Did Navy poison Americans?

CNN...most of this has been known/suspected for over 10 years. Why the wait? Dr. James Porter at UGA should have been interviewed years ago.

http://www.elandar.com/vieques/story_vieques_porter1.html

http://www.uga.edu/news/newsbureau/releases/1999releases/porter_rico.html

What a sad story. As usual, our defense department always denies doing anything wrong. As long as they and our government, including our Justice Department, can make sure that the poor and minority citizens are the ones that are harmed, not the wealthy campaign contributing types, they will use them for lab rats.

I suppose this is one more instance where the Obama Administration is acting like the former Bush Administration. My Democrat friends, you know the ones that they call the "base" voters, always at the polls, always vote straight Democrat, now call our President "Bush-lite". If the election were held again tomorrow, most would vote Hillary this time, at least she wielded a big-stick and understands looking after the poor and working class and not Wall Street thieves that make billions and billions of dollars gambling, then run to DC for taxpayer paid welfare!

Looking forward to tonight's segment on Puerto Rico, Vieques Island, guess we will see more poisoned sick and dying American's eating and drinking our Navy's toxic food and water and wondering why their kids are born with 3 fingers on each hand. Great job CNN Team!

As an American born and raised in that island of Puerto Rico I feel the pain of my people. For years they have been trying to resolve this issue. It is a fact that military practices did not only affect the people that reside on Vieques, but the whole ecosystem in that region. They left the area infested with trash and materials that are harmful to every being on land and in sea. The government needs do the right thing and clean the mess they have left to ruin others citizens lives. Is their responsibility not only as Americans taking care of Americans, but as citizens of the world concerned about the planet we live in.

The government of Puerto Rico continues to urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Navy to step up its critically important work on Vieques. We are fully committed to ensuring that Vieques’ natural beauty is preserved and affected areas restored and that Vieques evolve to a world class destination, as part of the islands of Puerto Rico.

While the area covered in the CNN story is a small part of the island, far away from residential or developed areas and not accessible to the public, and areas that are accessible to the public are perfectly safe, the remediation process is taking too long.

President Obama has committed the government to cleaning those parts of Vieques not accessible to the public and our Governor and member of Congress are determined to see that promise fulfilled. The government of Puerto Rico is tending to this issue and to the health of the people of Vieques while also supporting development of tourism on the publicly-accessible and unaffected parts of the island.

This is an important matter for Puerto Rico as economic development is vital to the islands. We must be able to create economic opportunities for the people who live on this beautiful island. Restoring additional areas of Vieques to its natural state can create wonderful eco-tourism opportunities, as have been created in its beautiful bioluminescent bay. In fact, Vieques has and continues to benefit from new tourism development, as the island continues to be the preferred natural tourist destination in the Caribbean.

Kenneth D. McClintock
Secretary of State
Puerto Rico USA

kenneth.mcclintock@yahoo.com

What an incredible investigation. Health care may headline the national agenda in all but one area: the health crisis of Vieques. Thank you CNN for bringing this story to national attention!

The tragedy is further compounded by poverty and a lack of quality medical care.

I grew up on Vieques. My mother and her family lived there for 5 generations. Her breast cancer was misdiagnosed as benign, and she died because of it.

I will never stop missing her, but when I read a story like this, her loss is compounded knowing she won't be the last mother, daughter or sister to die unnecessarily.

Thank you CNN for bringing this story to light. The right thing to do is for the Federal Government to pay damages to the Americans that reside in Vieques. It is comon sense that all those years of bombings caused damages to those people in Vieques. It is about time the Navy does right by them.

I went to High School at Roosey , It was a lovely Naval installation. My parents(dad,USMC; mom , local girl) met there and I have lots of great memories of the base.

I also have memories of the Navy incessently bombing Vieques for weeks at a time. We could feel the concussions all the way across the water while attending the high school at Roosey.

No amount of money or jobs are worth the contamination and disruption of these beautiful islands. I am a Puerto Rican first and an American second, and my opinion is this:

!Marina Fuera!!

great investigation thank you for this
expose

I am going to spend a month this summer in vieques. We spent a few days in this beautiful island a few years ago and I can't believe the extent of denial from the US government.

mr mcclintock does not understand that the wind blows these health hazards and the water is polluted

It's interesting the position of Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock. He is worried about tourism being affected, which is a legitimate concern especially since there is a population of approximately of 10,000 in the island of Vieques and a negative impact tourism-wise will affect cash flow in the island, therefore affect its population. But, but, Mr. McClintock you need to worry about the long tern effects of all these chemicals still present in Vieques and their long term effect on the population. There's a legitimate concern here and it should be investigated THOROUGHLY before you send people to bathe in mercury and remnants of Agent Orange. Lets look at the statistics, lets look at the facts, lets look at the percentage of health related problems this community has... its surreal!

