CFB Gagetown area sprayed with lethal chemicals

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Civilians want compensation for chemical spraying at N.B. base

Last Updated Tue, 14 Jun 2005 19:44:31 EDT
CBC News

Civilians who say they were affected by toxic chemicals sprayed at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick in the 1950s and 1960s want compensation.

CBC News revealed on Monday that a U.S. army report shows a herbicide called Agent Purple, considered three times more toxic than the cancer-linked Agent Orange, was sprayed on the base in 1966.

The government has acknowledged only the harm caused by spraying Agent Orange in 1966 and 1967. The Canadian military paid compensation to two soldiers in connection with the spraying.

But newly revealed details regarding Agent Purple now has civilians, including Ken Dobbie, asking for compensation.

Dobbie, who as a teenager worked to clear the brush after it was sprayed, says he's been sick for more than 30 years.

Dobbie was working during the summer of 1966, when the Canadian military was co-operating with the U.S. to test Agent Orange.


Ken Dobbie

"I have type 2 diabetes, which I developed two years ago. I have micronodular cirrhosis of the liver. I have idiopathic chronic pancreatitis," said the Dobbie, 57. "I'm in constant pain."

He didn't connect his ailments to his work at the base until 1994, when he saw a neurotoxicologist.

"One of the questionnaires said, 'Have you ever worked with a chemical in the past?' That was when it hit me," said Dobbie.

Murray Magee, who worked at the base along with his three brothers, has emphysema - one of many ailments linked to Agent Orange and Agent Purple. His brothers all died of the disease.


Murray Magee

"The leaves fell off the trees right beside us, but we never paid no attention to it. They told us it wouldn't hurt us. I feel I should be compensated," said Magee.

Jody Carr, a member of the provincial legislature for Oromocto-Gagetown, says there are many civilians like Magee and Dobbie who should be compensated.

"I think the federal minister has the obligation to extend that compensation firstly to any civilian who worked at base Gagetown at the time of the spraying of Agent Orange. And if any of those civilians have an illness as a result of that, they should be compensated as well as the veterans," said Carr.

Graham says there will be compensation
Defence Minister Bill Graham said Monday that there will be compensation, but it was unclear whether it would extend to civilians.

"We'll make sure all people who were exposed to these, who can show there is a relationship between their disease and what we engaged in in the past, will be compensated," he said.

Richard van der Jagt, a leukemia specialist at the Ottawa General Hospital, said a study published in the journal Nature estimates that Agent Purple contained three times the cancer-causing material found in Agent Orange.

"Purple is even more laced with dioxin. Dioxin is something we know to be cancer causing," he said.

"These are very toxic agents to human health, something to be very concerned about in public health."

U.S. forces sprayed Agent Orange to defoliate large areas of forest in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971. Use of the herbicide was stopped in 1971 after it was discovered to contain dioxin.

Info on Agents Orange and Purple.

Scientific American.com
April 17, 2003

New Study Finds Agent Orange Use Was Underestimated

More than three decades after the Vietnam War ended, scientists have uncovered long-forgotten government documents describing just how much Agent Orange (and its carcinogenic component dioxin) was used during the war. From those records they have, for the first time, re-created the flight paths of U.S. military aircraft that distributed the millions of gallons of herbicide across Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia between 1961 and 1971. Their findings, published today in the journal Nature, reveal that far more herbicides were used during the early years of the war than has been reported--including the more dioxin-rich herbicides Agent Purple and Agent Pink.
Defoliant sprays like Agent Orange were employed in Vietnam to clear dense forests and mangroves for troop movement and to destroy enemy food crops. They were sprayed around U.S. military stations to hedge fast-growing plants, which could provide cover for enemy snipers.

Very little has been done to document the effect of the widespread spraying on veterans or the Vietnamese people because no accepted means for determining exposure existed, says lead study author Jeanne Mager Stellman of Columbia University. Her team thus undertook a historical reconstruction of herbicide dispersal using earlier National Academy of Sciences reports based on a U.S. military record of flight paths and sprayings known as the Herbicide Report System (HERBS).

