New Bedford, Massachusetts A crew member aboard the commercial fishing vessel, the ESS Pursuit, received mustard burns after he handled a CWM munition while at sea. The fishing vessel was clamming off the shores of Long Island and had gathered 32 bushels of clams using 180 cages when one crew member inspecting the load noticed a long rusted metallic object in with the load. The crew member reportedly grabbed the object which he later reported as a "leaking object" and tossed it overboard. Shortly afterward, the crew member's skin began to burn and blister.

The crew called for medical assistance and the man was transported to the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. Toxicology tests on the man revealed that he had been exposed to mustard. Although the man is badly burned, he is expected to make a full recovery and should be released from the hospital within a few days. Coast Guard officials are keeping the commercial fishing vessel at bay outside New Bedford Harbor where it is currently undergoing inspection and decontamination.

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Millville, New Jersey Workers at the LaMonica Fine Foods food processing plant on Gorton Road were surprised when they found an old mortar shell mixed in with a shipment of clams they received. New Jersey State Police responded to the call along with technical support from the New Jersey State Bomb Disposal unit.

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In this 2nd article in a series of articles on the 2007 Annual Defense Environmental Report to Congress, UXOInfo.com analyzes Munitions Sea Disposal Sites. A new appendix to the Annual Report to Congress added in 2006, summary data on munitions sea disposal sites is now included in the report. A comparison of FY2006 data (i.e. Appendix R of the 2006 Report) to FY2007 data (i.e. Appendix S of the FY2007 report) yields some interesting observations. In 2006, DoD reported that 29,401 tons of CWM Munitions were dumped at sea at 19 sites in U.S. Waters. In 2007, DoD reported the total number of sites at 30 and the total amount of CWM munitions disposed at 29,652 tons.

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