Officer says defoliant use routine by NZ soldiers in Vietnam

By GRANT FLEMING

New Zealand troops in Vietnam manually applied a strong defoliant - probably Agent Orange - to vegetation around their positions, a former officer says.

Ex-lieutenant Barry Dreyer told Parliament's health select committee yesterday that while he was serving in Vietnam between May 1966 and September 1967 much of that time was spent in areas that had been defoliated from the air.

"It was just jungle without any foliage."

Mr Dreyer was the final veteran to make a submission to the committee, which is inquiring into the health effects of Agent Orange.

Successive governments have for years denied that the spray caused any problems for soldiers who served in Vietnam.

Mr Dreyer said that at times he could see spraying occurring as close as 1km away when his unit was serving in Phuoc Tuy province, about 100km north of Saigon.

Besides working in defoliated areas, his company regularly sprayed grass and foliage around their positions with the same agent that was dropped aerially so they had a clear view of any approaching Viet Cong.

"If we were in a position for more than a few days, the grass would grow up and we couldn't see to protect ourselves, so we would regularly spray the long grass...

"That was the same defoliant that was being used in the air... We probably used it in the 11 months I was the gun position officer 20 or 30 times."

He said the soldiers were not supplied with masks or special equipment. They were told to roll their sleeves down while spraying.

There were no briefings or instructions on working in defoliated areas.

"We were not aware it could cause serious damage and I don't think many people were at that point. They didn't know."

Mr Dreyer said general services for veterans had improved markedly in the past six to eight years, except when it came to acknowledgment of soldiers being exposed to Agent Orange.

"It's the 21st century and this happened 40 years ago and we are still arguing about it. It's an appalling process."

He said he had been saddened to recently attend the funeral of a sergeant from his unit who had had three separate kinds of cancer when he died.

"It's his family that need the support ... That's what it's about. It needs putting to rest."

Several veterans have told the select committee inquiry that they believed they were exposed to Agent Orange.

This month officials from the Defence Ministry will reappear to answer questions raised by veterans' submissions.

Agent Orange file

Many New Zealand veterans have claimed they were sprayed with toxic Agent Orange in Vietnam.

A Defence Force report by retired colonel Raymond Seymour concluded that troops in the Vietnam War came into contact with the defoliants Agent Orange, Agent White and Agent Blue at least 356 times.

He found that 1.8 million litres of the three agents were sprayed in Phuoc Tuy between November 10, 1965, and June 30, 1968.

His report followed two previous ones, by former Governor-General Sir Paul Reeves in 1999 and by Deborah McLeod of Otago University's Wellington School of Medicine, that found troops were not significantly exposed to Agent Orange.

- NZPA