As the work progressed, Stellman decided that it would make more sense to use the original data contained in the HERBS files, rather than basing the investigation on the summary reports alone. When the investigators accessed the original military records they found that the HERBS file had five different versions of what was supposed to be the same information. The scientists discovered that the data used to compile the previous National Academy of Sciences reports were rife with error: some versions of the HERBS file included spraying missions absent from other records; others contained duplicate entries. After sorting carefully though that information and comparing it with air force flight mission records, the team was able to determine the exact flight paths and targets of the aircraft that dispersed the herbicides. "The air force wasn't out there crisscrossing the country, spraying every day; they had specific targets and missions," Stellman says.

The team found that the most recent inventory of herbicide use, conducted in 1974, excluded 9,440,028 liters of herbicide. The HERBS files, once thought to include all the data relevant to herbicide spraying, in fact failed to mention about 200 missions flown during the war prior to 1965. Those newly discovered mission records reveal that about 1.9 million previously unaccounted for liters of Agent Purple were sprayed between 1962 and 1965. The researchers further determined that Agent Purple was likely to have had a dioxin content of as much as 45 parts per million. Agent Orange, in contrast, is thought to have contained some 13 parts per million, revised upward from the previous estimate of three parts per million. Stellman's team figures that the amount of dioxin sprayed was almost double that of previous estimates.

More than 20,585 towns lay within spraying regions and, of those, 3,181 had some population data available. According to Stellman, as many as 4.8 million people could have been present when herbicide rained down on their towns. The team also found records that reveal spraying aimed at clearing the Ho Chi Minh Trail--the major reinforcement and supply route through Laos--and figured out which agents were dropped and when. In a related paper published last week in another journal, the team described a sophisticated computer program they developed using a Geographic Information System called the Vietnam Herbicide Exposure Assessment System. The new program will allow scientists to determine herbicide exposure for towns, troop locations, army bases or individuals known to have been in a certain place at a certain time during the spraying missions.

Stellman is now working on determining the rate of prostate cancer among Vietnam veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange or other herbicides. "I'm excited that we've finally gotten through the conceptual barrier that military data aren't useful," Stellman says. "Now, after 30 some odd years, we owe it to ourselves and to the veterans to see if the proximity of spraying has an effect [on health]." --Laura Wright

Source

Agent Orange Website

The Story of Agent Orange

I've been following this on CBC radio, Reyn. Listening to some fascinating interviews on As It Happens. Will try to track down some links on the weekend, after I've arrived at the Hamburgers'.

There was an interview with a minister of defence from that period. I thought he was going to cry - it seemed he really didn't know what was going on in NB at the time.

Yes, it's been a real feather in the CBC's cap on this story. They dug it up apparently. It's not been well-publicized. Very interesting, but at the same time...shocking. What amazed me as well was the fact that the Canadian government allowed Americans to test the stuff at the base during the Vietnam war.

A couple of weeks back, there was a documentary run on CBC Newsworld about the ecological disaster that was caused in Vietnam by Agent Orange, etc. This was filmed very recently and the stuff is still active in the ground after all this time. A very tragic story indeed.

Will look forward to your links. :wink:

Hello - was stationed at Base Gagetown in 1966 and following this story with great interest and concern. Can anyone tell me how to proceed with contacting the proper authorities? Luckily my health issues have been while aggravating, not life threatening, but I saw in a recent article online that Minister Graham wants anyone who was there to contact them. Cant find how. Thank you.

CFB Greenwood N.S. also figures in contamination issues. I read that during WWII British forces had stored materials there that were contaminants. I have no website or reference but the community does have a website.

Hello McGray, and welcome to A2K!

Just got a short while ago, so still a bit groggy. It's interesting to hear from someone who was actually at the base. The story seems to have been dug up by the CBC. For being such an important story, others don't seem to be giving it much airplay.

I only have a few minutes to be on the computer this morning before I go to work, but will try to dig up a contact this evening. Either way, I will post something tonight.

Thanks again.....

Thanks for that info! I will try to find that website.

If you come across anything else that relates to this story, let me know. :wink:

I think I can steer you in the right direction. To me, the most logical place to put your claim forward would be directly to the Ministry of National Defense. Their website is HERE.

Now, within that website, there is another page titled "CHEMICAL WARFARE AGENT TESTING RECOGNITION PAYMENT PROGRAM" and you can find it HERE.

