Poisoning the Pacific: The US Military's Secret Dumping of Plutonium, Chemical Weapons, and Agent Orange

Investigative journalist Jon Mitchell exposes the US military's toxic contamination of the Pacific Ocean and its impact on millions of victims, including service members, their families, and residents. The US has hidden the damage and refused to help victims, while also experimenting with biological weapons and stockpiling nuclear and chemical munitions. US territories, such as Guam, Saipan, and Johnston Island, have been among the worst affected, with the Pentagon waging a campaign of cover-ups, lies, and attacks on the media.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 316 pages
Publication date: 16 April 2024
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

The US military has been contaminating the Pacific Ocean and millions of victims with toxic substances for decades, including plutonium, dioxin, and VX nerve agent. Hundreds of thousands of service members, their families, and residents have been exposed, but the United States has hidden the damage and refused to help victims. After World War II, the United States granted immunity to Japanese military scientists in exchange for their data on biological weapons tests conducted in China. In the following years, nuclear detonations in the Pacific obliterated entire islands and exposed Americans, Marshallese, Chamorros, and Japanese fishing crews to radioactive fallout. At the same time, the United States experimented with biological weapons on Okinawa and stockpiled the island with nuclear and chemical munitions, causing numerous accidents. Meanwhile, the CIA orchestrated a campaign to introduce nuclear power to Japan, which became horrifyingly clear in the 2011 meltdowns in Fukushima Prefecture. Caught in a geopolitical grey zone, US territories have been among the worst affected by military contamination, including Guam, Saipan, and Johnston Island, the final disposal site of apocalyptic volumes of chemical weapons and Agent Orange. Accompanying this damage, US authorities have waged a campaign of cover-ups, lies, and attacks on the media, which the author has experienced firsthand in the form of military surveillance and attempts by the State Department to impede his work. Now, for the first time, this explosive book reveals the horrific extent of contamination in the Pacific and the lengths the Pentagon will go to cover it up.

Weight: 460g
Dimension: 227 x 151 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538189290