Future U.S. moves on 2,4,5-T unsure

Press, 8 September 1982, Page 17

Future U.S. moves on 2,4,5-T unsure

NZPA staff correspondent Washington

Vietnam veterans will have to wait at least six years for the results of a Government-funded study set up to determine whether exposure to Agent Orange has damaged their health. The veterans’ administration says it will take that long because of delays in the study begun in 1979. The defoliant contained dioxin, a substance widely suspected of causing cancers, liver damage, neurological problems, and malformation of foetuses.

Millions of gallons of Agent Orange were sprayed on Vietnam to destroy crops and strip forest cover.

The American Government has not admitted any veterans’ claims related to Agent Orange, but a jury in Missouri recently awarded SUSSBM to 47 railway workers who cleaned up the

spillage of a chemical which contained only 22 parts per billion of dioxin, and who subsequently complained of serious illnesses. In New Zealand. Vietnam veters have taken test cases to the War Pensions Board. In the United States study, which Congress ordered in 1979, the Government says it has yet to determine which soldiers came into contact with the herbicide. No decision has yet been reached on whether the United States will relax its partial ban on the use of 2,4,5-T. The herbicide is widely used in New Zealand but has been banned for most purposes in the United States, since 1979 after it was suspected of causing miscarriages among women in Oregon.

Inquiries to the Environmental Protection Agency from the beginning of this year have each time brought

the response that a decision is close. Scientists for the association. it seems, are not being told what the decision will be — early indications were that the relaxation would be approved — or when' it will be announced. Congressional elections are coming up in November, and this is the sort of decision likely to be held over so that any protests from environmental groups will be too late to influence them.

The herbicide is not made in the United States. Ivon Watkins Dow (N.Z.). Ltd. is one of only three companies in the world producing it.

Any relaxation of the American ban would open the way for the company to export substantial quantities of 2,4,5-T to the United States.