That might not be the exact place to look, but I think it's a great place to start. Near the bottom of that page, you'll find an "800" toll-free phone number that you can call to check, or they can direct you to the right department.

I would make sure that all your documentation is all sorted out. Be persistent and don't be put off.

It would be great if you could post here from time to time and let us know what happens.

Good luck!

Military accused of lying about Agent Orange

Last Updated Thu, 23 Jun 2005 21:37:42 EDT
CBC News

An angry crowd accused military officials of a coverup during a hearing into the spraying of Agent Orange and other defoliants at a New Brunswick military base in the 1950s and 1960s.

Glen Stewart, of the Royal Canadian Legion, raised fears that rates of cancer and other illnesses are abnormally high around CFB Gagetown.

Officials from the Department of National Defence, Veterans Affairs Canada and Canadian Forces Base Gagetown tried to downplay health hazards on Thursday, at the first public briefing on the issue in more than 30 years.

The hearing at the base followed a CBC News report that revealed Agent Purple, considered three times more toxic than the cancer-linked Agent Orange, was also sprayed on the base in 1966.

The reassurances did little to calm the audience of more than 100 people, which included civilians and veterans who believe their health was damaged by the spraying.

'Don't try to shove that down our throats'

The military's most controversial comment was that Agent Orange and Agent Purple were only sprayed on a small area of the base and only for a total of seven days in 1966 and 1967.

Many people who stood up to ask questions accused officials of lying about the extent of the testing, as well as its effects.

At one point, a man shouted, "Don't try to shove that down our throats, we're not going to take it."

John Chisholm said he knew that claim was false because he worked as a member of the ground crew on the spray program.

"This wasn't just a few days. And it wasn't just one helicopter, either. It was fixed-wing aircraft and it went on for years, covering a very big area," Chisholm said.

'We were coloured yellow from the spray'

He and other veterans and civilians who worked on the base described being exposed to the spraying and blamed it for illnesses they later developed.

"[The] first few times that we were out there, we came in, we were coloured orange, we were coloured yellow from the spray that came down on top of us," Chisholm said.

Chisholm, who is being treated for cancer and other health problems, said his wife died of cancer in 1996 and virtually all of his friends who worked with him in the spray program are also dead.

Kenneth Dobbie said he joined other men to clear sprayed brush on the base without wearing any protective gear, gloves or face masks.

"We cut it, we ingested the fumes, we burned it, therefore we inhaled the smoke ... and when it came time to eat, we sat down among all the toxins and we ate lunch with our bare hands."

A woman recounted her father's memories of becoming coated with the spray after being asked to watch the spraying operation from a hill. She blamed the spraying for premature pregnancies in her family, including her mother's 13 miscarriages.

'It's time that you stood up and admitted that there is a problem'

"It's time that you stood up and admitted that there is a problem, that there wasn't only two or three barrels of this stuff sprayed at Base Gagetown," said Glen Stewart, the executive director of the provincial branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Like many in the audience, Stewart expressed fear that rates of cancer and other illnesses were abnormally high around the base.

"I am very confident that you will find that the death rate from various types of illnesses, including cancer, is higher in this area than it is in any other place in Canada," Stewart said.

At the meeting, both Defence and Veterans Affairs officials promised to do everything they could to investigate potential health hazards and help people who might have been affected.

Spraying was 'small scale,' DND says

Karen Ellis, a Defence spokeswoman, said Agent Orange was sprayed over seven days on a "small scale" under strict controls that prevented the spray from drifting more than about 15 metres.

Karen Ellis of the Defence Department said the 1966-1967 spraying was very unlikely to have reached civilian areas.

She said it was very unlikely that civilians living near Gagetown were exposed to Agent Orange, which contains the carcinogen dioxin.

Ellis said health studies in the 1980s showed no ill effects, but promised a new investigation in response to community complaints.

"We will review the issue again now in light of concerns about the persistence of dioxins in the environment," Ellis said.

She said the Defence Department is studying soil and water on and around the base for evidence of dioxin poisoning. It will also consult with the U.S. military to find out the exact levels of carcinogens used.

The Defence Department is already paying compensation in two cases connected to the spraying. It has now received 300 compensation claims and more than 400 inquiries.

Ellis said each one would be evaluated fairly, with soldiers getting "the benefit of the doubt."

