Thu 24 Nov 2005
The Chatham Daily News
Agent Orange also hits civilians: Class-action lawsuit grows as word spreads
by Grant LaFleche
THOROLD -- Like all tall tales, it grew in the telling. A story about
a dangerous chemical that makes Vietnam War veterans sick sprayed
over a Canadian army base some 40 years ago.
For decades, it was regarded as a myth among Canadian soldiers, who
knew only a skeletal outline of the story of Agent Orange being
sprayed at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.
But in dark tales of soldiers being used as unwitting lab rats were
bits of truth.
They might not have passed from myth to fact and become national news
were it not for a single dead soldier and a Kingston man with a
shrinking brain.
That Agent Orange and other herbicides containing chemicals toxic to
humans were used to clear dense forest at Gagetown was never an
official secret. It just wasn't well known. And those who did know
about it weren't talking. But in Kingston, there was one man who was.
Gordon Sellar was a retired brigadier general who commanded more than
1,000 soldiers at Gagetown in the 1960s.
He would later develop chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which he claimed
was caused by Agent Orange. He applied for compensation through
Veterans Affairs Canada.
In 2004, the federal government acknowledged the spraying of Agent
Orange had led to Sellar's illness and awarded his compensation.
Sellar died two weeks later.
It was the first domino to fall. Sellar's victory brought the issue
out in the open to the general public for the first time.
As Sellar pursued the government to accept his application, another
Kingston man had become convinced his three-decades struggle with a
list of health problems was caused by the toxic dioxin found in Agent
Orange.
Ken Dobbie, 57, worked at the CFB Gagetown as a teenager and says he
now gets tested for liver cancer -- one of the cancers associated
with high exposure to dioxin -- every three months.
That would seem like paranoia but for his list of health problems.
Dobbie says he suffers from nine serious illnesses, including
pancreatitis and diabetes. His doctors have told him he has sclerosis
of the liver, even though he doesn't drink. He has growths on his
thyroid.
Most bizarre, the frontal lobes of his brain have atrophied by 30 per
cent, resulting in blackouts, seizures and memory losses. He
sometimes has trouble telling left from right.
"It's scary. I am always in pain," he says. "They told me my brain
had atrophied. I mean, how does that happen? Nobody could understand
what caused this."
Dobbie was hired to work on the base through the Canada Youth Works
Program in 1966.
"There were about 500 kids that were hired altogether," Dobbie says.
"Some of the kids got jobs cutting the extensive lawns on the base,
some got jobs cleaning sewers, some got jobs cleaning the barracks.
"But the main project, the one I was involved in, was cutting and
burning the defoliated brush."
For the 10 years before Dobbie was hired, the military used powerful
herbicides to clear brush. At that time, the herbicide 2,4,5-T, which
can contain dioxin, was used extensively.
When Dobbie was hired to clear away brush killed by the herbicides,
the army was experimenting with Agent Orange, which contained 2,4,5-T.
Dobbie says the work crews were not issued protective gear because no
one knew about the toxins in the herbicides.
"You have to remember it was hot, sweaty, dirty work. We would strip
to the waist. I can remember the brush was sticky to the touch. It
was all dead and the best way I can describe it was that it smelled
metallic."
The crews would even eat lunch where they worked, he said.
As time went by, Dobbie's health slipped away. With each new aliment,
his frustration and that of his doctors grew.
Specialists began to suspect some of his problems were caused by some
kind of chemical exposure, but it wasn't until 1994, when he saw a
toxicologist about his atrophied brain, that he made the connection.
"One of things this doctor has you do is fill out a questionnaire and
one question is, had you ever worked with hazardous chemicals. Right
then, it clicked. Gagetown."
Dobbie has become the public face of those claiming they were harmed
by the spray programs.
He is the lead plaintiff in the class action suit against the
Department of National Defence claiming the use of agents Orange,
Purple and White damaged the health of soldiers, civilians and
surrounding properties.
The lawsuit has not yet been certified, but Dobbie's involvement has
earned him some attention in the national media.
His appearance on Canada A.M. this summer caused other former
Gagetown residents to come forward, including Thorold's Nancy Belfry.
She grew up at CFB Gagetown where her father was stationed in the
1960s and, like Dobbie, has struggled for decades with a strange
array of health problems.
"I really started to connect the dots when I saw Mr. Dobbie on
television," she says. "I thought, is this the cause of it all?"
Belfry's father has steadfastly refused to discuss anything about
Agent Orange, with the media or his daughter.
After hearing Dobbie's story, she turned to John Maloney, the MP for
Welland, for answers.
The first response was an e-mail from Maloney's assistant, who wanted
to give Belfry "some peace of mind" and assured her that agents
Purple and Orange were only tested in 1966 and 1967 and never on
humans.
Belfry, aware the Gagetown spray program dated back to 1956, was angry.
A later letter from Maloney himself, urging Belfry to have her father
provide information to a government fact finding mission in Gagetown,
didn't help.
"I just felt like, where is my government? Where were they in 1960,
'70, '80?," she says.
"They could have said years ago, 'If you lived there or were born
there, please get yourself checked out.' Or they could have said to
my father, 'You know, we did this, get yourself checked out.'
"But they didn't."
Frustrated with the pace at which answers were coming, Belfry signed
onto the class-action suit, joining about 120 others -- former
soldiers, civilian employees and residents of Gagetown.
Tony Merchant, the lawyer bringing the lawsuit forward, says he isn't
waiting for the government's inquiries to finish before going to
court.
"We are going forward as quickly as possible," he says.
Representatives from the Department of National Defence declined to
be interviewed for this story.
Instead, they referred to several documents about Agent Orange and
Gagetown on the Canadian Forces web page.
Those documents say the ongoing probe, which initially was to focus
on the spraying of agents Orange and Purple, has been expanded.
According to publicly released statements, the Defence Department is
looking back at herbicide spraying in Gagetown before 1956.
"It is also committed to identifying and reporting on facts
surrounding the use of all herbicides sprayed at Canadian Forces Base
(CFB) Gagetown from 1952 to present day," said a government news
release.
"This approach is based on historic and scientific research that will
gather a clear and consistent set of facts and allow the Government
of Canada to make responsible decisions on future action."
Testing of the soil at the base will begin shortly to try and find
traces of the defoliants, as will an attempt to track down all
personnel involved in the spray programs.
Belfry, who is waiting to see specialists about her health problems,
says the government needs to find answers quickly.
"Waiting for another attack of pancreatitis isn't fun," she says. "I
don't take summer holidays because I am afraid of what might happen
if I have an attack away from home.
"The bottom line is, I want answers."
