The poisonous legacy of DOW New Zealand

"Let us spray": the poisonous legacy

In 2006, New Zealand's TV3 channel ran 

"Let Us Spray" Streaming Video here

A documentary by Investigative Reporter of the Year Melanie Reid. Reid's film examined the many reported cases of birth defects in New Plymouth and around the country and discovered a doubling of birth defects coincided with the country’s maximum exposure to the 245T dioxin.

Former midwife Hyacinth Henderson, aged 87, says she saw many birth defects when she worked at New Plymouth's Westown Maternity Hospital. 

Between 1965 and 1971 {6 years} she recorded:

167 birth defects out of 5,392 babies born there. {images warning graphic} 

She told the Herald that they had abnormalities she had never seen before and she had been in obstetrics for 40 years.  

"Some of them were horrific ...

There were two anecephalics, which means there is no brain or the brain is sheared off above the eyebrows. There were a large number of bone deformities such as clubbed feet and things like that."

Thanks partly to citizen pressure, a blood study of 24 New Plymouth/Paritutu volunteers was begun by the Ministry of Health in March of 2004. 

The results, released on Sept. 9th of 2004, 

confirmed that Dow is one of the largest historical polluters in New Zealand. 

According to the study:

The dioxin levels detected in Paritutu residents are up to five-fold New Zealand's nation-wide levels, which are themselves second only to South Vietnam.

In what has been described by residents as the "second Vietnam," 

Dow now faces massive future liabilities. "The time has come for the company to deal with the demons of its past" the New Zealand Herald writes in an editorial on the issue, labeling Dow's ethical standards as "lamentable". 

Andrew Gibbs of the Paritutu Dioxin Investigation Network put things a different way: {now CEPRA Chemically Exposed Paritutu Residents Association}

"What we are dealing with is New Zealand's Chernobyl."

original source 

Paritutu: Ivon Watkins Dow (IWD) top official confesses

People in Paritutu, New Plymouth, where for several decades the agrichemical company, Ivon Watkins Dow (IWD) made herbicides 245T and 24D, have long been convinced that their illnesses and those of their children were caused by exposure to dioxin. It's now clear that dioxin-laced Agent Orange was being made at IWD, and worst of all, it's still there.

Former Dow top official confesses Vietnam secret

In 2005 former New Zealand Transport Safety Minister and New Plymouth MP Harry Duynhoven created a sensation by claiming that the Dow plant in New Zealand had made and exported Agent Orange for use in the Vietnam War.  

Duynhoven told the Sunday News he had proof that the products used to make Agent Orange - 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D - were shipped from the Taranaki wharves in the 1960s to the American base at Subic Bay in the Philippines for use in the Vietnam War.  

This contradicted years of denials by Ivon Watkins Dow - now Dow AgroSciences - and confirmed the earlier confession of an anonymous Dow executive. 

In 2000, a former top official at New Plymouth's lvon Watkins Dow chemical factory gave an anonymous interview to Investigate Magazine. 'There have been rumours circulating for some time, never proven, that IWD was supplying the defoliant Agent Orange to be used in the Vietnam War. The allegation is true. I was on the management committee of Ivon Watkins Dow, and I supported the plan to export Agent Orange. In fact, it went ahead on my casting vote.'  

People who'd served in the armed forces made a strong case for the need to defoliate the jungle, because of the risk to servicemen from ambush or sniper fire from the undergrowth. So we began manufacturing this Agent Orange, but it didn't meet the international specifications and probably had an excess of 'nasties' in it. The problem was, we didn't consider the product was harmful to humans at the time.

Our {NZ} scientists relied on assurances and technical data provided to them by Dow Chemicals in the USA. 

We were led to believe it was safe. 

The whole reason I supported Agent Orange is because we thought we were giving our boys on the ground a hand.

(Dow told the US military the same story, having known since 1965 that Agent Orange was lethal.)

"To avoid detection, we shipped the Agent Orange to South America - Mexico if I recall correctly - and it was on-shipped to its final destination from there."

The official, who proved his identity and executive-ranking in documents provided to Investigate, also confirmed the worst fears of residents - part of the town may be sitting on a secret toxic waste dump containing the deadly Vietnam War defoliant Agent Orange. 

He says the company owned a large piece of land 'very close to the chemical plant, which we called "the Experimental Farm". We bulldozed big pits and dumped thousands of tonnes of chemicals there.'

And what did the chemical cocktail include? 

Dioxin.

Dioxin dump: New Zealand

Paritutu, New Zealand: Dow's Vietnam War dioxin dump

original source

Asking MPI the hard questions

Apply the Looking Glass to:
Ministry for Primary Industries 

By Phone: (within New Zealand): 0800 00 83 33
By Phone: (calling from overseas): +64 4 894 0100
Fax: +64 4 894 0720
Email: info@mpi.govt.nz

www: contact-us

Hi everyone could each one of you 

Email: Ministry for Primary Industries  and ask the hard question:

"What specific test are done to detect 'dioxin's' levels in primary product grown in NZ as the country sprayed 20 Million Litres of 2,4,5T over New Zealand  Farming/pastoral grounds. 

As Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer. 

Are you using DR CALUX® for dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs if no what specifically are you using?"

As we know dioxins don't break done.

The more emails they get the more pressure will be to actually test for this specifically and then actual hard data will get on record about what the real levels are in New Zealand

When you get a reply: 

Could you share it with us at dioxinnz forward your replies from them to gary@dioxinnz.com

Hatfield Consultants Useful Dioxin Links

Hatfield Consultants

Useful Agent Orange Websites, Videos, Books, and Studies

During the course of Hatfield’s ongoing Agent Orange/Dioxin studies in Viet Nam, we have come across a variety of useful and informative references. Below, we provide a sample of resources that we have found useful.

• Dioxin NZ Information on Dioxins – New Zealand Chemically Exposed Paritutu Residents Association

We are pleased to report 

Dioxin NZ gets listed as a useful Link  

Listed as:

Dioxin NZ Information on Dioxins – New Zealand Chemically Exposed Paritutu Residents Association

Detailed full Useful List {here}