BOOKS / STUDIES ||| Dioxins

USEFUL LIST {ORIGINAL SOURCE}

Dioxins and Health (Second Edition). Arnold Schecter and Thomas Gasiewicz (eds). Wiley-Interscience, New Jersey. 2003. ISBN: 0-471-43355-1.

ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry). 1998. Toxicological profile for chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (Update). US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. Atlanta, Georgia. 678 p. with appendices.

ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry). 1997. Interim Policy Guideline: Dioxin and Dioxin-like compounds in soil. US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. Atlanta, Georgia.

Dioxins and Health. Arnold Schecter (ed.). New York, NY: Plenum Press, 1994. ISBN: 0-306-44785-1.

Dioxin and its Analogues, Joint Report No. 4. Academie Des Sciences – CADAS. Paris: Technique & Documentation – Lavoisier, 1995. ISBN: 2-7430-0020-1.

Harvest of Death. J.B. Neilands, G.H. Orians, E.W. Pfeiffer, A. Vennema, and A.H. Westing. New York, NY: The Free Press, 1972. Library of Congress Number: 72-143521.

Herbicidal Warfare: The RANCH HAND Project in Vietnam. Paul F. Cecil. New York, NY: Praeger Publishers, 1986. ISBN: 0-275-92007-0.

My Father, My Son. E. Zumwalt Jr., E. Zumwalt III, and J. Pekkanen. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1986. ISBN: 0-02-633630-8.

The Wages of War: When American Soldiers Came Home – From Valley Forge to Vietnam. R. Severo and L. Milford. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1989. ISBN: 0-671-54325-3.

The Withering Rain. Thomas Whiteside. New York, NY: E.P. Dutton & Co. Inc., 1971. Library of Congress Number: 77-148477.

After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Viet Nam. Ronald H. Spector. The Free Press, New York. 1993. ISBN: 0-02-930380-X

In Retrospect – The Tragedy and Lessons of Viet Nam. Robert S. McNamara. Random House, New York. 1995. ISBN: 0-8129-2523-8.

Veterans and Agent Orange. Committee to Review the Health Effects in Viet Nam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides, Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Institute of Medicine. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, ISBN: 0-309-04887-7. 1996 Update: ISBN: 0-309-05487-7. 1998 Update: ISBN: 0-309-06326-4. 2000 Update: ISBN: 0-309-07552-1.

VIETNAM: A History. Stanley Karnow. New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1983. ISBN: 0-670-74604-5.

Hamburger Hill. Samuel Zaffiri. Presido Press, Norato, Ca. 1988. New edition printed 2000. ISBN: 0-89141-289-1.

Herbicides in War – The Long-term Ecological and Human Consequences. A.H. Westing (ed.). Taylor and Francis, Philadelphia. 1984. ISBN: 0-85066-265-6.

WHO/EURO. 1998a. WHO Revises the Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) for dioxins. World Health Organization European Centre for Environment and Health; International Programme on Chemical Safety. Organohalogen Compounds 38: 295-298.

WHO/EURO. 1998b. Assessment of the Health Risk of Dioxins: Re-evaluation of the Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI).

World Health Organization, European Centre for Environment and Health; International Programme on Chemical Safety. WHO Consultation, May 25-29, 1998, Geneva, Switzerland.

WHO/EURO. 1991. Consultation on Tolerable Daily Intake from Food of PCDDs and PCDFs, Bilthoven, Netherlands, 4-7 December 1990. Region Office for Europe Summary Report. EUR/ICP/PCS 030(S)0369n. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen.

WHO/EURO. 1989. Levels of PCBs, PCDDS and PCDFs in Breast Milk: Results of WHO-coordinated interlaboratory quality control studies and analytical field studies (Yrjanhaiki, EJ, ed). Environmental Health Series Report #34. Copenhagen: World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.

1988. PCBs, PCDDs and PCDFs in Breast Milk: Assessment of health risks (Grandjean, P et al., eds.). Environmental Health Series Report #29. Copenhagen: World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.

