2011 CPEO Military List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2011 12:36:19 -0700 (PDT)
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] HEALTH, HERBICIDES: More about C-123 Spray Birds
 
Complaint alleges Agent Orange risks ignored

TOM PHILPOTT
Colorado Springs Gazette (CO)
May 31, 2011
In a complaint to the Air Force inspector general, a retired officer alleges health officials have known since at least 1994 of Agent Orange contamination aboard C-123 aircraft flown by reserve squadrons for a decade after the Vietnam War, and failed to warn of the health risks.

After the Air Force stopped using UC-123K Provider aircraft to spray herbicide on the jungles of Vietnam, some of those aircraft, their spray tanks removed, were reassigned in 1972 at three stateside bases.

For the next decade Air Force reservists flew and maintained them. Last month, one of the post-war crewmen, disabled retiree Maj. Wesley T. Carter, 64, of McMinnville, Ore., had a heart attack requiring surgery, and also learned that he has prostate cancer.

A medical service officer, Carter said he thought about the hours he spent aboard foul-smelling C-123 “spray birds” after the war, flying out of Westover Air Force Base, Mass. He searched online for reports of lingering Agent Orange contamination on the planes assigned Reserve missions until 1982.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.gazette.com/articles/force-118937-air-aircraft.html

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street, Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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