Request for an investigation into the shipments to Panama, if not the same as used in Vietnam, then what is it?
In 2012 my husband became very ill, we had to retire before we wanted to and I wondered why the heck did he become so ill? I saw a small blurb on FB that Agent Orange was reported to have been in Panama. I thought that was the cause of our illnesses and started researching that day.
I wrote to Hatfield Consultants of Canada who were the ones who found dioxin in Vietnam and thought maybe they knew what I had found shipped to both Vietnam and Panama on the same U.S. Commerce document was one and the same, “Agent Orange.” Dr. Wayne Dwernychuk of Hatfield Consultants wrote me back and wrote a letter in support of my findings, that anywhere 2,4,5-T was used for vegetation, dioxin was present and the veterans were exposed. Exact quote can be found in my book The Travels of Orange.
I wrote the book to educate veterans of the documents I had found to prove that we were exposed to the same chemical. As I was researching for my book, I read many of the hearings and reports written during the battle for benefits by the Vietnam veterans and kept running across report after report written by Alvin Young.
One such report is Agent Orange Investigative Report Series, No. 3, Contract: VA-101-12-C-0006, Investigations Into The Allegations of Agent Orange in the Canal Zone and Panama, Compensation Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, A.L. Young which can be seen below. It turns out Dr. Alvin Young wrote reports for many areas of concern by our veterans. Everything that he has written in these reports for the VA is opposite what he knew of these chemicals in the 1970s.
In 2015, we filed a claim for my husband who was exposed in the Panama Canal Zone 1974-1977. We lived at Fort Davis for three years and were all over the Canal and Panama. But after reading this report and researching for my book, I knew things that he has said in this report are not accurate.
By this time I was working with an attorney’s firm to make an organization called Panama Canal Zone Veterans Association. I asked the attorney what to do about these facts being incorrect. And if not the same item as shipped to Vietnam, then the Panama veterans had a right to know what it was. Maybe it was Agent Purple all those years.
He suggested I file for an IG Investigation asking what these chemicals are if not Agent Orange shipped from 1958 to 1977? So I filed an IG Request for an investigation. Nothing much happened. I did get to speak with Senator Tester’s aide and to Dr. Jeanne Stellman who connects diseases for our Vietnam veterans.
I honestly thought they would help. Instead Senator Tester turned me away when I asked for help for Panama Veterans. Dr. Jeanne Stellman did look over my materials and told me what I had found on the U.S. Commerce records were not the same as used in Vietnam because Agent Orange had n-butyl ester and that n-butyl ester brand was not used anywhere else. If you are following my blog, that doesn’t appear to be true. N-butyl ester was the standard from the beginning and “Agent Orange” was a standard agricultural product.
Check back each week as I blog about this report filed by Alvin Young and why I think such a “living amendable document” should be amended immediately!