Community Chat

[KingstonsMom]

Marine scientists have found an estimated 27,000 barrels of toxic pesticide DDT dumped off the coast of Los Angeles.

It has long been suspected that the site by Catalina Island has been a massive underwater toxic waste zone dating back to World War II.

The first 60 barrels were spotted in 2011, but now ten years later, new technology has shown the huge extent of the dumping ground which far exceeded what the researchers expected. 

DDT was once hailed as a wonder pesticide after saving crops and fighting off malaria but it was banned in the US in 1972 after it was linked to cancer and threatened wildlife. 

The largest DDT producer in the US, Montrose Chemical Corp, was one of the companies stationed on the border of Los Angeles and Torrance and dumped waste between the 1940s and 1970s.

A $140million legal battle in the 1990s exposed it and three other companies for their disposal of toxic waste through sewage pipes heading to the sea.

The 27,345 'barrel-like' images, some of which were leaking and corroding, were captured by researchers at the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography on board the Sally Ride research vessel.

Regulators said in the 1980s that barrels were deliberately punctured when they were too buoyant to sink, sending the toxic chemicals spewing into the sea inhabited by diverse marine life.

The site has been rumored for decades and the first 60 barrels were spotted in 2011 using an underwater camera by UC Santa Barbara professor Dr David Valentine.

The latest investigation using high-tech autonomous vehicles on the ocean floor has now revealed the extent of the dumping ground with thousands upon thousands of abandoned waste barrels.

DDT in the region has been found in dolphins, linked to aggressive cancer in 25 per cent of sea lions and entered the food chain endangering sea birds, even causing reproductive issues in bald eagles because the chemical caused egg shells to break.

Scientists find 27,000 barrels of banned pesticide DDT dumped 10 miles off Los Angeles coast  | Dail...

[4kitties]

😩😭😩😭

How horrible.........I had never heard of this.  I hope there can be something done to mitigate the damage.....

[BlueFinch]

What next!  This is so depressing.

Sadly, it's just one dumping ground.  We can only imagine what else is out there, yet discovered.

I'm beginning to lose hope for planet Earth. 

[Sooner]

Planet Earth will be fine.  Nothing we can do to hurt planet Earth!  It has gone through enormous changes and will until we are long long fossilized. 

I won't be here when they find massive waste sites of toxic hand sanitizer and face serum.  

[SilleeMee]

That war left some other stuff in our oceans, too...live bombs, nuclear waste and chemical warfare products. Their containers are decaying, some are exploding and others are threatening to be released into the water if not already. Sad situation. Scientists are looking at some kind encapsulation technology where they would put a 'cover' over and under the stuff, hoping not to disturb it and make it come out even more.

[KingstonsMom]

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@BlueFinch wrote:

What next!  This is so depressing.

Sadly, it's just one dumping ground.  We can only imagine what else is out there, yet discovered.

I'm beginning to lose hope for planet Earth. 

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@BlueFinch 

A further except from the above link/article says:

"The scientists have spent two weeks mapping an area of the ocean floor larger than San Francisco but could not find an end to the extensive dumping ground, the LA Times reported.

It is estimated that as many as half a million barrels could still be underwater today according to old logs and a recent study, and scientists said they were overwhelmed with the debris which they said was like counting stars in the Milky Way.

Really scary for our ecosystem.

[Vivian]

That is appalling. Our waters have been dumping grounds forever. Wars, ignorance, carelessness, and self-interest led to too many disasters. A few years ago, I went on a tour of WW1 battlefields in Belgium. They are still finding unexploded land mines and other weapons of the war. Over the years, farmers have been killed by these remnants of war. The land was littered with giant craters, created by bombs. And that was from a war that took place over 100 years ago. With more technology, we are sure to face more pollutants desecrating environments all over the world.

[millieshops]

@Sooner   I do hope you are right.

[KingstonsMom]

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@Sooner wrote:

Planet Earth will be fine.  Nothing we can do to hurt planet Earth!  It has gone through enormous changes and will until we are long long fossilized. 

I won't be here when they find massive waste sites of toxic hand sanitizer and face serum.  

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@Sooner 

But your descendants will.....

[suzyQ3]

Yes, we can and we are hurting Mother Earth.