Bill calls for study of dumping chemical weapons in sea

WASHINGTON -- The House on Wednesday passed an amendment authored by U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews that would compel the Pentagon to study the human health effects of dumping chemical weapons at sea.

Andrews, D-1st Dist., said his proposal was needed because the military had disposed of now-banned chemical weapons, including cyanide and mustard gas, at 19 different sites off the Atlantic coastline between the end of World War I and the early 1970s.

The House passed the Andrews measure on offshore chemical dumps by voice vote, adding it to a defense policy bill for next year. The underlying legislation would boost military pay by 2.7 percent and block increases to health care fees that President Bush proposed as part of his budget for fiscal 2007.

U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, backed the Andrews proposal, which met with no controversy in the House.

"I share the same surprise as (Andrews) that the accepted means of disposal of military munitions was to dump them off the coast," Wilson said on the House floor.

In an interview, Andrews said the Pentagon may not know where all of the submerged munitions sites were located. Generally, Andrews said, they were situated 25 to 30 miles from shore.