So before WE worry about how its going to affect tourism, let worry about how its affecting the people living there.

What Mr. McClintock missed to tell us is that Puerto Rico has only one delegate in the House of Representative, with no voting rights, representing the more than 4 million U.S. citizens living in the island. We are a non-incorporated territory (as per the US Supreme Court) with no real representation in Congress and no voting rights (can't vote in the presidential elections). In my opinion, we are second class US citizens. This is a civil rights issue. Vieques is an example of Puerto Rico's lack of representation in Washington and political power to force the US Government to clean the practice range and, more important, to take care of the sick families living in the island. Puerto Rico's problems are similar to the problems of a third world country, even thou we are a territory of the United States since 1898.

I lived in Vieques just for only one year, 2000, it is a beautiful island but definetely a sick island. My landlord daughter died and just few years ago she also died, her name was Davilita. The most scariest part was that everyone in my neigbohrhood had a close family member(parents, brothers or sons) that died or are dying. Every one had some type of cancer.

God blees vieques

First we will like to thank the people envolve reporting this issue!.More than an eye opener is humanitarian (domestic) .When the Navy took off VQS ,they took off on political presure with out making necesary investigations on the damage done in VQS by not only the US but for the forces sharing the range not even the Navy knew the extention of the damage .But if they were able to vanish entire small keys from the map along with species eventually and logicly we were gonna be part of the Colateral Damage.Simple ........
since we are Americans and the damage is done is time to take responsability for this "homeland" health generational disaster .Doubts? ......come and see for ur self n judge.

I am glad to see the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico paying attention to this issue. However, he seems to be diminishing the suffering and health problems of those who live in Vieques. Dying people from cancer do not get to enjoy hotels, and economic opportunities can only come from the Navy answering for the damages caused.

~First saw this story on CNN last night. Had never even heard of this island. With all of the known facts how can our governemtn deny this...can anyone say Erin Brokovich?

I am sorry, but I consider this statement very irresponsible by Mr. McClintock: "While the area covered in the CNN story is a small part of the island, far away from residential or developed areas and not accessible to the public, and areas that are accessible to the public are perfectly safe,..."

Perfectly safe? Mr.McClintock how do you know how far these chemicals can travel? Its YEARS of test-site bombing. How come the hair samples from residents in the "perfectly safe" areas keep testing positive, even reaching off-the-charts levels to health threatening chemicals?

I think the investigation should continue and we should warn visitors of these worrisome conditions that may put their health at risk.

I'm a Democrat; however, when I listen to Pres.Obama or listen to a comment, I pretend it's Bush. This practice forces me to be objective...something I can be with this President. I have always hoped that Pres. Obama would not only make our advaseries accountable what would make all Americans including me accountable. So when I hear about the kids with cancer because of bombing test....why can't we admit that we created a monster health problem and send kids here or send docs there to help out. I'm an unemplyed teacher who thought I may have to move to rural Puerto Rico in order to live, needless to say I won't be doing that. We have to9 address our faults and try to rectify them. Our Navy had better not just hope the situation will go away....we do have morals.

I am an American from Virginia. I was spurred to research Vieques for travel purposes in my 20's from an old article I read about the Bio Bay. I ended up proposing to my wife on this very island during our first trip. We also fell in love with the island so much that we returned, and continue to travel there at least every other year. We've gotten to know the family from whom we rent our island apartment and we've gotten to know the island itself well over the years. It is a beautiful place, but a large percentage of its people truly have been affected by the heavy metal contamination, bomb fallout, and other military related aftereffects. These claims the residents are making are very real, and the media is not exaggerating. The residents have won the battle over getting the military to stop the bomb testing/practice and to leave the island, but the fight to clean up the mess the military left behind still remains. This is a fight over scientifically proven terminal illnesses and disastrous ecological impacts that are all a direct result of the military's lack of forethought, and their lack of will to accept responsibility. All this effort to deny responsibility in the face of independent studies and evidence could have been used to simply accept the fault and begin work to aid those who gave up their land for 60 years. Medically and environmentally, these people have been dealt an injustice, and now they have been left in worse shape than before the military arrived. Thank you for investigating this and furthering the public knowledge of a topic that does not get enough exposure!

