A state commission is calling on the federal government to help members of the National Guard exposed to toxic chemicals while training at a military support base in Gagetown, New Brunswick.
The 10-member Gagetown Harmful Chemical Study Commission, recently charged with submitting a report to the Maine Legislature regarding the effects of these chemicals on reservists, completed a four-recommendation draft report in December.
The work of the commission, established under a recent law sponsored by Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, addresses the claims of hundreds of guardsmen and women over the years who said they suffered illness and death from repeated exposure to chemicals like Agent Orange at the Canadian base.
Since 1971, the U.S. Army National Guard has been conducting combat training on 83-acres at Gagetown. But because the United States military tested tactical herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple at Gagetown in the late 1960’s, it was particularly dangerous for the women and men training, camping and sleeping on that land, according to scientists.
The U.S. Army continues to train at Gagetown, according to the US Department of Defense.
During the Dec. 14 meeting, commissioners agreed that the final report include information they received from scientists about the enduring toxicity of dioxins sprayed on the grounds where reservists train.
In the draft report, the Commission made four recommendations including:
- The United States Department of Veterans Affairs provide access to medical care and assistance for members of the National Guard who trained at 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown and have been diagnosed with a condition or illness associated with exposure to tactical herbicides or exposure to other dioxins;
- The Veterans and Legal Affairs committee should invite experts to review and discuss the existing reports and underlying data to evaluate the report’s processes, methods, data and analysis and to determine what steps and resources would be required to either reanalyze the existing data or to conduct new studies.
- The Maine Department of Veterans Affairs and Emergency Management, Bureau of Veterans’ Services should reestablish and expand the registry of individuals who served or serve in the Maine National Guard and who have trained at the Gagetown base.
- The Legislature should reestablish the Gagetown Harmful Chemical Study Commission, providing more time for commissioners to review materials and speak with experts so they can develop more concrete recommendations.
Agent Orange is a blend of herbicides the United States military sprayed during the Vietnam War to remove dense tropical foliage where enemies hid. It contains a combination of harmful chemicals including tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, the most toxic of the dioxins identified as a human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the commission draft report.
Several commission members detailed their own serious illnesses and unexplained deaths of fellow reservists after time spent at Gagetown and they spoke of witnessing large dead animals, dead foliage and yellow-colored water while training at Gagetown.
Some said the effects are still showing up today and others, family members of reservists, talked about a loved one’s premature death because of exposure to the chemicals.
Maine reservists have been trying to file medical and disability claims for illnesses like cancer from exposure to toxic defoliants while training at the Canadian base. But these attempts have been unsuccessful, according to commission member Jim Gehring of Bridgewater.
“There never was an avenue for the guard in Maine to file a claim,” Gehring said during the commission’s first meeting.
“We were told ‘just don’t bother, you will be denied,’” he said.
Chaired by Jackson and Rep. Ron Russell, D-Verona Island, the commission includes veterans who served at Gagetown, representatives of veterans advocacy organizations and family members of reservists who served and have since died.
During the Commission’s Nov. 30 meeting, biochemical engineer Meg Sears, who chairs Prevent Cancer Now, a Canadian non-profit focused on eliminating preventable contributors to cancer, said that earlier fact-finding studies on the toxicity of the ground and waters at Gagetown were scientifically faulty and manipulative.
In particular, Sears was referring to the Canadian Forces Base Gagetown Herbicide Spray Program 1952-2004 Fact-Finders’ Report, 32.
Sears told the commission that dioxins accumulate in fatty tissue but when scientists conducted the study, they removed the fat layer from fish samples before being tested for dioxin levels, resulting in inaccurate results.
During the Dec. 14 meeting, Commissioners asked that more of Sears’ information be included in the final report, including that the effects of dioxin can remain in the environment for 100 years.
The draft report will be finalized this month, taking into account the commission’s additional recommendations from the December meeting. The final report will be presented to the Joint Standing Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs, according to Rachel Olson, an analyst in the Legislature’s Office of Policy and Legal Analysis.
