UK journalist releases book detailing US military's contamination of Pacific region with toxic substances - Global Times

A British investigative journalist has published a new book with extensive details of US military's contamination of islands and ocean in the Pacific region.

The book Poisoning the Pacific, written by The Guardian journalist Jon Mitchell, was released Monday.

Based on more than 12,000 pages of US government documents and through interviews with local residents, military veterans and researchers, the book chronicles the US military's decades-long contamination of indigenous lands across the Pacific region with radioactive waste, nerve agents and chemical weapons like Agent Orange.

Among others, the book documents "the US Army disposing of 29 million kilograms of mustard agent and nerve agents, and 454 tons of radioactive waste" into the Pacific Ocean.

It also shows the US military's use of nerve agents, including sarin, which US government documents confirm were leaked into the environment while slated for destruction on Johnston Atoll near Hawaii.

"US authorities have repeatedly tried to cover up contamination through lies, disinformation and attacks on reporters...I have experienced this pressure firsthand," Mitchell told The Guardian.

"Colleagues warned me against continuing my investigations. What particularly motivated me to keep filing FOIAs (the US Freedom of Information Act) and digging for evidence was the very real impact my research was having for veterans exposed to Agent Orange on Okinawa," he said.