Australian Vietnam Veterans Study. This 1997 study of 50,000 Australian Viet Nam veterans entitled “Mortality of Vietnam Veterans: The Veteran Cohort Study” found that the death rate among veterans between 1980 and 1994 was some seven percent higher than for the overall male population. In addition, the study found that the death rate from cancer was about 20 percent above average, and that veterans may face an increased risk of death by suicide. The Australian government received this information seriously since it has been documented that those individuals who were in Viet Nam had successfully passed rigid medical examinations and were therefore considered “healthy”; those with congenital medical issues were rejected as conscripts. The report is available from:

Commonwealth Department of Veterans’ Affairs
PO Box 21
Canberra, ACT 2601
AUSTRALIA

Lethal Legacy

CL-issue-80

Written by Liz Campbell

New Zealand Features writer Elizabeth Campbell gives a personal perspective on the effects of dioxin pollution on residents of Paritutu in idyllic Taranaki. 

Driving along the scene-stealing coastal road of New Zealands, New Plymouth Back-Beach, you’d never know that a silent killer permeated the air and soil between the mid to late 60s until the late 80s, leaving a lethal legacy for generations to come. 

Locals will tell you that in some areas every household has been affected; but for years, despite the mounting weight of evidence, health authorities vehemently denied there was a problem. That is until recently, when the New Zealand Government finally admitted there was a problem. Moves have now been taken to assist the families who are dealing with health problems spanning, in some cases, four generations. But is it too little too late? A recent visit home, which should have been joyful and fun, turned into a dreadful reminder of a situation I have tried not to think about over the years, but now realise this story must be told as often as possible to honour those whose suffering has been hidden, and in the hope that it will reduce the chances of it happening again, somewhere else. 

During this trip I caught up with three women I had gone to high school with. As the four of us sat down to chat we did the usual, “and what’s so and so doing?” only to find that a large percentage of our peers, including one of us, were either dead, had lost babies, their babies were born with birth defects, or they had some serious health problem. So how did this all come about?

The lucky generation? 

We were part of the lucky generation where anything seemed possible, and the only spectre on our horizon was the Vietnam War, and as we were all at high school it was not really a personal issue unless a member of our family was over there. Or so we thought. 

We lived in the suburb of Paritutu, in New Plymouth, Taranaki; an idyllic place that offered great surf beaches and a magnificent mountain at our back door. It was a fantastic place to grow up, and we made the most of it. We swam and surfed at Back Beach on our rugged West Coast, it was our favourite hang out after school. We weren’t concerned about the slimy orange outfall from the once beautiful Herekawe Stream, and didn’t think too much about it other than to miss the whitebait we used to catch. There was the smell from the chemical factory across the road, but we were used to that, as many of us lived in the environs of the plant. 

This company manufactured 245T and 24D, chemicals that were used extensively throughout New Zealand to clear gorse. A by-product of these chemicals is Dioxin, one of the most toxic substances on the planet. Dioxin is so toxic, levels are measured in parts per trillion. 

During the Vietnam War we were led to believe they were shipping these chemicals, the constituents of Agent Orange, to Vietnam, and although the Government of New Zealand and the chemical plant denied for many years that Agent Orange was manufactured at this plant, it was common knowledge they were producing defoliant of which the components were made in New Plymouth and mixed together in Vietnam. 

These days we would be aware of the signs to raise concern, but at that time we had no terms of reference to warn us of the danger. Several times a week we would arrive home from school to be assailed by the chemical stench. This smell permeated everything; washing on the line, our skin, and it even rotted curtains hanging in our homes. One of the most memorable signs for me was the masses of foam coming from the Herekawe Stream after a high tide or storms. This foam floated around the streets in great clouds, like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, and children played in it thinking it was bubble bath. When this foam landed on the lawn it left brown dead grass and at times it even damaged the paint on cars. It has always astonished me that the foam is seldom mentioned in articles about the contamination. 

