Istituto Superiore per la Protezione
e la Ricerca Ambientale

Cerca

Chemical weapons under the sea

The last February 25 was broadcast on French television ARTE the documentary "Armes chimiques sous la mer" . The survey investigates of one of the inheritance of the two world wars : more than a million and a half tons of chemical weapons still lying on the seabed, who are fretting and begin to release their poisonous contents, such mustard gas , sarin and arsenic compounds

A lethal threat to fishermen , tourists and in general for the entire ecosystem , as evidenced by the analysis of some fish caught in areas at risk , which shows clear signs of chemical poisoning and even in some cases DNA mutations.


The documentary was made by Bob Coen, Eric Nadler, Nicolas Koutsikas and produced by ARTE France,Georama TV, NHK, HLJTV, Mac Guff.The authors, among other things, used parts of the documentary "Red Cod ", carried out in 2006 by ICRAM, now ISPRA.

The documentary relies on the collaboration of the ISPRA and of some of its experts who underlines that the coasts of Bari , rich in tourism and fishing , are actually one of the sites most at risk, as evidenced by some fishermen interviewed in the documentary

Recently, scholars, and journalists from different parts of the world have begun to combat to try and eliminate these we can define real ‘time boms’ , the effort carried out by this group of motivated volunteers due the inaccuracy of archives military historians and military secrecy about the places bombed.

This documentary is very attractive, well made that holds high the viewer's attention , thanks to the quality of the research carried out , from Europe to America to Japan and also for the large amount of high quality of material used ; advantages recognized by the 20 countries that I have already bought.

Further information

Watch the video presentation of the documentary

Go to the web site Arte french television