It has been reported that the federal budget to be announced on Monday March 19, 2007 will announce compensation for victims of the defoliant spraying at CFB Gagetown.
The March 17, 2007 edition of the Fredericton Daily Gleaner (Page A3) reports that John Chisholm, a member of the advisory panel for the Base Gagetown and Area Fact Finder Project, has met with Veteran Affairs Minister Greg Thompson and is confident compensation will be addressed in the budget.
The Daily Gleaner also reported that Chisholm said it’s his understanding that any compensation will focus on those who are sick “soldiers and civilians”- from the spraying.
On March 1, 2007, Kenneth Dobbie, president of the Agent Orange Association of Canada (AOAC) had sent a 9 page document to all 308 Members of Parliament on behalf of the members of AOAC.
The document contained new information and recommendations for the government to consider regarding this black mark on Canadian history. The document also stressed the need for a public inquiry and that compensation was not the only criteria that the government must consider.
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has responded to the letter and the Agent Orange Association of Canada waits to see if Mr. Flaherty and the federal government of Canada address the situation and in turn do what is right for our veterans and the victims of the Gagetown sprayings.
Please find attached a copy of the document that was sent to all 308 Members of Parliament including cabinet ministers.
AOAC LETTER TO THE HONORABLE GREG THOMPSON, CANADIAN MINISTER OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
March 1, 2007
7 Rose Abbey Drive
Kingston, ON
K7K 6W1 Canada
The Honourable Greg Thompson, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Veterans Affairs
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Dear Mr. Thompson:
In my previous correspondence dated November 1, 2006 on behalf of the Agent Orange Association of Canada (AOAC), we presented facts and recommendations concerning various issues about a presumptive clause you are reported to be considering. We mailed a copy of the November 1st correspondence to every Member of Parliament.
A copy of this letter is also being sent to every Member of Parliament.
The Agent Orange Association of Canada wishes to announce additional new policy.
We refuse to recognize or support any compensation issues that deal only with veterans. In addition, we refuse to recognize any compensation that is only granted to persons involved in the 1966 and 1967 sprayings by the Americans.
While you are making plans to inadequately compensate only those few soldiers who were mixers, loaders or were present during the actual sprayings by the Americans in 1966 and 1967, your government has instructed it’s lawyers to obstruct every motion the class action lawsuit wins.
Your government has told its lawyer Ian Fraser, to appeal every decision made in the favour of the class action lawsuit to the Supreme Court of Canada.
It is reprehensible your government and the Department of Veterans Affairs would condone further delaying of justice for veterans and civilians involved in the class action lawsuit. Your government, by issuing these orders, is condemning thousands of people to die without proper justice being achieved. Appeals by your government to the Supreme Court could obstruct our class action certification for years.
During this time, thousands will die because of your government’s interference with sick and dying veterans and civilians trying to achieve justice through a class action certification.
The certification of our class action lawsuit has now been denied us for the past 22 months.
This is bordering on a violation of our rights under the charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees citizens of Canada speedy justice. Being obstructed by your government’s orders to appeal every decision to the Supreme Court smacks of a totalitarian regime.
We will be making this an issue across Canada, in the upcoming election, of how your government has, and is, denying proper justice.
We don’t want your inadequate $24,000.
We do want a full, independent public judicial inquiry that has the power to find the real truth and the wrath to consequently have criminal charges brought against anyone who allegedly concealed the truth in the administration of this file over the past 40 years.
Denying us justice by appealing our every success to the Supreme Court is not only abhorrent and despicable, but you, Mr. Thompson, actually have the nerve to use the word “compassion” in your statements about your proposed compensation offer. We, who speak for thousands, do not see any compassion. We continue to see a major cover up of the real facts as is evidenced by DND policing themselves.
We also take the position that your government is acting with extreme prejudice and has put itself in a position of a conflict of interest. The principles of ethics, accountability and transparency, which are self-proclaimed by your government, are entirely missing.
DND continues to run the investigation of itself, through the Base Gagetown And Area Fact Finders Project (BGAFFP), yet ethicists world-wide would condemn this self-policing at the very least to be unethical behaviour and at its worst, a deliberate coverup.
Accountability, moral values and transparency are standards not only expected but also demanded by voters/taxpayers. These principles shouldn’t have to be asked for, as one would assume a democratic nation to have these values as a given yet they are not being applied in the treatment of this file.
Over ONE BILLION grams of 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, Hexachlorobenzene, Dioxin and Picloram were sprayed on the training area of CFB Gagetown and surrounding communities for a period of almost three decades resulting in the deaths and illnesses of thousands of people.
