24 mai, 2005 02:39
New Brunswick residents seek Agent Orange compensation
Last Updated Fri, 27 May 2005 19:07:07 EDT
CBC News
GAGETOWN, N.B. - Residents near a New Brunswick military base are seeking government compensation for toxic Agent Orange spraying during the 1960s.
A local professor wants to study their claims that the toxic defoliant caused cancers and other ailments.
* FROM MARCH 10, 2005: Vietnamese suit over Agent Orange dismissed
The defoliant developed by the Dow Chemical Co. was sprayed at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown.
The government has admitted soldiers were harmed and last week agreed to give them disability pensions, but it has said nothing about compensating civilians.
Doreen Thomas, a former base neighbour during the spraying who has had cancer and seen others get ill too, said the government should compensate local people as well as the soldiers.
"If they've done this to us for 40 years – the few of us that are left – maybe it might be a good idea if they made our life a little easier now for lying to us for all those years," Thomas told CBC News.
* INDEPTH: Agent Orange
The locals have asked Grace Getty, a nursing professor at the University of New Brunswick, to study their health and she hopes to be funded by the federal government.
"We'll be looking at whether they've had cancer or a particular kind of cancer, whether they have children with learning disabilities or learning differences, whether there's been a difference in terms of the number of children born prematurely or whatever," she said.
Other points to consider are lengths and types of exposure, she said.
New Brunswick Conservative MP Greg Thompson and defence critic Gordon O'Connor plan to press the compensation issue in the House of Commons.
"We're going to have to force the government to the table to do what is right," Thompson said.
U.S. forces sprayed the herbicide to defoliate large areas of forest in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971 when it was discovered to contain the carcinogen dioxin.
Agent Orange got its name because of the coloured stripes on its containers.
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Ottawa to aid Agent Orange victims
Last updated May 17 2005 01:25 PM ADT
CBC News
FREDERICTON – Defence Minister Bill Graham is promising to help soldiers who were exposed to Agent Orange at CFB Gagetown during the 1960s.
The federal government allowed Americans to test the herbicide at the Canadian base during the Vietnam war.
Spraying in Vietnam
At the time, the U.S. military was looking for ways to defoliate vast tracts of Vietnamese jungle.
* FROM CBC.CA: Use of Agent Orange in Vietnam underestimated
Graham acknowledges that the testing of Agent Orange at CFB Gagetown exposed Canadian soldiers to a health risk. He said those who were affected will be given assistance.
"Anybody who could have been affected by Agent Orange, which at the time nobody understood or knew about, is clearly entitled to a pension," Graham said.
"They have to demonstrate that [they are] in accordance with Veterans Affairs rules, but the people that have applied so far have been given the pension, and we'll facilitate that in any way we can."
The dioxins found in Agent Orange have been associated with many serious illnesses, including cancer.
In the past five years, the Department of Veterans Affairs has received 21 complaints from people who were involved with spraying Agent Orange. Seventeen of them sprayed the chemical at CFB Gagetown.
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Civilians affected by Agent Orange: MLA
Last updated May 20 2005 09:10 PM ADT
CBC News
FREDERICTON – A New Brunswick MLA says the Department of National Defence should extend its offer to compensate victims of Agent Orange to include civilians.
Defence Minister Bill Graham said this week that former soldiers whose health had suffered from exposure to the herbicide would qualify for disability pensions.
Spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam
Most of them served at CFB Gagetown during the 1960s, when Agent Orange was being tested.
* FROM MAY 17, 2005: Ottawa to aid Agent Orange victims
But Jody Carr, the MLA for Oromocto-Gagetown, said soldiers weren't the only ones who came in contact with the spray.
He is writing a letter to the defence minister requesting that a study be done on how Agent Orange has affected people living in and around base Gagetown.
"It's been commonly known through anecdotes in and around the communities surrounding base Gagetown that there seems to be a high incidence of cancer," Carr said.
"What I'm suggesting is that the federal government initiate a further analysis to see if there is a high incidence of cancer, and if that resulted from Agent Orange spraying on Base Gagetown."
Much of the spraying at the base was done by plane and helicopter.
People living nearby say the wind would have carried a lot of it off the base.
Carr said it's also very likely that residue from the spray affected local wells, which share the same watershed as CFB Gagetown.
Ottawa allowed the U.S. military to test Agent Orange on the base in the spring and summer of 1966.
At the time, the Americans were looking for a relatively easy way to defoliate large tracts of jungle in Vietnam. For its part, CFB Gagetown, was looking for a way to clear brush and trees from some of its training areas.
So far, only two former soldiers have been compensated for their exposure to Agent Orange.
The defence department hasn't said how it might evaluate future claims.
Agent Orange, which contained dioxin, is linked to various forms of cancer. But some former soldiers believe it's the cause of other health ailments, such as respiratory problems and heart disease.
One former soldier, Wayne Cardinal, believes his health was affected by the spray and he thinks many of his friends suffered, too.
"A lot of these men are in their early 60s and should not be passing on this quickly. There's got to be a reason," he said.
* FROM MAY 18, 2005: Soldiers consider Agent Orange impact