At the time of the spray program, it was believed the chemicals were harmless to human health and virtually no precautions were taken to minimize human contact.

U.S. forces sprayed Agent Orange to defoliate large areas of forest in Vietnam from 1961 until 1971, when it was discovered to contain dioxin.

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INDEPTH: AGENT ORANGE
Agent Purple and Agent Orange

CBC News Online | Updated June 24, 2005

From the National and CBC Radio World Report,
June 13 and 14, 2005
Reporter: Louise Elliott

In the palette of deadly poisons, one of the most famous is Agent Orange a defoliant best known for its use during the war in Vietnam. Others are known by the names Green, Blue and Pink.

Far from Southeast Asia, dense forest was also a problem at CFB Gagetown. Military commanders said they needed to clear the brush in order to conduct training exercises. So the miitary struck an agreement with the Americans to test the defoliants.



Ottawa has acknowledged that Agent Orange defoliant was used in the 1960s to clear training areas at CFB Gagetown, but the government has only acknowledged the harm caused by Agent Orange when it was sprayed on Gagetown in 1966 and 1967.

Now CBC News has learned Agent Orange wasn't the only herbicide sprayed at the base. There was also Agent Purple, lesser known, but more toxic.

Wayne Cardinal takes 14 different medications every day for his heart and respiratory ailments. The 61-year-old retired soldier is now wondering if he and his fellow soldiers are sick from Agent Orange.

"I can remember guys coming in with ears all blistered up and being sent to the MIR and told there's nothing wrong with you, quiet about this, this is just probably a reaction to the chemical. It won't harm you. And many guys can relate stories like that," Cardinal says.


Wayne Cardinal

Experts like cancer and leukemia specialist Richard van de Jagt of the University of Ottawa have long made a connection between Agent Orange and many health problems.

"Cancers including leukemia, prostate cancer, lung cancer, et cetera, and then we also know it to have endocrine effects and causing blindness, cataract formation," van de Jagt says.


Richard van de Jagt

Extensive spraying

CBC News has learned that the spraying at CFB Gagetown was more extensive than previously thought. Documents obtained by CBC News show that in the summer of 1966 the military used Agent Purple.

Agent Purple had more than three times the level of lethal dioxin as Agent Orange. It was also laced with arsenic. It was so bad that the Americans stopped using it in Vietnam the year before.

The CBC investigation shows that planes sprayed other herbicides containing dioxin from 1956 to 1967, herbicides that were later banned for their health effects.

A military briefing note to the New Brunswick cabinet obtained by CBC News shows that more than a thousand barrels of a now-banned herbicide was sprayed on CFB Gagetown.

It lists in part: "Overview of herbicides spray program. 1956: 3,687 acres, 2,4,-D and 2,4,5-T1957: 3,879 acres."



Then they were legal, now some of them are banned. 2,4,5,-T was sprayed frequently to kill dense brush. The New Brunswick documents also show that substances mistakenly blew onto nearby farms.

In 1964 there was a spray application accident. Increased winds carried the spray to the Upper Gagetown and Sheffield area. The Crown paid approximately $250,000 to several market gardens in the area as reparation for the damage to their crops.

Now, many residents are wondering if their illnesses are linked to the spraying at Gagetown.

Strenuous efforts

On June 13, 2005, in the House of Commons, Defence Minister Bill Graham was asked about Agent Purple and replied. "We are making strenuous efforts to obtain the appropriate records, work with those who have been exposed, work with anybody in the community who knows anything about this."

CBC News also obtained a draft fact sheet from Graham's department. It says the department does not have a list of people who served at CFB Gagetown who may have been exposed, and it says the number who may have come into contact with the chemical is thought to be minimal.


Spraying in Vietnam

"What upsets me so much is that my government, who I faithfully served for 40 years, has covered this up and lied about it for 40 years. What a shame. What a shame for the troops who have served them so well," Cardinal says.

Dr. Richard van de Jagt says like Agent Orange, the chemical 2,4,5,-T can cause cancer: "Agent Orange and 2,4,5,-T have been banned because of their known toxic effects and they've actually been off. They've been banned for many years."

As a young soldier in the 1950s and '60s, Earl Graves didn't know the area where he trained contained toxins.