Numbers that are so high, they escape comprehension. Over One Billion grams of carcinogenic chemicals, which unequivocally caused mass human suffering and deaths.
The Department of National Defence, aided by various other government agencies, continues to cover up the truth. There were only 75,000 litres of defoliant containing Dioxin sprayed from 1956 to 1964, including the miniscule 483 litres sprayed by the Americans in the summers of 1966 and 1967.
What DND is not dealing with is the 3,236,000 litres and pounds of Tordon 101 and Tordon 10K sprayed from 1965 to 1984 inclusive.
There was a total of 1,225,000 litres of Tordon 101 containing hexachlorobenzene sprayed in liquid form from 1965 to 1972.
In 1972, DND started spraying the dry form of Tordon 101, Tordon 10K, which also contained hexachlorobenzene. A total of 2,038,000 pounds of Tordon 10K containing hexachlorobenzene was sprayed for 11 years over a total acreage of 50,000 acres.
Why are you not dealing with the health problems caused by the poisonous Agent White containing 2,4-D, Picloram & its deadly by-product Hexachlorobenzene?
The following graphic is a current data sheet from Dow Chemical, describing Tordon 101 otherwise known as Agent White.
The Americans knew these Tordon products as Agent White.
To date, your government has yet to acknowledge that Agent White was sprayed in the millions of litres and hundreds of millions of grams at CFB Gagetown
Tordon 101 was the liquid spray, Tordon 10K was the dry spray.
Both Tordon products contained 2,4-D & Picloram. Dow Chemical states this ratio was 4:1 with a guarantee of 65 grams of Picloram per litre and 240 grams of 2,4-D per litre. This ratio has not changed since the mid 1960’s.
Thus each liquid litre contained 240 grams of 2,4-D and 65 grams of Picloram. The same chemical ratio was used in Tordon 10K. Only it was measured in dry pounds. In one pound there are 454 grams which works out to 240 grams of 2,4-D and 65 grams of Picloram plus 149 grams of clay binder per pound.
The breakdown in litres and pounds is as follows: (DND document A-2004-00207)
1965 to 1972 = 1,225,000 liquid litres of Tordon 101
1973 to 1984 = 2,038,000 dry pounds of Tordon 10K
1,225,000 litres x 240 grams of 2,4-D = 294,000,000 grams
1,225,000 litres x 65 grams of Picloram with Hexachlorobenzene = 79,625,000 grams
Total of 373,625,000 grams of 2,4-D and Hexachlorobenzene laced Picloram
There were 2,038,000 pounds of dry Tordon 10K sprayed on the CFB Gagetown training area.
2,038,000 x 240 grams of 2,4-D = 489,000,000 grams
2,038,000 x 65 grams of Picloram with Hexachlorobenzene = 132,470,000 grams
Total of 621,470,000 grams of 2,4-D and Hexachlorobenzene laced Picloram
Totaling the number of grams is shocking:
995,095,000 grams of 2,4-D and Hexachlorobenzene laced Picloram
This does not include 75,000,000 grams of dioxin-laced 2,4-D + 2,4,5-T sprayed from 1956 to 1964 or the 2,4-D sprayed from 1985 to 2004.
Over One BILLION grams of carcinogenic chemicals sprayed on CFB Gagetown and surrounding communities, which has caused untold numbers of deaths and illnesses.
We have received thousands of emails about various diseases, dysfunctions and deaths.
Diseases and deaths caused by the spraying of over One Billion Grams of
2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, dioxin, picloram and hexachlorobenzene.
People have signed our online petition and some have made comments about their health. The petition is located at the following link: www.petition.com/aoalert
We went through the petition and cut and pasted some of the comments. Names were edited because of privacy issues.
It is shocking to read, but for each person who took the time to make a health comment, there must be many more who did not. Remember as you read this list, it is only taken from a small list of petition signers and is also a representation of the thousands of emails we have received in the past 22 months.
The diseases that are unreported must be staggering.
The following are some of the reported Illnesses caused by peoples’ exposures to 2.4-D, 2,4,5-T dioxin, Picloram and hexachlorobenzene otherwise known as Agents Orange, Purple and White.
Note – Each entry beginning with a dash (-) is a separate person
– Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
– Brain cancer
– Kidney cancer
– Liver cancer
– Lung cancer
– Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
– Diabetes
– Fibromylgia
– Chronic Pain
– High blood pressure
– Depression
– Lack of memory
– Sleeping disorders
– Out of 10 houses 26 have died with cancer and that does not cover all the other ailments
– The spray from Base Gagetown destroyed our produce business and both of my parents died early, mother age 67 heart disease and father heart disease age 76.
