AGENT ORANGE

jorma_jyrkkanen:

'via Blog this'

Agent Orange and Other Toxins in Pesticides Used in BC

24 Sept 2008

When I was habitat protection technician for the BC Fish and Wildlife Branch between 1981 and 1987, I got a request by the BC Ministry of Forests to use Estron 3-3E in a sensitive area near the mouth of the Lakelse River. Upon examination of the ingredients, I determined that it was in fact one of the Agent Orange (AO) concoctions and rejected the application along with a note to MOF that I was not very pleased that they had entertained such an option.

I wondered how widespread had been the use of AO in BC when In a personal communication with the former head of the BC Pesticide Branch, Mike Whately, I was informed that AO had been in wide-spread use especially for alder and other brush control and had seen considerable use on the west coast and the Queen Charlottes.

Bill Brinnen, the applicant on behalf of MOF, died not long after from some rare blood disorder and was unable to explain to me what applications were underway at that time and was silent about what applications he had been involved with formerly. I met an applicator, and in fact beat him and the champion (right arm only) in arm wrestling at the pub's annual competition, Vince Helsenfels, who said he was using the stuff all over the place without any protective clothing or respirators as were others because they were told it was harmless.

Regarding my concerns about certain pesticide application referrals, I was ordered by my boss not to become an expert on pesticides on government time and was instructed to rubber stamp pesticide applications.

It dawned on me that the MOF had a culture of recklessness with public and environmental safety and was deceitful and misleading with safety information and that we in the Fish and Wildlife Habitat Division of MOE had a culture of supporting that. The argument advanced was that these pesticides were approved for use in Canada by the Federal government who are experts and so they must be assumed safe if used as directed.

I had found from personal examination of the literature and from having had a sample of forestry herbicide Vision tested for 1,4-dioxane, that carcinogen residues were in fact being applied to much of BC's Forests and workers and the general public were not appraised of the fact by the MOF or pesticide branch.

The information on carcinogenicity was not available through MOF and was only discovered by me personally by investigative journalism and personal research. The Feds, DOF and DOE and DOA did not and would not divulge the name of the surfactant being used (polyoxyethyleneamine) nor that the contaminant 1,4-dioxane was present nor that both were probable carcinogens arguing that these were 'Trade Secrets'.

I found all of this out by becoming an expert on my own time. They only confessed after I sent them the lab results with the help of MP Jim Fulton who graciously paid for my research.

( I affirm that everything I have said above is true and correct.)

Jormawankenobe

© 2008 J. Jyrkkanen