"It was out in the field, we did our exercise, we were on the ground, especially the infantry. Laying on the ground, eating the blueberries, eating the strawberries, drinking the water, swimming in the lakes. You name it," Graves says.

Graves is now president of the Black Watch Association in New Brunswick. He says 170 soldiers in his regiment died of cancer, many of them died young.



On June 14, 2005, Veterans Affairs Minister Albina Guarnieri said a committee will review disability applications. CBC News has learned 22 of those applications were previously denied.

The Defence department has said nothing about civilians, civilians who they say too were affected by the spraying.

Civilian exposure

Forty years ago after planes took off from the Gagetown airstrip, nearby communities had no idea what chemicals were being sprayed. People say they were kept in the dark and they doubt the chemicals that were sprayed stayed put.

Ken Dobbie has been sick for more than 30 years. It began with liver problems when he was a young man. The 57-year-old has been sick for more than 30 years. He never understood why until a few years ago.

Someone should be held accountable

Russell Smith also worked at Gagetown as a teenager in 1966.


Russell Smith

He was a flag boy showing the planes where to dump their chemicals. He says he often came home drenched. A few years ago, he had both his kidneys removed. Now he spends hundreds of dollars a year for insurance covering the drugs for his kidney transplant.

"I think someone should be held accountable for it, should explain themselves, and if they knew back then, why didn't they have, we should have had maybe a little more protection, face masks, the proper clothes or anything like that. But there was nothing," Smith says.

Graham has said he wants to hear from any veterans who may have been exposed to chemicals here, but the government has not promised any money to study health problems on the base or in the surrounding communities, nor has it promised to compensate any civilians.

Last year Ken Dobbie was hospitalized six times.

Now, he's tested for liver cancer every three months. Along with cirrhosis, he has pancreatitis, diabetes and atrophy of the frontal lobes of his brain.

Neil Munn was 17 in the summer of 1964. He worked at CFB Gagetown as a flag boy, showing the planes where to spray herbicide.

"We were sprayed, It was like rainwater falling on you," Munn says. "That's exactly how it was. Even your eyelids at night would be stuck together like pitch from balsam and fir trees. And take your pants off and you could stand them up by themselves. I can smell that stuff today." Munn says.

Simon de Jong is a former New Democrat member of Parliament. In the early 1980s he helped reveal the fact that Agent Orange was sprayed at Gagetown.

"I mean, we don't have the science yet to prove that there is an absolute cause and effect here. But the probability is so high that you've got to accept the probability," De Jong says. "And that's the logical thing, that's the reasonable thing, that's the humane thing to do."

For people like Ken Dobbie it's a tremendous challenge to try to prove his illnesses were caused by the spraying.

Years afterwards, doctors are often unable to confirm exposure.

Dobbie may not have the time to prove it.



"I guess the way I can sum it up is it's too soon. I don't deserve to be dying at 57 I don't deserve this and no one who worked there deserves any kind of illnesses they have," he says.

Persistent dioxinsSource[/color]

This story just keeps becoming more convoluted the more I read about it. I stumbled across this article in a Maine paper today.

Now, we've got U.S. troops who have trained in Gagetown when the Agent Orange was used. If this wasn't bad enough, this story says that the base is still in current use and, incredibly, there are still plans for 2006!

These chemicals are still toxic and still present in the environment in the area of this base. The place should be shut down!

Not only will Canadian troops have to be compensated, but American ones, too. Never mind the compelling case for civilians living in the area. Many teenagers had summer jobs working there.

Response to soldiers exposed to defoliants eyed
Compensation for Maine troops who trained at New Brunswick base may be pursued

Bangor Daily News
Wednesday, June 29, 2005

AUGUSTA - There are now just two spots on the planet - the jungles of Vietnam and the demilitarized zone in South Korea - where exposure to Agent Orange is officially recognized as the presumed cause of a host of devastating illnesses in American military personnel.

The number of sites is likely to rise to three, however, if emerging concerns about the use of the toxic defoliant and related chemicals at a military base in New Brunswick during the 1960s are verified by environmental testing, personal interviews, and analysis of American and Canadian military documents.

Officials from the Maine National Guard met Tuesday morning at Camp Keyes in Augusta to begin planning a local response to the possibility that Maine troops may have been exposed to Agent Orange, Agent Purple and other herbicides while training at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown near Fredericton. While some actions can be taken at the state level, officials indicated that critical steps - leading, potentially, to the compensation of Guard members whose health has suffered because of exposure - must be taken at the federal level and in cooperation with the Canadian government.