This will be an extremely unpopular comment but I'm somewhat familiar with this case from the government side and this is a rather biased report. "The government wants this case to go away" is not what a motion to dismiss is about. It's the job of the government through the Department of Justice to assert the jurisdictional defenses it is allowed. That is what sovereign immunity is about. DoJ does not comment on ongoing litigation so you only hear one side. There could be merit to the government's decision to assert its jurisdictional defenses and generally defend this case but the public would not know in a report like this. That is very convenient for this kind of sensational journalism (I am normally a CNN viewer, not a Fox fan at all). No one likes to see children with cancer but it doesn't necessarily mean the government caused it or unfortunately, does the court have jurisdiction to even hear this case. That is the law, however unpopular to consider. Perhaps then alternate forms of compensation for treatment could be considered.

Why we helping people in Iraq and Afghanistan with hundreds of billions of dollars and can not help our own people? I believe Mr. Obama must give it priority order to help US citizens in Vieques, they hurt and must be supported financially.

"No one likes to see children with cancer but it doesn't necessarily mean the government caused it or unfortunately, does the court have jurisdiction to even hear this case". Terrible quote.

It seems outrageous that the Obama administration has taken that cynical position according to those familiar with the government side. When people cannot dispute the facts they try to draw attention from them by attacking the report or by bringing up other subjects as Mr. McClintock. It seems obvious now that the Obama administration has turned their back on the residents of Vieques and that the Government of Puerto Rico is more interested in eco tourism than on basic human and civil rights. Perhaps they feel that tourists would enjoy Vieques better is the population is gone.

Depleted Uranium DU... the Nuclear Waste left over from the uranium enrichment process (U-238), is still being used by these JARHEADS to blow s#%t up real good, in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Pakistan. They have also polluted the bombing range on the island of Hilo in Hawaii with DU, as well as using it in Kosovo.

Not only does it cause a multitude of cancers, it also causes HORRENDOUS BIRTH DEFECTS. Thus DESTROYING the DNA of the targeted races that are exposed.

The COLLUSION between the Pentagon and the Nuclear Power Industry is almost as sickening as the cancers that are ravaging the victims on Vieques.

And the lying "experts" at the Pentagon will go to their grave before they admit this DU Nuclear Waste is deadly...

Not even to their OWN TROOPS...
.

Don't forget Agent Orange is still causing lots of cancers in Vietnam!!!!!

If the truth were told, this is happening all over the USA too. Those who live near military bases where there are live fire training ranges should be aware that they too are being just as poisoned as the poor people on Vieques.

Here in Hawaii agent orange, du, lead, toxic chemicals of every kind have been used without regard to the long term effects on the citizens or the environment. The military and the politicians even the ones representing Hawaii have taken the attitude that Hawaii is out in the middle of the Pacific ocean so it is a great place to use these agents of death and destruction. Hawaii island in particular has over 700 contaminated sites and no clean up is proposed even though several are superfund cleanup sites.

Hawaii also depends heavily on tourism, and promotes the islands as paradise, but underneath the post card pictures lurks dangerous du and toxic waste, it is in the water, in the air, and strewn around the land. So far the solution is to deny, and coverup. Most US citizens do not realize that Hawaii is becomming one big military base in a land grab opportunity made more possible with the collapse of the economy. Instead of promoting sustainable energy, and agriculture, the "representatives" are pushing more and more military expansion.

Aloha from Hilo, Hawaii

Hawai'i shows its solidarity with Vieques back in August of 1999 see:

http://www.dmzhawaii.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/hawaii-statement-layout.pdf

Like Vieques, Hawai'i has been contaminated by military toxins. One might multiply the pollution 5 times because Hawai'i is host to all branches of the US military, not just the Navy. Other places in the pacific rim contaminated with military toxins: Japan, the Philippines, Guam, South Korea.

DMZ Hawaii Aloha Aina (www.dmzhawaii.org) has tons of information about military contamination of Hawai'i and across the Pacific Rim by researching military records. That research through a F.O.I.A. uncovered the discovery that Hawaii is contaminated with DU in 2005.

Hawai'i residents want a halt to all live firing training until transparent testing can be completed. 24/7 transparent air testing around all live fire training ranges in Hawai'i. To date our concerns have been ignored by the military, the State of Hawai'i and the State of Hawai'i Public Health Department.

