Mustard leak at Blue Grass Army Depot poses no threat, officials say

As is standard protocol, FEMA will pass out hot dogs.
No use crying over spilled mustard. gas.

WTF?? They still make this crap? Mustard gas? Really? It should be outlawed and disposed of, not stockpiled.

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


I'm not sure they're still making it, but I'll admit my knowledge of the stuff is close to nil, even though I live very close to the place we're discussing here. Just drove past it about an hour ago. Anyway, it was always my understanding that the mustard gas they have is stockpiles that remain from previous wars. They've talked about destroying it many times, but the locals don't want it burned here, for obvious reasons, so it has just been sitting there, stored in those "igloos" for who knows how long.

Like I said, I don't claim to be 100% correct on this, but my brother, other family members and a few friends have worked there in the past, and this is what they always told me. I certainly hope they're not making more! There's too much as it is!

reply to post by gemineye

You seem to be bang on the nail. They destroy it with fire which has its own risks. I guess there is no easy solution to such toxic things but at least they outlawed dumping it into the oceans which was the old fashioned way of disposing of it. Thanks for sharing your personal side on this.

reply to post by Domo1

And apologies to Domo1 if my answer was acidic but damn...you pressed my button for a moment there.

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


For most of my life, I've heard on the news how they've discussed burning it and how "they" claim it wont be harmful, but the local residents get furious each time it comes up. They've discussed transporting it elsewhere but an accident during transport would be disastrous. So, it sits there. I'm surprised we are just now hearing about a leak. From what I've heard, they do a decent job of monitoring it so that makes me feel a teeny little bit safer, lol. But I would feel much better if it just didn't exist!

You remember in Close encounters of the Third kinds when there was a gas leak to get the whole town to evacuate..for an alien landing

Originally posted by THE_PROFESSIONAL
You remember in Close encounters of the Third kinds when there was a gas leak to get the whole town to evacuate..for an alien landing

LOL! I actually don't remember that part... haven't watched that movie since I was a kid and it terrified me, haha! But, if aliens wanted to land, they could definitely do it there! The army depot owns acres and acres of land and it would be easy to get away with lots of clandestine activities, lol. I wish I knew exactly how much land they do own. It seems there are miles and miles of fenced off land.

reply to post by omegacorps


I didn't mean anything by asking about the date.

Somebody said I wasn't reading all of the info. so I was reading it all.

No offense.

reply to post by stewiegriffin


none taken. think it would have bothered me more if no one noticed

no one did for a min : )

Hold on this stuff was made illegal at the Geneva Conventions WTF are the US still doing with it?
We should send in the UN weapon inspectors.....

I find it ridiculous that these chemicals are still stocked at all. These things should have been disposed of within a year, at most, of the convention banning them being signed. This is an absolute disgrace! I will bet my last penny that Britain and most of the nations which had a hand in WW2 must also have these sorts of stockpiles, but the very idea is disgusting. The cost of removing these chemicals from the playing field should never outwiegh the importance of thier destruction, for the safety of the people living in the path of any possible cloud that might be released during an undetected leak.

Furthermore, there is no legitimate reason to have anything that could be even vaugely described as a stockpile of these chemicals for any purpose. They have no tactical value in todays weapons market, and as for keeping samples for testing, these things should be done in NBC hardened labs underground, not in military mass storage. The military budget is stretched as it is, and is hardly equal to the task of making absolutely certain that not even a molecule of these chemicals is released into the atmosphere.

This is YET another example of the unfortunate lack of importance placed on environmental and public safety,by an organisation that has, time after time, proved that its respect for the life it endangers by its actions is of no importance to the organisation. I am talking about the military as a machine here, rather than as a group of individuals, most of whom are patriots and care deeply for the welfare of the land and the people which they are sworn to protect. The individual parts of which the machine may have all the best of intentions, but when the machine is veiwed as a whole, its behavior over some subjects is an absolute travesty.

There must be a solution to this specific issue that allows these dangerous and vile chemicals, to be dismantled, destroyed, rendered harmless by whatever means are available, before something else goes wrong, otherwise, no matter how carefully monitored these stockpiles are, there will be a catastrophic event at some point which makes all the excuse making about cost seem like the mewling of a pathetic child, and that is not an image that any military outifit ought to wish to engender in those who observe its practices.

reply to post by omegacorps



Well crap.....

That's all I've got to say about that.

reply to post by Domo1


Mustard gas causes extremely painful blisters and lesions where ever it makes contact with the human body. Essentially, if you breath that # in it causes your lungs to bleed and you asphyxiate. How ever, if you don't happen to breath the stuff in anywhere the chemical gets into your body, skin, eyes, nasal canal, mouth, it will poison you and damage your DNA preventing cellular division, causing programmed cell death, which will kill you. If the exposure isn't an immediate lethal dose it will cause cancer. So I can believe that it was painful if contact was made, how ever I'm not sure how you can have just one drop of gas placed on you so it would have to be the extremely pure stuff which exists as a highly viscous liquid, and even one drop of the stuff should be a lethal dose. So I don't know if I quite believe the claims of a British Soldier sampling these wares.... He'd be dead, or he'd die of cancer with in a few years of exposure,..

