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A news article uncovering the use of the chemical Agent Orange in Northern Ontario forests has MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP - Timmins-James Bay) "shocked."
Bisson said he awoke Thursday morning to calls from a Toronto media outlet about Ministry of Natural Resource documents revealing a spraying program on the Gordon Cosens forest between Hearst and Kapuskasing in the 1950s and 1960s.
"It's absolutely nuts," said Bisson. "I really don't believe they knew the harmful effects at the time, but when the MNR and the industry found out what this chemical does to people, they should have informed the public.
"Certainly to God, when they found out it causes cancer, they had an obligation to to tell people."
Agent Orange is a herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam war.
It may have been used by lumber companies to defoliate leafy trees, said Bisson.
The MPP is calling on the Ontario government, along with forestry companies to release documents containing more information about the harmful spraying.
"We don't have any other information about it. We don't know where else this has happened," Bisson said.
"What we do know is that rates of cancer in Northern Ontario are higher than even the provincial average."
He said lumber companies who used the chemical should be tracking former employees, or anyone who may have been exposed, so people can be tested and treated.
Studies show the chemicals found in Agent Orange can remain in the body for decades, causing skin disorders, liver problems, certain types of cancer, and impaired function.
"I'm not pointing a finger at anyone, but the issue here is the conspiracy of silence," Bisson said. "This is a democracy, and we don't work that way in a democracy. Now that they know, they have an obligation to investigate this.
"There are campers, blueberry pickers, forestry workers. Anyone who used that forest in the 1950s, '60s, or '70s."
He said although people affected may deserve compensation, the most important thing is safety.
"It's a matter of having to do everything we can to inform people. It's a question of people affected needing to see a doctor for possible effects of these toxins."
Bisson said he will be addressing the issue with Minister of Natural Resources Linda Jeffrey in Queens Park on Tuesday.
"The questions I'll be asking the Minister are very straightforward.
"Quite frankly, I can't believe this happened in Northern Ontario."
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