Download PDF of this full issue: v11n3.pdf (8.2 MB)

Agent Orange Shorts

By VVAW

(VVAW wants to continue a column of short informational items concerning Agent Orange; we invite individuals or groups to send us information)

"Babies Are Replaceable"

Of 12 pregnancies in Ashford, Washington, in the past year, there were 9 miscarriages, one stillborn, and one baby born with a rare heart defect—that baby died shortly after birth. During the year, Weyerhaeuser, involved in timbering in the area, sprayed 2, 4-D over a large area just outside Ashford 15 times.

In response to charges that 2, 4-D spraying has caused the unusual rate of miscarriages, a company chemist, Dr Illo Gauditz told a local environmental group that "Babies are replaceable." The good doctor also suggested that women plan their pregnancies around the spray schedules.

(From the "Agent Orange Newsletter," 944 Market St Room 500, San Francisco, CA 94102)

BEWARE! CONGRESS AND VETS

During the war in Indochina, Congressional conservatives used to chant, "Support our boys in Vietnam," and then raise the allocations for aid to the Saigon government and to buy more weapons for the Pentagon. The war was "noble" and all the liberals and peaceniks were "un-American."

It's now several years later and "the boys" have come home. The same conservatives who sent billions off for killing unanimously voted in the Senate to cut $300 million from the VA budget. Yes, all those patriotic senators—Thurmond, Goldwater, and much of the rest of the Republican-dominated Senate voted to cut the VA budget. If it wasn't for the House and particularly groups like the Congressional Black Caucus and former antiwar Congressmen, the Vets Outreach Centers would have ended the VA Budget would have been slashed.

The fact is that those who were so determined to win the war in Vietnam will pour billions into defense and not one cent for veterans. As Kipling said more than 100 years ago:

"For it's Tommy this, an'Tommy that, an' chuck him out, the brute!

But it's 'Savior of ' is country,' when the guns begin to shoot.

Yes, it's Tommy this, an'Tommy that, an' anything you please;

But Tommy ain't a blommin' fool,

—you bet that Tommy sees!"

And so do we!

AGENT ORANGE SPILL INTO MISSISSIPPI

Hundreds of fish in the Mississippi River near Burlington, Iowa, have been killed and contaminated as a result of illegal spraying of 2,4,5-T, the active ingredient in Agent Orange. 80 gallons of 2,4,5-T were sprayed by plane over an 80 acre field to control brush near the town of Ellison Creek in Illinois. Though the spraying was four miles from the River, rains washed the run-off into the Mississippi.

Officials are urging people to discard suspicious-looking fish caught in the area; the fish show signs of chemical burns. The illegal poisoning took place during the area's busiest catfish season. Authorities, however, were quick to claim that there has been no effect on the drinking water.

Wisconsin governor's Move to Vet Agent Orange ID Program Stopped!

Governor Lee Drefus of Wisconsin moved recently to veto the Agent Orange Identification Program for Vietnam Vets. The main focus of the program is a 55,000 person mailing to Vietnam vets who may have had contact with Agent Orange.

Drefus' announcement brought a storm of protest from Vietnam vets groups in Wisconsin—and the governor backed down. Spokespersons for the vets groups are now pushing for a face-to-face meeting with the governor. According to Agent Orange activists, the governor wants to veto the program for economic reasons in spite of a large response, 67% of whom report children with birth defects and other Agent Orange related health problems.

Wisconsin Anti-Pesticide Coalition Make Gains

The Wisconsin Coalition Against Misuse of Pesticides, a broad coalition which includes Vietnam Vets groups, Agent Orange International, Disabled American Veterans, Friends of the Earth, migrant Workers Union, and Wisconsin BeeKeepers, has successfully pressured the Wisconsin State government to change codes regulating pesticides and their use. The group of organizations are now working towards a total ban on 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T (both components of Agent Orange) and organic phosphates.

Open-air biological warfare tests were conducted by the Army in 1952 at Ft McClellan, Al according to recently declassified documents. This same year pneumonia cases in the surrounding country rose by 240% with a total of 29 deaths. Bacteria used in the tests were capable of causing pneumonia. The Army contends that any relationship between the illnesses of the 12 or more tests was "purely coincidental."

Civilians in Vietnam and Agent Orange.

While veterans affected by Agent Orange in Vietnam have joined together to file a class-action lawsuit against the Chemical companies, the some 5000 civilians who were in Vietnam during the same period are not parties to the suit. Red Cross nurses, missionaries, USO personnel and government contractors all faced the chemical defoliant while the Vietnam but because of various legal complexities may find it difficult to get compensation.