.Keep in mind ,mustard gas is also a name sometimes used to refer to chlorine gas which one can make by mixing bleach and ammonia. Sometimes pouring bleach on urine can produce this gas, which can be confused for the real stuff because it too has a yellowish colour. Chlorine gas will also cause blistering, pain and lesions and could quite possibly be the " Mustard gas " This member said his uncle was exposed to, as it takes a much more significant dose to cause death, how ever minimal exposure to chlorine will cause diarrhea, fever, vomiting, bleeding a whole plethora of pleasant experiences.....

Back to real mustard gas. "The sulfur mustards, or sulphur mustards,commonly known as mustard gas, are a class of related cytotoxic and vesicant chemical warfare agents with the ability to form large blisters on the exposed skin and in the lungs. Pure sulfur mustards are colorless, viscous liquids at room temperature. When used in impure form, such as warfare agents, they are usually yellow-brown in color and have an odor resembling mustard plants, garlic or horseradish, hence the name" - Wiki

"Mustard gas has extremely powerful vesicant effects on its victims. In addition, it is strongly mutagenic and carcinogenic, due to its alkylating properties. It is also lipophilic. Because people exposed to mustard gas rarely suffer immediate symptoms, and mustard-contaminated areas may appear completely normal, victims can unknowingly receive high dosages. Within 24 hours of exposure to mustard agent, victims experience intense itching and skin irritation, which gradually turns into large blisters filled with yellow fluid wherever the mustard agent contacted the skin. These are chemical burns and are very debilitating. Mustard gas vapour easily penetrates clothing fabrics such as wool or cotton, so it is not only the exposed skin of victims that gets burned. If the victim's eyes were exposed then they become sore, starting with conjunctivitis, after which the eyelids swell, resulting in temporary blindness. According to the Medical Management of Chemical Casualties handbook, there have been experimental cases in humans where the patient has suffered miosis, or pinpointing of pupils, as a result of the cholinomimetic activity of mustard.[citation needed] At very high concentrations, if inhaled, mustard agent causes bleeding and blistering within the respiratory system, damaging mucous membranes and causing pulmonary edema. Depending on the level of contamination, mustard gas burns can vary between first and second degree burns, though they can also be every bit as severe, disfiguring and dangerous as third degree burns.[8] Severe mustard gas burns (i.e. where more than 50% of the victim's skin has been burned) are often fatal, with death occurring after some days or even weeks have passed. Mild or moderate exposure to mustard agent is unlikely to kill, though victims require lengthy periods of medical treatment and convalescence before recovery is complete. The mutagenic and carcinogenic effects of mustard agent mean that victims who recover from mustard gas burns have an increased risk of developing cancer in later life." -wiki

Caution, a little on the gross side.
upload.wikimedia.org...

upload.wikimedia.org...

www.flickr.com...

feww.files.wordpress.com...

multiple.kcvs.ca...

www.sangam.org...

www.rtscanada.com...

4.bp.blogspot.com...

www.documentingreality.com... burns-j.jpg

cheers. sorry about images

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


How do you suppose they dispose of it?

At least they seem to have stopped dumping it in the ocean to get rid of it.

"The Army now admits that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents into the sea, along with 400,000 chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500 tons of radioactive waste - either tossed overboard or packed into the holds of scuttled vessels." quote from the Dailypress


www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by itsallmaya


Cant they just water it down and put it on some buttys?

reply to post by omegacorps


I really do not think, just because a representative speaker tells me the words, "It's not a threat" Kind of automatically makes it a threat to me. That is just me thought. Mustard Gas should be taken seriously and handled seriously. I do believe it should stop being made ALL TOGETHER!
I do not want fellow citizens to get sick because some irresponsible prick leaked or let leak, mustard gas into the air.

Originally posted by gemineye
reply to post by omegacorps

 

Thank you for posting this! I just drove right past the depot on my way back from Richmond about an hour ago! I had no idea there was a leak. Didn't seem to be anything unusual going on over there, but if it's nothing serious, I guess that's why.

Hi gemineye..

I'm very familiar with the area...I went to Berea College and also had a few "townie" friends who had family that worked at the facility.

I remember getting freaked out when the campus would run the sirens for practice drills just in case there was ever a real leakage.

I also always got a "creepy crawling" feeling when I would drive past the place.

Hopefully all is well and there isn't a threat....be safe though, just in case.

I can't seem to find any updates on the
situation of the leak, anyone else find
anything?

reply to post by crazydaisy


nothing new yet. it will take a few days. TPTB need to slather on the BS first.

reply to post by omegacorps


Your so right about TPTB and their BS. In the meantime we wait
for them to announce some things to make us feel better for a while.
They have been doing this for years in regards to the stockpiles. Its
time this was taken further and these chemicals disposed of once
and for all - of course in the safest way possible - if that is possible.
Can they bury this stuff deep and not have it contaminate a large area of
earth or water?


I hope people in the area are tuned in to any changes - leaks
don't just go away.

rail gun the canisters at the sun. mustard gas will not harm it.