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We are reinforced in our view by the knowledge that the use of nuclear power 

 is rapidly increasing and may be expected to continue to increase, with the 

 possible consequence that ever increasing quantities of radioactive waste uiay be 

 dumped in the sea, chiefly because that method of disposal is cheaper and more 

 convenient in some cases than reducing the wastes to solids and disposing of them 

 in safe burial grounds. The ultimate implications of the continuation of present 

 popular methods of radioactive waste disposal in the sea is well described b.v 

 Jacques-Yves Cousteau in a passage of his book The Living Sea. Describing a 

 meeting convened by the Delegation Generale a la Recherche Scientifique he 

 writes, and I quote from the translation : 



"However, the most popular refuse dumi) with the atomists was the ocean. 

 Several delegates spoke matter-of-factly of how their countries were already 

 sinking the stuff in the sea. 



"The differences between the physicists and biologists were now pronounced. 

 After the meeting adjourned, dignified gentlemen exchanged impassioned dia- 

 logues. I heard one biologist say 'Strontium 90 will contaminate tish.' 



"A nuclear physicist replied, 'Strontium 90 concentrates only in the bones. Who 

 eats the bones?' 



" 'Chickens eat them', the oceanographer said. 'Bonemeal is a by-product of 

 fish canning. Our children's eggs will become radio-active.' 



"Professor A is a calm, I'eflective person. He said gently, 'Jacques, this is not 

 the problem. There is only one problem for the future of mankind, and that is the 

 population explosion. Soon we will have ten billion people, later twenty. Perhaps 

 it will reach one hundred billion. We will have to feed all these people. The 

 natural resources of the sea and land put together will fall far short. But, thank 

 God, there is an equivalence between food and energy. We will have to develop 

 nuclear energy without limit to run factories that will produce the protein to feed 

 the whole of mankind, no matter how many. That is why we must go full steam 

 ahead with atomic energy, even at the cost of closing the sea to all human use, 

 including navigation.' " 



Cousteau comments : "We risk poisoning the sea for ever just when we are 

 learning her science, art and philosophy and how to live in her embrace." 



Does the international community wish this to happen? 



The question of the prevention of the pollution of the seas from the discharge 

 of radio-active wastes is, of course, but one aspect of the wider problem of marine 

 pollution. Uncontrolled dumping of detergents, pesticides and heavy metal and 

 petrochemical wastes into the sea can be almost as hazardous to health and 

 food supplies as the dumping of radio-active wastes. Outlining this wider 

 problem recently. Prof. Paul Korringa of the Netherlands Institute for Fi.shing 

 Investigations, described the effect on marine life of a comparatively small 

 amount of copper sulphate dumped into the North Sea : ". . . in two weeks' time 

 the poisonous body of water, killing both fish and invertebrates, had moved along 

 the coast quite a distance, but it was not yet diluted as much as five times . . .". 

 Wastes create such dramatic phenomena as the notorious "red tide", poisonous 

 phytoplankton which kills .'-•o much of the fish life of the ocean and destroys 

 whole populations of fish. Various aspects of the question of waste disposal into 

 the marine environment are the concern of a number of United Nations agencies 

 in addition to IAEA; IMCO has competence over wastes discharged from ves- 

 sels — a competence with which it has been actively concerned, particularly since 

 the recent wreck of the "Torrey Canyon" created a certain problem off the coasts 

 of the United Kingdom and France ; FAO is, of course, concerned with the re- 

 sults of pollution in so far as they affect fish, while the Inter-governmental 

 Oceanographic Commission, related to UNESCO, has considered in some detail 

 the general scientific aspects of pollution. Plurality of jurisdiction, fragmenta- 

 tion of competence, a general lack of a sense of urgency, have unfortunately not 

 resulted in effective international action to contain the massive problem of marine 

 pollution. 



I have spoken at some length yet I am deeply aware that I have not succeeded 

 in treating the question before us as comprehensively as I would have wished. I 

 dare not take too much more of your time. I shall, therefore, make some final 

 observations on those aspects of the question which we have tried to elucidate, 

 briefly review action taken within the United Nations system and then submit 

 the proposals which my Government has instructed me to put forward for the 

 consideration of this Committee. 



The sea-bed and the ocean floor constitute nearly three-quarters of the land 

 area of the earth. 



