Open Letter to the PM of Canada Reference Gagetown

Gagetown’s defoliation program started six years before the Vietnam war.

Children in Vietnam in a hospital for Agent Orange victims. From the report Victims of Victims by Salem-News.com writer Chuck Palazzo in Da Nang, Vietnam.

(NANAIMO, B.C.) - This is an open letter to the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, in regard to Gagetown.

From: Cpl. Kenneth H. Young CD (ret) [mailto:Kentar@telus.net]
Sent: August-20-11 6:55 AM
Subject: Open letter to the PM of Canada reference Gagetown.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

During my recent trip to Vietnam for the Second International Conference of Victims of Agent Orange and my subsequent guided tour of Vietnam’s children's survivors clinics and help centers provided by, “The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (vava),” as well as many of the sites still very contaminated, we were accompanied by the countries top dioxin specialist and chemist. He was very forthcoming and was more then happy and without any reservations answered all of our questions.

One of the topics which I brought up was depth where dioxin can be found. According to their expert chemists who have been studying the dioxin question for decades, dioxin can and is found to a depth of over two meters in sandy loam soils and to a depth of over one meter in clay. We were further told that the highest concentrations of dioxin were found at a depth of 40 to 60 centimetres in sandy loam soil and 20 to 30 centimeters in clay. This would seem to indicate that the Base Gagetown and Area Fact Finding Project (BGAFFP) and its soil samplings taken at a depth of 0 to 10 centimeters, would not have returned a true or accurate results for dioxin contamination.

Gagetown’s defoliation program started six years before the Vietnam war and finished long after and therefore the chemicals have had even more time to wander vertically and in other cases like the Murphy Bivouac, horizontally. This would in my opinion render all results as to dioxin content still remaining given by the BGAFFP as false, misleading and potentially dangerous to Canadian Military still training in these contaminated areas.

We further were informed that only the top two centimeters of soil had a half life of 4 to 6 years and that anything past that depth had a half life of 80 years or more and in some locations they do not expect the soils to return to normal for more then 100,000 years, unless the soil is manually removed and decontaminated. I can also assure you that dioxin does not evaporate in a hour, in sun light as we were told by the industry because in De Nang and Bien Hoa Airports it is still laying on top of the ground and just as deadly, after 30 years.

I am writing this in the hopes that this was just an oversight or lack of knowledge on the part of the Government of Canada and that the BGAFFP was not in fact (as many suspect) an attempt to cover-up the Gagetown Agent Orange (Rainbow Chemicals) issue with misleading, incomplete and inaccurate results. I believe that this new information will and should necessitate a further investigation as well as a proper and more accurate testing of the soil to the proper depths in CFB Gagetown.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Kenneth H. Young CD

PS: I was asked by Vietnamese officials why Canada wasn’t doing any research into TCDD Dioxin, HCB and its effects on the Canadian soldiers (survivors of CFB Gagetown). I am sorry to say that I had no answer for them because frankly I have the same question.

Canadian Veterans Advocacy
V.E.T.S.
Agent Orange Association of Canada

3205 Telescope Terrace
Nanaimo, BC V9T-3V4

Kentar@telus.net
250-758-8837

http://www.agentorangecanada.com/
http://www.agentorangealert.com/
http://www.ombudsman-veterans.gc.ca/blog-blogue/blog-blogue-eng.cfm
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/group.php?gid=100306030029293
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/pages/VETS-Canada/184476398256008

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