Chemical dumping ‘threat to Pacific’?

Press, 1 June 1989, Page 2

Chemical dumping ‘threat to Pacific’?

NZPA-AAP Melbourne Chemical and nuclear waste dumping are a threat to the security of the Pacific, said the Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, Ms Wilde, on Tuesday evening. Speaking at a Rotary Peace Forum in the Melbourne Hilton hotel, Ms Wilde said the perception that there were “enormous areas of unused, unwanted and useless ocean” in the South Pacific region had made it into a potentially attractive rubbish tip for the rest of the world. The South Pacific watched nervously as the United States prepared to destroy chemical weapons on Johnston Atoll, an American military base which contained a stockpile of old nerve gas and mustard gas. “Four large incinerators have been built on the atoll and test burns of the gas are scheduled to begin later this year, continuing until 1993,” Ms ■

Wilde said, Ms Wilde said radioactive pollution was one of the most serious potential threats to the South Pacific environment. A recent study in the "Lancet” pointed to nuclear testing as responsible for a dramatic rise in food poisoning in the A South Pacific.