Our parents trusted the government, trusted the scientists, believed that the Americans were the good guys, and didn’t question. They were proud of our city’s part in the war effort, after all the chemicals just took the leaves off the trees so that our troops could see the enemy; we had no idea of the devastating effect Dioxin would have on the Vietnamese, our returning servicemen and ourselves. It is a reflection of the times. We were naive about international politics and people took things very much on face value. 

My first memory that something was wrong was when the Carnation Flower Farm at the end of our road suddenly lost all their plant stock. The owner started asking difficult questions, denials were made and we were reassured that there wasn’t a problem. In later years this family has been seriously affected by health problems common to those who worked at the plant and the other businesses nearby. 

Birth defects 

I moved away from the area and didn’t think anything about it again until my best friend from high school lost a baby to cancer. She’d had twins; one of whom died shortly after birth, her poor little body devastated by cancer before she had even drawn breath. I was later to learn that there were eight pairs of twins born over a two month period in the region, and my friends surviving daughter was the only one of those 16 babies to live. It was postulated that it might have something to do with spraying along the coast. 

Soon stories started to circulate about all the birth defects. In the late 60s a matron at the maternity hospital was deeply concerned about the increase of babies being born in Taranaki with horrific birth defects. She documented these instances and presented six years of data to the health authorities. The response was a denial, it was unlikely there was a problem in the area, and the information forwarded was more likely to be due to her meticulous record-keeping. Nothing was done! 

There were reports of illegal dumping of waste from the plant in or close to residential areas. There were continual cases of birth defects with apparent links to spraying of 245T and 24D. Yet regardless of signs to the contrary both the Company and the health authorities continued to deny there was the slightest possibility of a problem

Then we began to notice that many of the people we knew were sick, with symptoms similar to those who had returned from Vietnam. There were clusters of cancer and leukaemia in the area and at times it seemed that there was someone seriously ill in every family, especially those homes that were in the path of the westerly winds. Many of the men who worked in the plant and their families were by now experiencing affects of exposure to Dioxin that was crossing generations. Still the Government was in denial.

When I returned to New Zealand in the late 90s I discovered the Department of Health was testing past residents for Dioxin levels, but as a lot of us were no longer living in Taranaki, or even New Zealand for that matter, it was difficult to see how any data resulting from these tests could be conclusive unless a concerted effort was made to trace former residents and test them, and of course what about those who were already dead? Also not all those who applied were accepted for the trials, my friend and a neighbour who had lost babies were among those who applied but were not chosen to be tested.

Two years ago my friend sent me an email to tell me she had Bowel Cancer, we talked about our days at Back Beach; the smell, the foam, stealing fresh peas and tomatoes from both our father’s gardens and eating them in the sun as the westerly winds blew the cloud of toxins from the chemical plant overhead. We talked about real estate values plummeting and people having to declare the Dioxin levels in the soil before selling their homes and then we talked about the dead and the dying.

She told me a Group had been set up to fight for help for the families worst affected (Chemically Exposed Paritutu Residents Association. CEPRA), run by people who had the courage to stand up and face the overwhelming machine of denial, one of whom was her cousin who had worked at the site and was now crippled with MS. I contacted that Group and discovered things that broke my heart about people I grew up with or knew.

Let us spray

view here

In late 2007, New Zealand’s TV3 channel put to air a documentary titled “Let Us Spray” by award winning journalist Melanie Reid; I was back in Perth but thanks to the wonders of the internet was able to watch it online. What I saw left me enraged and stunned at the complicity between the chemical plant and the New Zealand Government to cover up this issue. The documentary clearly shows that all were aware that Dioxin would cause severe systemic problems as shown by an internal memo and yet they continued to produce these chemicals, with a Government subsidy into the late 80s

  “This material is exceptionally toxic; it has tremendous potential for producing Chloracne and systemic injury…
…I am particularly concerned with persons using the material on a daily repeated basis…”
Dow US Internal Memo 1965 "  

The documentary team also discovered that the findings of The Ministry of Health Report on Dioxin poisoning were seriously flawed when they had the results checked by a forensic accountant. The re-calibrated results showed that instead of the Dioxin levels of Paritutu residents being 4 times the national average, as indicated by the report, they were in fact closer to 7 times the national average.