Recently the military is seeking a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to possess DU. Some residents testimony to the NRC can be found on my website just scroll down. http://www.alfsartgallery.com/toxic_hawaii.html.

Many feel that this license will only make Hawai'i a nuclear waste dump and another way for the military to avoid its responsibility of serious clean up of the pollution they created.

Irresponsible U.S. military pollution is happening around all U.S. military bases. When will the madness stop? When we don't have a planet to safely stand on, or we have a race of mutants running around with extra or no fingers and toes?

I'm not an expert, I'm a concerned Hawai'i resident. I care about Hawai'i, its rich culture and its people. I am concerned about the persistent, accumulative effect military toxins have on our fragile ecosystem. As an educator searching for the truth, I've written three web pages voicing that concern. See wwwalfsartgallery.com On the menu are links to Toxic Hawaii, Protect Hawaii and Ten Fingers 10 Toes.

Hawaii is in solidarity with Vieques and all other communities living near US military bases who are finding that their family, friends and neighbors are sick and dying.

There is a tendency to think of the tort on Vieques as a historical event of the past yet much worse continues to happen to the people of the MIddle East from radiologic weapons. These weapons were recognized as early as 1943 in the memo from Conant, the Manhattan Project's poison gas expert, as permanent terrain contaminants. The military was further warned in the 1990 SAIC report there would be serious consequences if DU weapons were used, but they didn't want to listen. There is so much scientific evidence dating from the Manhattan Project to present of the harm from permanent terrain contamination that we must recognize we live under the boot of undulterated evil, the cretinous arrested development of the DOD and especially DOE which makes radioactive DU available free to manufacturers. These profitable industries have succeeded in contaminating the majority of the populace in Baghdad and Basra. Check out the horrible radioactivity around the impacts shown in the film about Dr;. Horst Gunter by Ted Weyman shot in Iraq after Gulf War I, "The Doctor, the Depleted Uranium, and the Dying Children"

DU is the worst kind of irreparable sin, it cannot be cleaned up, it kills everyone including the troops. Ask Major Doug Rokke!
A;mericans are fools to venerate this military that uses DU weapons, it's disfunctional and stupid.
I'm ashamed of my country.

But at least now after sixty plus years of nuclear weapons production and widespread fallout dispersal, coinciding with a precipitous drop in global sperm count, a huge rise in cancer, autism and diabetes, the dumbing down of cognitive skills (the ability to think effectively and rationally about things) and the rise of military dictatorship (which seems to decide the wars, their duration, and their huge budgets) mankind can look at what it is doing to its only planet, and maybe make one last try to stop its own suicide.
Good luck American morons who live in total denial of what they do. Meanwhile the Pentagon ruined the Big Island of Hawaii with DU, causing a the highest cancer incidence downwind of its live fire DU military range.
Think about the satanic mindset of anyone who would do this to the planet, permanently contaminating the only land we have in this solar system to live on. Think about who it is responsible.

I am outraged about the poisoning of our environment. Don't our people realize that what goes around comes around and that we can't escape the consequences of contaminating our environment? First Puerto Rico, then the Big Island? Nothing is sacred to our military, they treat our population like guinea pigs. Who needs those weapons anyway? All they care is to enrich the pockets of the rich. What unbridled greed! Yuck!

Janet,

Regarding your idea to seek alternate forms of compensation for treatment as reparations, is this something that should be considered by attorney John Arthur Eaves? Doesn't seem likely, though he's right in fighting this I'm afraid he may also have his own agenda. But, perhaps someone else can do it concurrently? Is that a viable option that should/could be pursued? What happens if Eaves loses his lawsuit against the U.S., it would add insult to injury. There's too much risk in Eaves case. It seems wise to keep an open mind to an effective strategy, I also think your idea has some merit but how can this be pursued? We need to get results and think about this critically. Anyone have ideas? This needs more exposure.

I lived, owned and operated two restaurants on this island back at the turn of the century. I hosted and fed several celebrities, Bobby Kennedy, Jr, Al Sharpton to name a couple. Their response to the tragedy in paradise, "It's a shame" was the standard. I only lived there for two years. The migraines that started when I moved there still plauge me today. I can only pray that any harm done to me will not transfer to my unborn daughter. If you wonder why a large part of the world hates America, just look at what they did to their own commonwealth and you'll find your answer.