© David Valentine/UC Santa Barbara / RV Jason via APIn this 2011 image provided by the University of California Santa Barbara, a barrel sits on the seafloor near the coast of Catalina Island, Calif. Marine scientists say they have found what they believe to be as many as 25,000 barrels that possibly contain DDT dumped off the Southern California coast near Catalina Island.
Marine scientists say they have found what they believe to be more than 25,000 barrels that possibly contain DDT dumped off the Southern California coast near Catalina Island, where a massive underwater toxic waste site dating back to World War II has long been suspected.
The 27,345 "barrel-like" objects were captured in high-resolution images as part of a study by researchers at the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. They mapped more than 56 square miles (145 square kilometers) of seafloor between Santa Catalina Island and the Los Angeles coast in a region previously found to contain high levels of the toxic chemical in sediments and in the ecosystem.
Historical shipping logs show that industrial companies in Southern California used the basin as a dumping ground until 1972, when the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, also known as the Ocean Dumping Act, was enacted.
Disposing of industrial, military, nuclear and other hazardous waste was a pervasive global practice in the 20th century, according to researchers.
Resting deep in the ocean, the exact location and extent of the dumping was not known until now.
The territory covered was "staggering," said Eric Terrill, chief scientist of the expedition and director of the Marine Physical Laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
© David Valentine/UC Santa Barbara / RV Jason, via APMore barrels of dumped DDT observed by the research team off the coast of southern California
Underwater drones using sonar technology captured the images of barrels resting 3,000 feet (900 meters) below the surface all along the steep seafloor that was surveyed.
"It really was a surprise to everybody who's worked with the data and who sailed at sea," Terrill told reporters Monday.
The survey provides "a wide-area map" of where the barrels are resting, though it will be up to others to confirm through sediment sampling that the containers hold DDT, Terrill said.
It's estimated between 350 and 700 tons of DDT were dumped in the area, 12 miles (20 kilometers) from Los Angeles, and 8 miles (12 kilometers) from Catalina Island.The long-term impact on marine life and humans is still unknown, said Scripps chemical oceanographer and professor of geosciences Lihini Aluwihare, who in 2015 co-authored a study that found high amounts of DDT and other man-made chemicals in the blubber of bottlenose dolphins that died of natural causes.
"These results also raise questions about the continued exposure and potential impacts on marine mammal health, especially in light of how DDT has been shown to have multi-generational impacts in humans," said Aluwihare, who was not part of the survey expedition.
© Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego via APIn this March 2021 image provided by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, researchers aboard the research vessel Sally Ride deploy an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) near Santa Catalina Island, Calif.
Diana Aga, a chemistry professor at University at Buffalo who is not affiliated with the study, said the findings were shocking if the barrels are proven to contain the toxic chemical. "That's a lot of DDT at the bottom of the ocean," she said.
If the barrels haven't leaked, they could be moved to a place where disposal is safer, Aga said. If they leaked, scientists could take samples from the water, sediment and other marine life to gauge the damage.
Terrill briefed lawmakers on the findings. California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is pushing for companies to be held accountable and said the findings could represent only a fraction of the number of barrels underwater.
""Simply put, this is one of the biggest environmental threats on the West Coast," she said. "It's also one of the most challenging because these barrels are 3,000 feet below the ocean's surface and there aren't many records of who did the dumping, where exactly it occurred or how many barrels were dumped."
Scientists conducted the survey from March 10-24 following a
Los Angeles Times report last year about evidence that DDT was dumped into the ocean.
"Unfortunately, the basin offshore Los Angeles had been a dumping ground for industrial waste for several decades, beginning in the 1930s. We found an extensive debris field in the wide area survey," Terrill said.
Scientists started the search where University of California Santa Barbara professor David Valentine had discovered concentrated accumulations of DDT in the sediments and spotted 60 barrels about a decade ago.
High levels of DDT have been detected in the area's marine mammals, and the chemical has been linked to cancer in sea lions.
The
Los Angeles Times reviewed shipping logs from a disposal company supporting Montrose Chemical Corp. of California, a DDT-producing company. The logs showed 2,000 barrels of DDT-laced sludge were dumped in the deep ocean each month from 1947 to 1961 off Catalina, and other companies also dumped there until 1972.
Scripps researchers say they hope their survey will support clean-up efforts.
The expedition on the
Sally Ride research vessel included a team of 31 scientists, engineers, and crew conducting 24-hour operations and two autonomous underwater vehicles.
Citation:
Scientist: Extent of DDT dumping in Pacific is 'staggering' (2021, April 27) retrieved 28 April 2021 from
Reader Comments
R.C.
Do they also know that DDT's toxicity to humans has never been confirmed?
"the chemical has been linked to cancer in sea lions." - Yes, so has been the wearing of red colored sweaters, chewing gum, the sun, or red meat. The word "linked" means: "We have some useless epidemiological studies which we can spin into another catastrophe scenario to bolster our reputation and get some government grants". Nothing more.
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RC
DDT was in all likelihood the cause of the polio epidemics, which in turn provided firm ground for the launching of the whole vaccine monolith we now labor under.
When the stuff was finally banned in the U.S., DDT manufacturers found new markets in India, where "polio" suddenly became a big problem. The stuff is designed to attack the nervous systems of insects; it shouldn't be any surprise that it does the same to human beings in high enough concentrations, especially in children.
Any doubts cast on the toxicity of DDT are, I'd estimate, thanks to paid propaganda.
when the mammals animals and sea life have gone then what? are this humankind going to start eating itself, even though it does so in other 3rd world countrys, and some sick mfs in the west and east..
all in the name of profit, for the selfish, for the big pharma, the big industrial complex, funny though, when the earth purges itself free of the humankind that pollutes it, there will be again another 2-500,000 yrs of mother earth healing herself for the next born, beginning generations,
history so repeats, time is of the essence, if this current generation of humankind doesnt fix this problem, it will be fixed accordingly by the mother of all life herself, to rid the plague that started it, just like shes done millions of years before, and will again millions of years ahead..
sooner the better i say, sooner the better, the ice is melting, the glaciers disappearing, the poles have and will continue to shift, the north pole axis is of now over siberia, so she has shifted 15 degrees, the south will balance out.. brace yourself humankind, because so far you care not for where you live and what you live with side by side, as you prefer to eat anything everything, and to have trophys on your walls, and you cannot take your materials with you when you do leave this temporary life, maybe one day or year or century you will learn your lesson, by then.. only God knows, as he knows your beginning, your present and your ending, the lessons are upon yourself, and it appears humankind are seriously selfish ego driven slow learners..
kind regards..
Kind of like arming the protestors of a regime so they can pursue democracy.
I'm not a psychopath, and I know plenty of excellent humans.
But the psychopath elite certainly do love to spread their anti-human propaganda; if they can convince us that we're the problem, then they've not only justified their continued abuse of the human population, but also brainwashed us into believing that we don't deserve to fight back.
So I humbly disagree with the script of lies and deceptions they've been selling since the Rockefellers first started pulling oil out of the ground.
your replying to the wrong phsycopath
love it how you just twist everything, and call me a fukn phsyco,
ok, fair enough, makes you happy, i fookin well am..
sweet dreams.. mmm, nutjob!! a new word.. lets see the response..! hehe
Do have a wonder filled day and more.
Peace
good evening, well, here it is.. peace..
Nobody's calling you a psychopath.
I was referring to the controlling elite responsible for the crimes against humanity and the planet, etc.
I was pointing out, obviously not clearly enough, that I consider there to be a difference between Psychopaths and Humans, and that it is an error in my opinion to lump both groups together.
Someone already mentioned Fukishima..... .