preview

Vieques Island Research Paper

Decent Essays

Vieques Island is an island-municipality of Puerto Rico in the northeast Caribbean Sea. The island can be found about eight miles east to Puerto Rican mainland, measuring about 20 miles long and 4.6 miles wide. 1 The Vieques population is around 14,000 (2013). Internationally, the island is known as a site for a series of protest against the United States Navy’s use of the island as a bombing range and testing ground with highly toxic substances. Today, Vieques is a wild life refuge that homes beaches that are commonly listed among the top beaches in the Caribbean. With azure-colored waters and white sand beaches, Vieques is a beautiful paradise with a treacherous history .Located in the island was the Vieques, Puerto Rico Naval Training Range, …show more content…

The Navy’s testing included napalm, a mixture of a gelling agent and petroleum or a similar fuel for use as an incendiary device; and depleted uranium, a radioactive strain of uranium with a lower content of a fissile isotope U-235, substances which the Navy originally denied using. In 1999, the Navy admitted that it tested 14 napalm bombs on Vieques in 1993 and that depleted uranium (DU) tipped ammunition was first testing in Vieques 1980. Between 300 and 800 DU weapons were tested during the Gulf War. Because of high temperatures, uranium is released in a radioactive cloud. A single particle of DU can be lodged in the human lung, where it will give off eight hundred times the radiation considered safe by US regulations. 3 DU exposure includes: reactive airway disease, neurological abnormalities, kidney stones, chronic kidney pain, rashes, vision degeneration, leukemia, lymphoma, birth defects, and gastrointestinal …show more content…

The study compared the crab tissue of Vieques crabs and Puerto Rican mainland crabs. Fiddler crabs collected in the firing range contained significantly higher concentrations of copper, zinc, nickle, cobalt, and cadmium. The crabs were found to have up to 20 times the normal levels of cadmium and cobalt, both carcinogenic metals, which means exposure, increases the risk of getting several cancers. Both birds and humans eat crabs. Human ingestion of cadmium, which isn’t easily digestible, may cause hypertension or nausea. Prior to 1979, cancer, birth defects, and mortality rates were lower in Vieques than in the mainland. From 1985-86 the incident ratios for Vieques exceeded alert levels, surveillance done by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. From 1990-1995, the likely hood of giving birth to underweight babies is 65.3% more than on the mainland. In 1997, the mortality rate was 47% greater than the mainland’s mortality rate. In April 2001, the Navy transferred 8,100 acres on the western side of Vieques Island to the Municipality of Vieques, which served as an ammunition storage and disposal facility, after it was cleaned up.4 In April 2003, the Navy transferred 14,669 acres on the eastern side of the island to the Department of the Interior, clean up on this side of the island is done but still under

Get Access