The State : Probe Asked in Sea Dumping

As medical waste continued to wash up on San Diego County beaches, Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) requested a Pentagon investigation of suspected Navy ocean dumping of antiseptic vials and other wastes. In a letter to Navy Secretary William Ball III, Wilson expressed “concern about persistent reports of medical waste from naval stockpiles washing up along the Southern California coastline.” Wilson asked Ball to direct his “immediate attention” to an investigation of the flotsam that littered beaches this week in Orange and San Diego counties. The latest harvest of medical waste from San Diego County beaches included the first item to be linked directly to the Navy--an orange bottle of pills that bore the phrase “Naval Medical Center, San Diego, California,” said health and naval officials. Navy officials said, however, that there was a “relatively small” chance that the Navy was the source of the medical waste that has been plaguing San Diego shores for the last three weeks. The heaviest influx of medical wastes came last week, forcing health officials to conduct daily patrols from Imperial Beach to Carlsbad.