Maine report on Agent Orange use at Base Gagetown raises more questions than answers

In March, a Maine commission called for a new investigation into the use of Agent Orange and other herbicides at the Gagetown military base, noting previous Canadian environmental studies of the impacts of the herbicides as “incorrect” and “biased.”

The commission was created last year to measure the impact of exposure to harmful chemicals suffered by American personnel stationed at the 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown in Oromocto. The commission has also been tasked with presenting their findings to committees of Maine’s legislature.

The commission’s report released in January called into question the data used, the poor study design and the rapid pace of the original investigation. The commission also highlighted that newer scientific methods and knowledge has been developed since the previous studies were conducted.

What is Agent Orange?

Agent Orange was a herbicide used notably by the US Army during the Vietnam War. The American government used the herbicide to reduce jungle vegetation to aid in ground and air military operations during the war.

In 2004, Vietnam sued the US government in the district of New York over the deployment of the herbicide. Its usage was found to be legal under international law because the US had yet to sign onto the 1925 Geneva Protocol by the time of the herbicide’s usage.

According to the Vietnamese Red Cross, an estimated one million people in Vietnam developed disabilities or suffered long-term health consequences as a result of exposure to the herbicide.

The Vietnamese government goes further to claim three to four million people suffered directly from the herbicide. Agent Orange was also covertly used in Laos and Cambodia during the same conflict as the American Government broadened their campaign during the war.

According to the Aspen Institute, millions of acres of crop land have been defoliated by the herbicide, causing massive environmental damage and loss of seed stock and animal diversity in South Vietnam.

American veterans continue to regularly advocate for compensation for being exposed to the toxin. There have been similar efforts by veterans in New Zealand and Australia.

Ecological harms

Ongoing environmental studies in Southeast Asia have found that the harmful chemicals from Agent Orange most notably embed themselves into sediment, which then infects animals of the region and can endanger the local food chains. Similar phenomena have been observed in particular near current and former American air bases.

Once embedded in the food chain, these chemicals can be ingested by people and other animals carrying on the potential exposure to a local environment to not only spread but become difficult in itself to contain as animals carry those chemicals as they naturally migrate and spread that potential exposure.

What about New Brunswick?

In 2007, Canadian veterans received some compensation for their exposure to Agent Orange, but veteran advocates have said it is not enough.

In 2024, a spokesperson for the Canadian government told the CBC characterized previous studies as an “intense and fulsome fact-finding investigation to understand the health and environmental risks associated with the past use of registered and unregistered herbicides at base Gagetown.”

People in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and military personnel from America, Australia and New Zealand continue to be affected by exposure to Agent Orange. Given those factors and the longstanding effect it has on the environment, there likely remains a risk for currently serving Canadian military personnel and civilian contractors to be negatively impacted even more than 50 years later.

Maine Senate President Troy Jackson told CBC in December 2023 that “it’s clear to me that something is wrong with the way things are going on here” and that “These people deserve to be heard and get all the services that they should have all along.”

The Maine’s legislative commission has strongly recommended further study as a key recommendation.

It remains unclear whether Canadian authorities will further investigate the matter on either side of the border.

Alex Gagne studied political science, organizes for progressive causes and is based in Bathurst.