‘Staggering’ list of deformed children

Press, 29 March 1980, Page 6

‘Staggering’ list of deformed children

NZPA Sydney Between 350 and 400 children of former Australian servicemen in Vietnam have birth defects which include missing fingers, missing limbs, club feet, cleft palates and missing sex organs, according to evidence being compiled by the Vietnam Veterans’ Action Association. The association’s legal adviser, Mr W. McMillan, a Brisbane solicitor, believed this and other evidence gave an overwhelming case for comSensation by the Austraan Government.

This week-end his staff would compile data collected from about 1200 questionnaires filled in. and returned by former Australian servicemen. He said that the number of deformities, especially

multiple deformities, was staggering. “There are 20 children with missing digits, which normally is a rare defect. Six children have an additional finger. “There are two cases, one in New South Wales and one in Queensland, of children born without sex organs, so doctors have to play God and say what sex they are — there are four cases like this in America. “One six-year-old boy in South Australia has no forearms and two fingers attached to the end of his right upper arm, and he has a shortened left leg. “Another boy has a club foot, bilateral dislocated hips, only two fingers on one hand, spastic quadriplegia and total blind* ness,” Mr McMillan said. “We have six kids without rises, so they cannot focus, cases of deafness,

cancer of the internal organs, many children with missing limbs and feet There are up to 160 kids with club feet. “The evidence is horrific,” he said. “It is the sheer volume of the number for one thing. You must stand back to appreciate the enormity of the problem.” The affected children were normally of good intelligence and normal life expectancy, but research in the United States suggested that birth defects could be passed on to future generations.

Mr McMillan said he would consult two Melbourne lawyers next week and legal action against the Australian Government would begin soon. The association was disappointed with the Federal Government’s response to its approaches.