
Agent Orange testimony rivets MPs CBC \|\| November 20, 2005 Veterans and civilians exposed to toxic defoliants at a New Brunswick military base kept the House of Commons defence committee sitting late Thursday night as they took turns blasting the investigations set up to help them. The New Brunswickers were testifying about lingering health problems they say were caused by exposure to Agent Orange, Agent Purple and other defoliants sprayed at Base Gagetown beginning in the 1950s. "As a result of my poisoning, I have diabetes, chronic pancreatitis, liver disease and brain atrophy, among other diseases," said Ken Dobbie, who had a summer job cutting brush at the base near Fredericton as a teen. The Canadian military agreed to help test the defoliants on behalf of the U.S. military, which later sprayed the chemicals to strip leaves from trees in Vietnam. Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com The investigations being directed by a handful of government departments could take 18 months. Pace of investigation, compensation criticized The witnesses told the committee the whole process lacks credibility, including a compensation process they say is too restrictive. For example, out of 191 cases reviewed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, only four people have been compensated so far. "The DVA has made it next to impossible for any claim," said Wayne Cardinal, whose Black Watch regiment was hardest hit by the effects of the chemicals. Gloria Sellars is the widow of a brigadier-general who died from complications from Agent Orange exposure at Gagetown. He was the first person in Canada to be compensated. She told the committee the investigation is holding up compensation for soldiers who served under her husband, along with many others. "These soldiers are the remnants, they truly are," she said. "They're desperate. They're dying." MP intends to call for inquiry John Chisholm, a soldier at Gagetown in the 1960s, recalls coming home doused in defoliating chemicals on a regular basis. His first wife, who used to wash his clothing every night, later died a horrible death of cancer, he told the committee in emotional testimony. "When you see the people that we see and we know, and you see the condition their bodies are in today, after being in that area, it's absolutely horrifying," said Chisholm. "I've got a friend that's sitting out there in Vancouver, out there on Victoria Island, with half his guts sitting in a bag on the side of his hip. And he was with me." Testimony like Chisholm's left members of the parliamentary defence committee shocked. One of them, NDP MP Bill Blaikie, says he will fight to force the government to call an inquiry into the way the case has been handled over the decades. About KDR \| \| Home \| \| Weekly Features Archive	Weekly Weekly Features Archive
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Agent Orange testimony rivets MPs

CBC || November 20, 2005

Veterans and civilians exposed to toxic defoliants at a New Brunswick military base kept the House of Commons defence committee sitting late Thursday night as they took turns blasting the investigations set up to help them.

The New Brunswickers were testifying about lingering health problems they say were caused by exposure to Agent Orange, Agent Purple and other defoliants sprayed at Base Gagetown beginning in the 1950s.

"As a result of my poisoning, I have diabetes, chronic pancreatitis, liver disease and brain atrophy, among other diseases," said Ken Dobbie, who had a summer job cutting brush at the base near Fredericton as a teen.

The Canadian military agreed to help test the defoliants on behalf of the U.S. military, which later sprayed the chemicals to strip leaves from trees in Vietnam.

Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com

The investigations being directed by a handful of government departments could take 18 months.

Pace of investigation, compensation criticized

The witnesses told the committee the whole process lacks credibility, including a compensation process they say is too restrictive.

For example, out of 191 cases reviewed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, only four people have been compensated so far.

"The DVA has made it next to impossible for any claim," said Wayne Cardinal, whose Black Watch regiment was hardest hit by the effects of the chemicals.

Gloria Sellars is the widow of a brigadier-general who died from complications from Agent Orange exposure at Gagetown. He was the first person in Canada to be compensated.

She told the committee the investigation is holding up compensation for soldiers who served under her husband, along with many others.

"These soldiers are the remnants, they truly are," she said. "They're desperate. They're dying."

MP intends to call for inquiry

John Chisholm, a soldier at Gagetown in the 1960s, recalls coming home doused in defoliating chemicals on a regular basis.

His first wife, who used to wash his clothing every night, later died a horrible death of cancer, he told the committee in emotional testimony.

"When you see the people that we see and we know, and you see the condition their bodies are in today, after being in that area, it's absolutely horrifying," said Chisholm.

"I've got a friend that's sitting out there in Vancouver, out there on Victoria Island, with half his guts sitting in a bag on the side of his hip. And he was with me."

Testimony like Chisholm's left members of the parliamentary defence committee shocked.

One of them, NDP MP Bill Blaikie, says he will fight to force the government to call an inquiry into the way the case has been handled over the decades.

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