The battle to stop Bermuda dumping asbestos at sea is set to move to New York today, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

Activists from environment watchdogs Greenpeace are set to stage a demonstration outside the Bermuda Department of Tourism offices in upmarket Madison Avenue today.

And a spokesman for the New York branch of the world-famous green guerrillas predicted the picket would hurt Bermuda's image -- and discourage visitors.

"We believe the actions of the Bermuda Government should be brought to light,'' he said. "Tourism is such an important industry for Bermuda -- we believe people who are considering or planning a trip to Bermuda should know the Government is considering contaminating the oceans in the area.'' But he added: "We still hope Bermuda will see the light and do the decent thing.'' The news came as another Greenpeace activist claimed Bermuda's ex-US Navy bases are set to produce even more asbestos waste.

And a US-based Greenpeace spokesman said the US Government should accept its responsibility to clean up the mess.

Kenny Bruno, the New York Greenpeace office's spokesman on pollution, said the Bermudian Government should be pushing for the US Navy to dispose of the asbestos safely or cover Government's costs to do it.

There are already 165 containers of asbestos collected by the Ministry of Works and Engineering awaiting dumping at sea, probably this month.

The Works and Engineering containers are full of asbestos from removal projects in public and private buildings across the Island.

But Mr. Bruno said the Base lands could yield at least 200 more containers of the potentially lethal mineral.

He added: "It's logical to assume that in the future all that US Navy asbestos will be dumped at sea.

"This is not the only place in the world where the US military has left a mess -- it's not as bad as some, but the principle is the same.

"I'm surprised there's not more outrage over this in Bermuda -- the US Navy is not going to care about its image and reputation in the same way as a tourist destination does.

"Bermuda is a small island with very little land -- it's a black mark on its image to ocean dump asbestos when the US Navy put it here in the first place.

"The Government should tell the US `look, we have no place to put this -- you brought it here, you take it back'.'' Mr. Bruno said the Bermuda Government had said it could not send asbestos to the US for disposal because of the potential liability in case of contamination.

But he added it would be ironic if tiny Bermuda would have to shoulder international blame and bad publicity for sea-dumping deadly dust from US bases when the problem had been created by superpower America.

He predicted: "Bermuda's image as an ocean dumper would go around the world.

For an Island which relies on its image of being as clean as a whistle, it's particularly dangerous to be seen as a country which uses the ocean as a garbage can.'' Environment Minister Pamela Gordon said Government was still negotiating the bases pull-out deal with the US government.

Showdown looming over asbestos plan She added preparations to dump asbestos at sea were contingency plans in case Bermuda was forced to dispose of the waste without help.

Ms Gordon said: "Just because things are going on as usual doesn't mean to say that we are not exhausting all efforts to come up with a viable alternative.

"It would make no sense to do nothing then find no-one can assist and have to start planning. Works and Engineering are preparing for disposal -- if alternatives come up, we will abandon our present plans.

"But it's crazy to just sit on this kind of stuff in Bermuda. We are prone to hurricanes and to the damage which can be caused by them -- We have to be concerned about the people here. We are exploring other possibilities and we will continue to do so until the 11th hour. But that is not at my level -- it's the Premier.'' Ms Gordon said one of the problems Bermuda faced was that it was not recognised as a country, but as a dependent territory of the UK.

"Great Britain is going to have to kick in with its assistance -- it has some responsibility here.'' Asbestos can cause specific cancers if the dust is breathed in and Government insists it is safest in the sea. Ministers claim their scientific advice is that the substance is biologically and chemically inert.