It is not within the scope of this article to go into the complexity of this information, but I recommend anyone who has lived in the area or lives in areas with Dioxin contamination, to view the documentary.

I suggested to my friend that she write her story and that of those she knew, but she no longer had the energy or the emotional strength to do so. At the time of writing she was sitting in Palmerston North receiving radiation treatment and there were four others with her who had lived in Paritutu

So I am writing my version of the story, my friend’s would have been more powerful as she has lived in the area all her life and remembers those who have gone and their stories.

Researching this has been a sobering exercise because the people involved are not strangers in a news item; they are friends and acquaintances from my youth. I opened one article to discover the story of a woman I had worked with and who was my mentor and friend when I was in my 20s. She lived in the path of the westerly winds and her husband, a strapping wharfie, wasted away from a rare form of cancer. This lovely woman is experiencing nerve damage to her legs and is fearfully asking whether there is Dioxin in her system, and what effect this will have on her great grandchildren. 

The people of Paritutu have been marginalised and vilified by health authorities and the local media for years. 

Those I have spoken to don’t want massive compensation payments, they just want recognition of their plight, and for someone to stand up and admit that they knew the risks to public health but continued to produce this deadly chemical in our backyard even after the rest of the world banned it. They want to know that their health needs will be taken care of, and be reassured that their descendants will be looked after and won’t have to fight for recognition. 

This situation is not unique, it happens all over the world in one form or another. How long will our governments protect multinational companies who disregard public safety? How long will people be left to struggle with the effects of corporate irresponsibility? How long before there will be accountability? 

The message is loud and clear. We cannot rely on governments to do the right thing, they have been known to put the economy before public health, and we certainly can’t depend on the multinationals to care about our health. So when they come riding into your town promising jobs and prosperity to the community, remember the people of Paritutu; look closer and speak out when you see the risks or if all else fails, move to somewhere else. 

Original Source: 

About the author: 

Elizabeth Campbell is the Director of Online Media at Conscious Living and in her spare time she is a writer, healer, teacher and photographer. Elizabeth developed the Microparticular Healing Technique which she now teaches in conjunction with Conscious Living Academy

The Lies Of A Nation

Agent Orange - The Lies Of A Nation

A.O. GEN-II YouTube Channel

On October 2, 2013, COVVHA President and Co-Founder, Kelly L. Derricks, attended VVA's national Town Hall Meeting Held at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.

Resident: Roy Drake about Parititu

Investigate Magazine: 2000 Oct 

original source

Roy Drake

50-year-old Roy Drake also lives close to the plant. In 1988 he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He now finds it almost impossible to walk and is close to blind.

Being home-bound has meant that Drake has spent a lot of his time studying the effects of Dioxin, looking at international studies from around the world.

"If you look at any major chemical plant anywhere in the world you will find massive rates of the same sorts of diseases. Here in New Plymouth, Down’s Syndrome and Spina Bifida are going through the roof. 

"Our local school has 1200 kids and in 1999 they advertised for ten special needs teachers. I've found out in one Kindergarten alone there are four kids with cancer. 

"People of New Plymouth are very illiterate to it all. That’s because there has been a huge cover up. Imagine the legal implications of this. The damages would run into billions.

"Half of my friends are dead or have brain tumours."

Roy Drake

Not many people live to a ripe old age round here. 

They all die five or ten years short of their time. I am very angry and cannot understand why this has been ignored for such a long time."

Drake says even his caregivers are riddled with disease. 

"I've had one who had sugar diabetes, two with strokes. The girl currently looking after me has cervical cancer.

