Vet blows whistle on burial of Agent Orange in Korea: “We basically buried our garbage in their back yard.”

Posted by kyle

Watch the video of several U.S. veterans blowing the whistle on burial of Agent Orange at a base in South Korea in 1978.   Hereʻs an excerpt from the transcript:

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Valley Veteran Blows Whistle On Burial Of Agent Orange

Steve House, 2 Others Say They Just Followed Orders In 1978

Tammy Leitner, KPHO CBS 5 News
POSTED: 7:46 pm MST May 13, 2011
UPDATED: 11:37 am MST May 16, 2011
PHOENIX — It’s a secret the military does not want you to know — something so dangerous that a Valley man says it’s slowly killing him and could be poisoning countless others.
“Yeah, it haunts me,” said veteran Steve House. “We basically buried our garbage in their back yard.”
The year was 1978. Spc. Steve House was stationed at Camp Carroll in South Korea. He worked as a heavy equipment operator, and one day, says he got orders to dig a ditch – nearly the length of a city block.

“They just told us it was going to be used for disposal,” said House.But it was what House buried that he’s never been able to forget.”Fifty-five gallon drums with bright yellow, some of them bright orange, writing on them,” said House. “And some of the cans said Province of Vietnam, Compound Orange.”

Compound Orange, also known as Agent Orange, is a toxic herbicide that was used to wipe out the jungles during the Vietnam war. The military also admitted using it years later around demilitarized zones in Korea. The government says the leftover Agent Orange was incinerated at sea.
After a preliminary investigation, the military issued another statement admitting that chemicals were buried, but claiming that they were removed and cleaned up:

According to Johnson, a 1992 study by the Army Corps of Engineers indicated that a large number of drums containing chemicals, pesticides, herbicides and solvents were buried in the vicinity of the area identified by the former Soldiers in news reports.

Some data from this report was shared with ROK Government officials during a site visit to Camp Carroll on Saturday.  The study was a general environment assessment and did not specifically identify Agent Orange.  More data will be provided to the ROK Ministry of the Environment representative during a visit to Camp Carroll today.

The study further stated that these materials and 40-60 tons of soil were subsequently removed from the site in 1979-1980 and disposed of offsite.  Eighth Army officials are still trying to determine why the materials were buried and how it was disposed after it was excavated.

Subsequent testing in 2004 included using ground-penetrating radar and boring 13 test holes on and around the site.  Samples from 12 of the holes had no dioxin present.  The thirteenth hole revealed trace amounts of the chemical, but the amount was deemed to be no hazard to human health.

This is becoming a huge issue in Korea.   Stay tuned to see what unfolds.

The University of Hawaiʻi had a hand in the development of Agent Orange via agricultural research programs.  Two UH employees who worked with the chemicals got cancer, but could not win compensation.

 

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