, bombs and torpedoes threaten the sea and the people who cross it, fish in it, and live along its shores. Fishermen unintentionally net up over 3 tons of ordinace each year. Earthquake measuring devices are even regularly detecting small explosions in the sea. Toxic munitions are expected to wash up on Germany's coast in quantities that will not cease to increase. Most of the bombs have rusted and separated meaning that now over one-third of the Baltic seabed is now overloaded with the remains. The risks of these chemical weapons are said to be underestimated. Many fishermen and even navy crew members who have come in contact with the weapons have gotten acid burns, serious eye damabe, and cancer from them. If fishermen don't always spot them in the fishing nets, they could get into the food chain which would be very dangerous. There are apparently documents stating that the United States dumped around half a million Tabun bombs in the Skagerrak in the northern Baltic Sea. However, these documents are said to only say the minimum amount possible so the amount was most likely much greater. Bombs found in coastal waters are more dangerous than any of us would like to think. Recently, 70 torpedo warheads and mines leaking toxic TNT into the water were found in Germany's Kiel Fjord. Just in 2001, two dozen seamins and more than 3,000 grenades were found in the bay of Flensburg. Denmark is the only place that acutually publishes statistics of death or injury by munitions. They show that 20 people a year are injured by munitions from the sea. If we don't do something about this, the numbers will go up and maybe even reach closer to home.