"For years we have been wearing clothes with dioxin on them. 

When we put a plate in the cupboard it is there, although you can’t see it. There’s no getting away from it around here."

Drake thought the new Labour government, with its Green allies, would order a fresh enquiry following new American evidence on the damaging effects of dioxin. Instead, he says, they are happy to sweep the issue under the carpet. In June of this year Health Minister Annette King refused calls for a new enquiry, relying on conclusions found in 1986 – interestingly a report delivered under the previous Labour Government. 

"While I appreciate the ongoing concerns about the health of people living around New Plymouth, from the advice I have received from Ministry officials, I am satisfied that the monitoring and investigation carried out around IWD previously were adequate to show that significant exposure of the local population did not occur."
King went on to say that a study of targeted groups who believe they have been exposed would be too expensive and difficult. 

"The residents present prior to that time may have moved and would need to be traced for testing to be meaningful," she said. 

"A detailed analysis of the health data relating to the Taranaki region would be needed before any conclusions relating to the relative rates of cancer, birth defects, or other diseases such as MS, could be meaningfully compared. I understand such a process could be carried out but it is difficult to see what would be gained by doing so now."

Andrew Gibbs

Not surprisingly, Andrew Gibbs disagrees. He says they are looking for recognition and help. He points that areas like Gisborne, where 2,4,5T was sprayed has almost identical ratios of motor neurone disease as Vietnam – isn't it time we were at least prepared to look at the situation again?

Yet it seems the government is blinded by issues on the grounds of cost. The residents of New Plymouth say they have already paid a high enough price for dioxin contamination, including many lives. Their search for truth and a sympathetic ear goes on - but so far, few people are willing to listen.

IMAGES FROM LET US SPRAY DOCUMENTARY

NZ Gov: Nothings Changed

"Delay and deny until you die"

These Paritutu people, many of whom worked in and around the IWD plant or were exposed through spraying, want answers and they want help. Dow Chemical, predictably, refuses to accept any responsibility or offer any help. 

At the moment, as in Bhopal and in banana growing regions around the world, where thousands of this company's victims are sick and in desperate need, the policy of the company and its allies in government is simply "delay and deny until you die."

CEO Carl A. Gerstacker, chairman of the Dow Chemical Company from 1960 to 1976 had a dream and expressed the libertarian thread of transnationalism when he declared:

"I have long dreamed of buying an island owned by no nation and of establishing the World Headquarters of the Dow Company on the truly neutral ground of such an island, beholden to no nation or society."  

Question: did he find just that island and did not have to pay for it they paid him.

PARITUTU, NEW ZEALAND.

Thanks to NZ Gov 1974: ACC 
Dow Hit the Jackpot!!

The accident compensation scheme came into operation on 1 April 1974 under the administration of the newly established Accident Compensation Commission (ACC). The Accident Compensation Act 1972, and the 1973 Amendment to that Act, defined ACC’s operation.

CEO Carl A. Gerstacker Dream came true: 

"No Liability to DOW" 

all compensation claims had to be processed via ACC.

No longer could an individual seek restitution and compensation via the civil courts in New Zealand.

DOW became bullet proof in NZ Courts...

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

Researching Agricultural/Pastoral Lands NZ

Help wanted:

We are in the process of doing research regarding spraying patterns for the periods 1960 to 1990

Specifically concerning herbicides 

2,4,5-T 

2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid

and 

2,4-D
2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid

1) Aerial Spraying and land based units

2) Fertilizers Land Application with products infused with these herbicides. 

Can you help in providing these?

Also is there a online database we could freely access to do this research. We are studying NZ agricultural pastoral lands and it's exposure to these herbicides.

Email us at: gary@dioxinnz.com

Resources: History of Herbicides in New Zealand

NZ DIOXIN SPREAD

The whole of NZ pastoral areas had intensive aerial spraying. 

Controlling Gorse and reclaiming pastoral lands back from the wide spread of gorse. 

