As we see from IG Blog #1, Dr. Alvin Young’s report of the allegations of our Panama veterans have all been proven to the VA to be true. But the VA tells our Veterans that there is no evidence. The VA is simply trampling on the Panama veterans Constitutional Due Process. The VA is not looking at the evidence the veterans present.
And the final Allegation 5. The Agent Orange drums and remaining residues were disposed of by burial.
That is exactly what happened to all barrels. It was too expensive to send them back and then also to have them decontaminated. The Technical Manual used by all military branches which was found in Alvin Young’s own online archives on page 6 of this 1970 manual used by all branches of services says to bury the empty herbicide containers:
“Dispose of empty containers by burying them at least 18 inches deep in an isolated area away from water supplies or high water tables” See page 6. This is part of Alvin Young’s own collection. Surely, he should know the truth!
So in 1970 the manual used by all branches of the military, located in Alvin Young’s own archives, says exactly what some of our veterans had claimed, yet several decades later Dr. Alvin Young claims:
Because the tactical herbicides were not registered nor marked with approved USDA labels, any remaining tactical herbicides had to be returned in drums to the Army Chemical Corps Laboratories at Fort Detrick, Maryland following the completion of field tests. Empty drums were not permitted to be left at the test sites. Therefore, there were no Agent Orange drums or any remaining Agent Orange residues buried in Panama or the Canal Zone.
THEN HOW DID THESE AO BARRELS GET LEFT BEHIND?
Spring 2020 How does this happen?
Dr. Young claims the sources used in the search for documentation involving any possible use of Agent Orange in the Canal Zone and Panama included The Department of Army Chemical Corps Records from Fort Detrick, Maryland; The United States Armed Services Center for Unit Records Research, Springfield, Virginia; National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The Agent Orange Collection at the National Agricultural Library, Bethesda, Maryland; and, The Armed Forces Pest Management Board Literature Retrieval System, US Army Garrison – Forest Glen, Silver Spring, Maryland.
And yet, his own 1978 report claims the Rainbows were shipped as shown on the FCPC throughout the decades and the FCPC shows it is as shipped on the FT410 U.S. Commerce Records, and the FT 410 shows the exact same item 2,4-D & 2,4,5-T, aka Purple or Orange going to Vietnam and Panama on the same document. Please watch the video below and you be the judge.
So by filing a Request for an IG Investigation, nothing much happened. Senator Tester’s office did not help Panama. Dr. Jeanne Stellman told me what was shipped on the FT410 was not the same as went to Vietnam, but that is not what the U.S. Census Notes tell us and the FCPC and Dr. Young’s 1978 report.
Panama veterans were exposed to dioxin and many, many other FOREVER chemicals, millions of pounds of herbicides called N.E.C., which stands for Not Elsewhere Classified were shipped/stored and used in Panama. See U.S. Shipments 1958-1977 below. We have a right to know why we are all sick. We ask for help from the Veterans Administration, only to be denied. They claim, as Dr. Young claims, they have searched high and low and cannot find any evidence, when we given them the shipping records showing this item was present with us in the Canal Zone, and the evidence is COMPLETELY IGNORED to the detriment of the Panama veteran’s rights to be heard.