According to Canada's Department of Defence, small areas of the 272,000-acre base were sprayed over seven days in the summers of 1966 and 1967 at the request of the base commander to clear dense vegetation for artillery training. Though the applications were limited, the products' chemically active ingredients and byproducts are known to linger in soils and to accumulate in body tissues.

The U.S. Veterans Administration recognizes a number of specific health disorders as being caused by exposure to Agent Orange, including birth defects, diabetes, diseases of the skin and a number of cancers. Heart and respiratory disorders also have been linked to exposure. Agent Purple is a chemically similar but more potent product.

Maj. Gen. Bill Libby, head of the state's National Guard and commissioner of the state Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, said Tuesday that calls are beginning to come in from Maine soldiers and veterans seeking information about their likely exposure, the medical consequences and the possibility of financial compensation. Calls have been received at Guard headquarters, the state's Bureau of Veterans Affairs and the Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center at Togus, Libby said.

"We want people to be informed," Libby said, "but we don't want to be fielding calls from all of the tens of thousands of Guard members who've trained at Gagetown over the years." Libby said his goal is to have key information available on the Maine Guard's Web site, as well as a central phone number to call, by the end of this week. He also directed his staff to create a registry of people who make contact so they can be easily reached as new information becomes available.

If it is determined that having trained at Gagetown represents a significant risk, all Maine troops who ever have participated in exercises there will be located and contacted, the general said. Units of the Maine National Guard have been training at the New Brunswick facility since 1971.

Another issue is whether it's safe to continue training at Gagetown in the future, Libby said. Maine guardsmen just completed a two-week session at the facility last week and the next planned exercise is in June 2006.

Though it may be months before environmental testing and other investigations into Gagetown's status are completed, Libby on Tuesday directed his staff to begin the process of locating another training site in case it's needed.

But other steps are out of the state's control. The Canadian government has said soil samples from the base will be tested this summer and the results made public. Military records from both sides of the border will be examined to determine how the defoliants were applied, by whom and under what conditions. Veterans and civilians who may have been directly involved with the spraying operations will be located and interviewed. When all available information has been gathered and analyzed, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will determine what, if any, special benefits may be available.

Libby said he is disappointed that the Canadian defense department has not been more proactive in providing information to the United States. The use of Agent Orange at Gagetown has been publicly acknowledged in Canada since the early 1980s. Also, the Canadian defense department's recent decision to compensate two veterans for illnesses related to their exposure at the base in the 1960s has prompted a flurry of new claims in that country.

Libby said the first he heard of the matter was about a week ago when a Maine veteran handed him some papers at a meeting.

Spokespersons from the offices of Maine's congressional delegation last week said they had only just been made aware of the problem and would be looking into it.

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Thanks for keeping this updated, Reyn.

You're right, this keeps getting more and more convoluted.

It went from one day of spraying to who knows what.

Yes, I find this a shockingly interesting story. I'm keeping my eyes peeled elsewhere for updates.

Unfortunately, it was not just one day of spraying. This nastiness goes back to the 1950's, not just 1966 to 67, etc. I'm only finding out about this now.

I would be extremely concerned living in the area of this base. No doubt toxins are still leaching in the water supply and continuing to cause health concerns.

Agent Orange lawsuit seeks compensation

Last Updated Tue, 12 Jul 2005 19:28:02 EDT
CBC News

People who claim they were sprayed with Agent Orange and other chemicals at a Canadian Forces base in New Brunswick in the 1960s are launching a class-action lawsuit.

The claimants say they and their families have suffered painful side-effects because of the spraying.

Ken Dobbie, of Kingston, Ont., is one of six people named in the lawsuit. As a young man he worked a summer job at CFB Gagetown.

"I was a civilian teenager who was hired in 1966 to cut and burn the defoliated brush and I've been sick since," he said.

Dobbie claims the chemicals used to kill plants and trees at the base - chemicals like Agent Orange and Agent Purple - left him chronically ill and led to his father's death.

"My father was in the Second Battalion, Black Watch. And he was exposed many times at the Camp Gagetown training area. He died six years ago of a very rare form of cancer."