-Testicular Cancer
– Cancer of lymph nodes (Sarcodsis)
– Trouble trying to conceive a child.
– Autoimmune disease called Relapsing Polychondritis.
– Heart disease, myasthenia gravis, COPD, bladder, bowel, and liver problems, cataracts in my late 30s, ulcerated esophagus, insomnia, high blood pressure, Hepatitis B, diabetes, three miscarriages, pulmonary embolism when I was 26, hysterectomy at 31
– Liver disease, Micronodular cirrhosis (non drinker life long)
– Tumours the size of a grapefruit with a couple of feet of small intestine
– Tumour removed from under my right arm, I have Sarcoid Granuloma, and Chloracne
– Severe Graves disease
– Cancer in the colon and cancer in the liver
– Chiari malformation type 1, neurological disorder birth defect
– Born with three ears
– Born in Oromocto, has had brain cancer and has gone through a terrible ordeal, now has skin cancer
– My son died at the age of 38 to stomach cancer
– My son died of AO related Cholangiocarcinoma
– 1 RCHA, 61 – 63. Heart, Prostate, years of illness
-Today, I have multiple tumours in my uterus and am unable to have children
– Our dad just passed away, lung cancer, heart problems, respiratory problems, circulatory problems, our mother has had breast cancer and removal, our sister is dying of colon cancer, they just stopped her chemo, it is doing no good.
– PERSONAL NOTE: [She died Oct 16, 2006, a dear friend of mine, one of four of my Grade 12 friends from Oromocto High to die in 2006 of cancer]
– Lived in Gagetown in the early ’60’s. My father died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1985 at the age of 62.
– I have been suffering from an autoimmune condition since 1999, my mother has had several bouts of cancer; my father died when he was 67 after many years of poor health.
– Stationed at CFB Gagetown in summer 1966 and lived there until his retirement from the forces in 1977. We used the ‘area’ extensively, camping, picnicking, fishing, berry picking. Both my parents are now dead, due to stomach cancer.
– My brothers and sisters and I grew up in Oromocto, our Dad worked on the base. He died at the young age of 49. My youngest sister died at the age of 19 from cancer. Now my oldest brother is hanging on to his life from cancer and an aneurism
– Husband died age 53 Hodgkin’s Disease (Agent Orange) and Myeloid Dysphasic Syndrome another type of bone marrow cancer related to Agent White.
– Died of throat and stomach cancer in 1986
– My youngest daughter has had cervical cancer and had a stillborn birth
– My mother passed away from non-hereditary ovarian cancer in 1999.
– I have been diagnosed with metastasis melanoma. Have had an operation for malignant melanoma (right arm-2003) as well as 33 lymph nodes removed right armpit January 2005.
– 2nd Canadian Guards, 61-68, trained at Gagetown, prostate cancer
– I am now a diabetic with bladder cancer. Served in Gagetown 1961, 1964-1967, spent many weeks in the training area.
– He died in 1994, from Leukemia, as a result of effects from Agent Orange.
– Family lived in Gagetown around ’57-‘66. Father passed away at the age of 63 from complications due to colon cancer. What’s in store for the rest of the family? Very scary!
– Victim of Chronic Lymphotic Leukemia and Thyroid condition
– Was diagnosed in 2001. They have admitted in a rejection response letter that my type of cancer is directly linked to Agent Orange /purple/white etc., but I have to prove to them that I was exposed to these toxicants…I was in Gagetown with the Infantry
– Stationed at Gagetown during this time with the Black Watch. He passed away four years ago at the young age of 61 from pancreatic cancer
– I recall my mother, who lived in Burton just outside Oromocto (Base Gagetown), in 1965 received about $100.00 from the military if she promised not to harvest her small garden because of a spraying accident the military reportedly had. The military were always around that area
– My father, who was a member of the Black Watch, stationed at Base Gagetown, and who died at the age of 45 in 1972 of cancer.
– 3rd generation birth defects all three children, I was born and grew up in Oromocto
– I lost my dear husband of 40 years due to leukemia. He was stationed at CFB Gagetown 58-63.
– My dear dad, who was stationed at CFB Gagetown 1958-1963. Leukemia at age 59.
– Lost my husband at the age of 47 due to prostate cancer
– My dad died of cancer aged 56. He served at Gagetown in 66/67
– My husband just died November 8th from cancer at the age of 56. Just before his death he was also diagnosed with Parkinson’s. He served in the Black Watch from 1966-1967.