NZ agricultural board will have specific records hopefully of the mass application NZ did to its prime industry lands. 

Basically none of NZ was spray free.  It's a given if it's pastoral or agricultural it's been subject to 2,4,5t and/or 2,4d in aerial spray and or fertilizers soaked in it

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}

SYNERGY: of DIOXINS

What are the combined effects of the dioxin family?

Unless it can be shown otherwise we must assume that dioxins, furans, PCBs and others will add together to give a total dioxin-like toxicity. 

This has been shown experimentally for dioxins and furans (Eadon, 1986), but doubts have been expressed about the validity of adding the PCBs' contribution in the same way (Goldstein & Safe, 1989). Studies have been carried out that show PCBs acting against and reducing TCDD effects. 

However, a moderately toxic PCB, which produced only mild pre-birth effects in mice on its own, was found to increase TCDD effects in those mice tenfold (Birnbaum et al., 1985).

In addition: 

PCBs are a mixture of dioxin-like and non-dioxin-like molecules. Some bind strongly to the Ah receptor and others only weakly. 

PCBs have been reported to exert other effects separately from their action through the Ah receptor: for example there are effects on nerve signal transmission linked to a PCB which binds only weakly to the Ah receptor (Seegal et al., 1990).

Certain PCBs can increase the levels of the Ah receptor in the liver, and hence increase susceptibility to low doses of other dioxin-like compounds(Goldstein & Safe, 1989). 

However, laboratory investigations of interactions such as these cannot possibly cover all that are possible in humans and animals exposed in the environment to the whole range of dioxin-like compounds. 

Considering both the evidence for enhancement and lessening of effects, we have to assume that the different compounds add together to produce a total dioxin-like toxicity, which can be estimated by using the TEFs given earlier. 

In other words, dioxins plus PCBs equals more dioxins.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

Nov 2006 STUDIES - BINARY MIXTURE OF DIOXINS: PCB

3,3N,4,4N,5-PENTACHLOROBIPHENYL 
(PCB 126)
(CAS NO. 57465-28-8)



AND

2,3N,4,4N,5-PENTACHLOROBIPHENYL 
(PCB 118)
(CAS NO. 31508-00-6)


Results 

Female rats administered the mixtures of PCB 126 and PCB 118 developed a variety of diseases in several organs, including cancers of the liver, lung, and mouth.  

A variety of other toxic lesions observed in exposed animals included 

hypertrophy
hyperplasia
hepatopathy
fibrosis, and necrosis of the liver
hyperplasia of the oral mucosa
metaplasia of the lung
atrophy of the thymus
hypertrophy of the thyroid gland
atrophy of the adrenal cortex
vacuolization and atrophy of the pancreas
kidney nephropathy
hyperplasia of the nose
hyperplasia of the forestomach
hemorrhage of lymph nodes and brain
atrophy of the spleen. 

Conclusions 
We conclude that the mixtures of PCB 126 and PCB 118 caused cancer and other toxic effects at several sites in female rats.

Study Results 
niehs.nih.gov: Paper published

Dioxin! The Facts

Dioxin! 
What Citizens, Workers and Policymakers Should Know.





Linda Birnbaum, who is currently the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences discusses what dioxin is, how toxic it is, and whether it causes cancer.

Although the interview was conducted in 2004 when Dr. Birnbaum  was head of the EPA  Division of Toxicology, we believe it continues to provide a useful and easy to understand summary of some of the available evidence against dioxin.

The video was originally commissioned in 2004 by the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor and the Public Interest Research Group In Michigan, but has never been released publicly until today. Thanks to the Ecology Center and Dr. Birnbaum for agreeing to make this public.

Dioxin is a killer

Regarding A statement by Jim Riddle in the book Ghost Platoon:

"We all died in that war only difference is it’s taken us longer to stop breathing” which one veteran believes he was referring to Agent Orange, would be a reasonable assumption; and sadly a profound but true observation by Jim.