Dobbie and others claiming damages have filed a statement of claim in Federal Court in Ottawa.

Their lawyer, Tony Merchant, says while only six people are so far named in the case, he expects more will come forward. "We say this is a very serious claim regarding a huge number of individuals who are significantly affected."

The suit names the attorney general of Canada and the Department of National Defence.

Merchant expects it will take months to determine whether the case can go ahead.

Ottawa has offered compensation to veterans who have suffered medical problems because of exposure to Agent Orange. But so far, it has only made payments to two people.

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This story confirms that Agent Orange was also used along power lines in New Brunswick by NB Power.

Agent Orange sparks concerns about toxic spraysSource[/color]

Independent company to do tests at Gagetown for Agent Orange
Military promises to make findings public

NB Telegraph-Journal | E-Brief
Article published: Jul 6, 2005

Carr
BY KATHY KAUFIELD
Telegraph-Journal

In a move that will help allay fears of a military whitewash, CFB Gagetown officials will hire an independent company to test its training grounds this summer for toxic dioxins, says a government MLA.

Oromocto-Gagetown MLA Jody Carr said Tuesday that Base Gagetown Commanding Officer Col. Ryan Jestin confirmed during a private meeting that testing to be conducted this summer on soil, water and vegetation will be done by an independent company, hired through open tender and mandated to release the results publicly.

Mr. Carr said the decision will come as welcome news to many in the community who have expressed concerns to him that planned testing of the training grounds may end up being biased or inaccurate if handled by the federal government or the military.

"The concern was that all of the information wasn't either going to be released or that the testing was done in a biased way or wasn't done objectively or there was maybe a hidden agenda or government was trying to cover it up," Mr. Carr said.

He said the decision by base officials to hire an independent company to do the testing will give those concerned more confidence in the results.

John Chisholm, who worked as a marker during spraying at CFB Gagetown in 1956, confronts the panel at a public information meeting held June 23 to discuss the testing of Agent Orange and Agent Purple in 1966-67 at the base. Mr. Chisholm was one of more than 200 people who attended the meeting. File/Telegraph-Journal

"It seems to me that they (base officials) want to take every measure to just add that level of confidence to Canadians that this is accurate information, it wasn't a whitewash," he said.

Mr. Carr said Col. Jestin made the commitment Monday night during a private meeting with him, representatives of the provincial legion and the president of the New Brunswick Black Watch Association, a group made of up members of a unit who served at Base Gagetown.

Base officials invited the veterans to the meeting to help them pinpoint areas for testing.

Former soldiers and community members are raising concerns about chemical spraying, including the use of Agent Orange, at the base in the 1950s and 1960s.

Agent Orange, a defoliant tested by the U.S. military at CFB Gagetown in 1966 and 1967, was contaminated with 2,3,7,8-TCDD, one of the most toxic dioxins known.

The chemical has been linked to cancers, immune system deficiencies, birth defects, low intelligence in children, and emotional problems.

More than 200 people attended an Agent Orange public briefing in CFB Gagetown on June 23.

Many complained their health had been affected by the chemical.

After former soldiers complained publicly about being ordered to bury tools and equipment they used during manoeuvres at the time Agent Orange and other substances were sprayed, base officials decided to meet with veterans to find out directly from them where equipment was buried and where any spraying was done.

Lieut. Martell Thompson, public relations officer at CFB Gagetown, said Tuesday he can't speak for the base commander but said, "I can tell you unequivocally that the intent is to see that this testing is done by an independent agency."

He said base officials gathered valuable information from the veterans at the meeting that will serve as an important starting point for the upcoming testing.

"The information that they passed on to us will definitely enhance our investigation," he said.

Mr. Carr said many people are skeptical their concerns will be addressed.

He said they have told him they feel the military and government's response has been minimal in the 20 years since it was revealed Agent Orange was tested at the base.

But he said the decision to conduct testing of the entire training grounds rather than just the specific test plots and the decision to hire an independent company shows him that base officials are "taking responsibility to clear this up after 50 years."

"In my mind, that's very significant because it shows an openness and shows the base commander . . . is also interested in providing an open approach, providing all the information."

Mr. Carr said the base commander invited anyone with information about disposal sites or spraying sites to contact him.

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