Secret tests of Agent Orange on rainforest linked to high cancer rate in north Queensland

May 19 2008

Claims are reportedly being made that higher than average cancer deaths in Innisfail, in north Queensland are due to the secret testing of Agent Orange there in 1960s.

It is being alleged that more than 40 years ago Australian military scientists carried out defoliant testing and sprayed the toxic herbicide on a rainforest area near Innisfail during the start of the Vietnam war.

The claims by a top Australian researcher are supported by local accounts of the forest dying and failing to recover.

The area where the spray was tested is close to the river which supplies the town with water and researchers believe the spraying may be responsible for cancer rates in the area being 10 times the state average and four times the national average.

Acclaimed researcher Jean Williams, who was awarded the Order of Australia medal for her work on the effects of chemicals on Vietnam war veterans, says she uncovered reports of the secret tests carried out between 1964 and 1966, in Australian War Memorial museum archives.

The files on the testing were reportedly marked 'sensitive' and revealed that the chemicals 2,4-D, Diquat, Tordon and dimethylsulphoxide had been sprayed on the rainforest.

Williams says the mix of the toxic chemicals made them worse and such mixes remain for years in the soil only to be stirred up each time there is a downpour, when they again enter the water supply and she claims that a file which could prove that wider testing took place is missing from the archives.

Her claims are backed by a former soldier who says he drove two scientists to the site in the 1960s who were particularly interested in the effect the chemical cocktail had on rubber vine, which is also found in Vietnam; the trees were apparently sprayed by hand and later photographed as the foliage was dying.

Agent Orange was used by both the Australian and the U.S. military during the Vietnam war to defoliate jungle where North Vietnamese troops were hidden and has since been linked to cancer, birth defects and other health problems.

Local authorities are calling for an investigation and say the half-acre site remains deforested.

The town's water supply has shown no evidence of the chemicals and the Queensland health department insists that the incidence of cancer in Innisfail is no higher than in other parts of the state.

The alleged test site is at Gregory Falls, about 20 kilometres north of Innisfail and locals in the area say very little will grow there and also say they have seen documents outlining the chemicals used by the army at the testing site.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says the claims that Agent Orange was tested will be investigated, but the Vietnam Veterans Association is dubious that the Defence Department will respond meaningfully to such claims - the Department meanwhile says it is considering the claims but is as yet unable to comment.

Jean R. Williams has researched and written about the Vietnam war - her son Wayne Brown is a Vietnam veteran.