Dioxin is a killer "period" and Governmental attempt to sanitize this fact is straight out B.S. and I wouldn't fertilize my gardens with it Folks.

The NZ Government where party to the knowledge of what IWD was producing and what was being shipped; and it was thousands of liters to American Staging grounds to on ship to Vietnam.

Goodness the CEO of IWD at that time came forward 30 years later and admitted they were manufacturing Agent Orange for the War. In addition, surplus drums of this toxic poison was buried in the earth of New Plymouth.

IWD poisoned a whole community of people who resided or daily worked in proximity to the IWD plant from the early 60's to 1988.

April 1986: after the bursting disc failure resulted in IWD having to substantiate the figures of the volumes of raw dioxin emitted in the incident, IWD choose the option to cease manufacture and never provided and evidences to back their claims of the little volume they said was emitted.

Smells like more B.S. and covering of dirty footprints to me.

To this day the NZ Government health system will not acknowledge the real list of health effects caused by exposure to dioxin, nor will its insurer ACC; nor will they accept out of IWD Plant claims for work related exposure to workers whom worked in close proximity.

Well not yet but that’s being worked on. 

New Plymouth Civilians and Vietnam Veterans alike have experiences: 

“Justice and Fairness have absolutely no correlation to politics or Commerce”, nor is the Law bent on Justice and Fairness it is wired for the Rich and Powerful to manipulate coerce and press down any contender whom campaigns against their unjust and corrupt practices. 

Whatever ideals or fantasies we held from childhood about the Law and Order and Justice and Fairness quickly has its bubble burst when one wages war against these perpetrators?

Western Australian 1980's

Western Australian Agricultural Protection Board (APB) used herbicide around the 1980's in the Kimberley region supplied to the workers in second hand unmarked drums. 

This was contrary to the Poisons Act. Samples taken from the suspect batch indicated a dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) component of around 2600 times greater than the allowable limit implemented during the spraying program.

Workers reported completely different physical characteristics of the suspect material when compared with normal 245-T. Workers advise that one delivery alone of this chemical was enough to supply the Kimberley program for at least 15 years.

The supreme toxicity of this dioxin is undisputed. See our other notes in the website.

At the time of use, several workers became ill.

A short while later the first of many premature deaths started occurring, together with birth deformities of babies fathered by former APB workers.

More than 20 years later...

the illnesses and deaths continue. 90 affected workers were interviewed, about 50 are already dead. Many dying in their 30s and 40s.

What has the WA Government done for its former workers and families?

The workers have been fighting for more than 20 years to seek justice and compensation.

No government employee has been charged with the criminal activity that allegedly caused this continuing tragedy.

At the time of use when workers complained of illnesses and injury being inflicted upon them and sought an alternative, APB management wrote that adverse publicity is not a valid reason to discontinue use.

Furthermore, the letter continues that the writer does not support the workers undertaking any research about 245-T.

It is well known among the former workers that they were told, "It was safe enough to drink".

Despite the many deaths, total and permanent disabilities, birth defects, and ongoing illnesses the government has not even provided the basic Workers Compensation entitlements.

The government has conducted several inquiries while more workers die. Yet still will not accept the evidence or responsibility of supplying its own workforce illegally, contrary to its own regulations, with an unknown substance. Unknown, because it was unmarked.

The workers substantiate the physical difference of normal 245-T and the product supplied.

Federal Tariff investigation proved a significant quantity of off-specification herbicide (Toxic waste) was imported prior to delivery of the suspected material to Derby.

The story of the Derby workers is repeated in Queensland and Yarram in Victoria.

Tracing the supply of the so-called "rogue batch" always comes back to the same complaints, same material description, and same importation source.

Still the WA Government says there is not sufficient evidence, even though they should be alarmed by their own assertions that the material has somehow "disappeared into thin air".

Once again, check out the toxicity of this stuff on this page. Wouldn't you want to know where it is?