BANGOR (AP) – Maine National Guard officials are considering their response in the event tests, interviews and documents reveal that Agent Orange was used to clear vegetation from a Canadian military base where Maine soldiers trained.
According to Canada’s Department of Defence, small areas of the 272,000-acre Canadian Forces Base Gagetown were sprayed over seven days in the summers of 1966 and 1967 at the request of the base commander to clear dense vegetation for artillery training.
Agent Orange, which was used to remove jungle cover that hid enemy forces in the Vietnam War, is laden with the highly toxic chemical dioxin and has been linked to cancer, diabetes and birth defects among Vietnamese soldiers, civilians and American veterans.
Units of the Maine National Guard have been training at the Gagetown base near Fredericton, New Brunswick, since 1971. Maine guardsmen completed a two-week session at the facility last week.
If it is determined that training at Gagetown represents a significant risk, all Maine troops who participated in exercises there will be located and contacted, said Maj. Gen. Bill Libby, head of the Maine National Guard and commissioner of the state Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management.
Though it may be months before environmental testing and other investigations into Gagetown’s status are completed, Libby on Tuesday directed his staff to begin the process of locating another training site in case it’s needed.
Libby said his goal is to have key information available on the Maine Guard’s Web site, as well as a central phone number to call.
For now, the investigation continues with tests of soil samples this summer and a review of military records on both sides of the border. Veterans and civilians who may have been directly involved with the spraying operations will be located and interviewed.
When all information has been gathered and analyzed, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will determine what, if any, special benefits may be available.
The use of Agent Orange at Gagetown has been publicly acknowledged in Canada since the early 1980s. But was not widely known on this side of the border. Libby said he first heard of the matter about a week ago.
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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com
AP-ES-06-30-05 0221EDT
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