– My father was posted at Camp Gagetown from 1960 -1963. He passed away February 28, 2003 of Cancer. My mother is dying of Multiple Myeloma
– After maintaining my husband’s uniforms, washing etc, being out in the area on picnics and picking berry’s in the area I now suffer from some of the illness’s associated with Agent Orange.
– My father who served at CFB Gagetown and died at the age of 45 of cancer.
– My husband, as a youth, spent all of his summers in Hoyt, New Brunswick. He was diagnosed with a soft tissue sarcoma. Many of his relatives who stayed in summer homes in Hoyt, New Brunswick were also diagnosed with cancers
– I have Crohns and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma & I lived in Geary 30 years of my life.
We picked berries, fished & hunted, were sprayed with defoliants, caused skin cancer, urinary tract infections, bleeding ulcers, coronary artery disease etc.
– My husband served at CFB Gagetown from 1964 – 1966. He died of lymphoma at the age of 41 leaving 3 young children.
– My Dad passed away in 1996 with prostate cancer
– My father developed heart problems, hyperlipidemia, Type 2 Diabetes, and Cholangiocarcinoma, died in 1999. He was in the training area dozens of times.
– CFB Gagetown, the planes flew over our home, every year that I can remember. My mom died of cancer in 1986, at the age of 51
– We lived in Gagetown for 11 years. Both my parents died as a result of cancer
– I remember the spraying going on every summer along our street and in the town plus the spray planes flying low over our house all summer, every summer. We civilians were exposed from the toxins in the air, water and soil. Most of the civilian kids I went to school with are dead and most lost a parent young.
– I now have Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
All of the foregoing diseases, deaths and dysfunctions are being attributed by the signers and email writers to the carcinogenic Agents Orange, Purple and White sprayed on CFB Gagetown and surrounding communities.
RECOMMENDATIONS
As is in our letter of November 1, 2006, we offer and insist on more recommendations.
People who are sick and/or have lost family should be made part of an extensive interviewing process. Respectfully, civil servants, committee members, and M.P.’s have absolutely no conception of what our families have gone through. Our histories have to be made a part of Canadian history.
We insist DND immediately be removed from the role of investigator and that all files, documents, and reports be handed over to a non-biased third party for their investigation and scientific analysis. That all files of Jacques-Whitford and Cantox Environmental, in relation to their reports filed with the Base Gagetown and Area Fact-Finders’ Project (BGAFFP), be subpoenaed and submitted to a judicial and independent scientific review.
That a non-biased third party is a firm or group with no ties or reporting to government departments such as DND, DVA, Environment Canada or Health Canada and one that has no ties to the chemical industry as does Cantox Environmental.
We insist that large areas of CFB Gagetown be re-tested for dioxin and hexachlorobenzene since it was not done correctly or fully the first time. We recommend Hatfield Consultants, which has expert knowledge of dioxins in the soil and food chain. Their five-year analysis of the contamination of the soils and food chain in Vietnam make them Canadian experts who are not in a conflict of interest, such as DND. We further insist that extensive soil testing of the Oromocto PMQ’s streets, playgrounds and common area fields be commenced for the existence of dioxin and hexachlorobenzene. We also insist on civilian housing areas in Oromocto to also be tested.
Extensive soil testing of the farms from Burton to Jemseg (a distance of 29 kilometres) on the opposite side of the St. John River must be commenced. This is the site of the 1964 spraying accident, which destroyed all the farm crops in this vast area. DND paid a quarter of a million dollars compensation to the farmers in the summer of 1964. (We have the Daily Gleaner from August 8, 1964) which not only confirms the accident and compensation, but also quotes DND officers stating that crop damage complaints were made each year and compensation had been paid each year.
From our extensive research on spray drift, we have information that as much as 10% of these toxicants drifted over the PMQ’s and surrounding communities. Information gained through the FOI Act gave us weather information, rainfall, temperatures and wind conditions for the CFB training area and the town of Oromocto from the mid-fifties to present with a day-by-day history.
We know the wind conditions on any given day.
Over ONE BILLION grams being sprayed over a 28-year period lacks due diligence and a duty of care, but also allegedly constitutes criminal negligence causing bodily harm and death, as we now know that human health concerns were covered up deliberately.
We insist a public judicial inquiry be commenced to find the truth about the wide-ranging use of millions of litres and hundreds of millions of grams of the carcinogens 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, dioxin, picloram and hexachlorobenzene sprayed not only on the training area of CFB Gagetown but on surrounding communities.
A public inquiry is the only way to find the truth denied for more than fifty years.
Yours truly,
Kenneth Dobbie
President
The Agent Orange Association of Canada
7 Rose Abbey Drive
Kingston, ON, K7K 6W1
