News Note: Agent Orange in Panama
The
Dallas Morning News recently
reported that the U.S. military conducted secret tests of Agent
Orange and other toxic herbicides in Panama in the 1960s and '70s,
potentially exposing civilians and soldiers to highly dangerous
chemicals. According to eyewitness accounts and documents, hundreds
of barrels of Agent Orange were shipped to Panama during the Vietnam
War to be tested in simulated tropical battlefield conditions of
Southeast Asia. The chemical was a mixture of the herbicides 2,4-D
and 2,4,5-T and also contained dioxin generated during formulation
of 2,4,5-T. While the two herbicides break down in the environment
rather quickly, dioxin is a highly persistent compound that remains
in the environment for decades and can cause cancer, birth defects
and other health and developmental problems.
The U.S. Southern Command,
the operational authority in Panama, said it was not aware of any
tests using Agent Orange that had taken place there. However, the
U.S. Veterans Affairs Department acknowledged that use of Agent
Orange or similar herbicides contributed to the deaths of at least
three U.S. servicemen stationed in Panama in the 1960s and '70s.
In testimony at a Veterans Affairs hearing regarding one of these
cases, a former operations officer for herbicide research at the
Army biological research and development laboratories in Maryland
stated that "several hundred drums" of Agent Orange were
shipped to Panama in the late 1960s.
For years, the Panamanian
government has been trying to find proof that the U.S. used chemical
weapons and herbicides there in an effort to obtain compensation
for cleanup costs as well as possible damages. Panama is already
seeking as much as US$500 million from the U.S. military in damages
and cleanup costs related to thousands of acres used for weapons
tests since World War II.
Sources: "Report:
U.S. Exposed Many in Panama to Agent Orange," San Francisco
Examiner, August 20, 1999. "Report: Agent Orange in Panama,"
Associated Press, August 20, 1999.
Contact: PANNA.
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