In 1975, a large leak of
hexavalent chromium spilled at the base with contamination reportedly 8,000 times safe levels. The U.S. consulate in Naha dismissed the accident as a "flap" and warned "the newspapers and the leftists will certainly make good use of this issue against us". In 1993, the US government issued a
classified report entitled "USFJ Talking Paper on Possible Toxic Contamination at Camp Kinser, Okinawa". Publicly available U.S. military documents have quoted excerpts suggesting extensive pollution with Vietnam era chemicals stored there, like insecticides including
DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and heavy metals,
rodenticides, herbicides, inorganic and organic acids, alkalis, inorganic salts, organic solvents like vapor
degreasers and
ferric chloride, of which 12.5 tons were buried. Evidence of wildlife contamination are the 2013 finding of
mongooses caught near the installation with high levels of
polychlorinated biphenyls and the September 2015 report of
habu snakes from the vicinity of Camp Kinser with elevated concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls and DDT. In 2009 six Japanese workers of a warehouse on the base had fallen ill of an unknown illness. A scholar from
Okinawa International University has speculated that "the Pentagon wants to conceal the reality of contamination that would damage the political value of Camp Kinser's return". ==Education==