CANADA: Agent Orange debate concerns retired Island Hydro foresters

Agent Orange debate concerns retired Island Hydro foresters

"I've had some heart and kidney problems, and am going next week to get tested for my thyroid—is that because of the chemicals?" he wonders.

He admits that many of his own ailments could simply be the result of the aging process, or genetics, but in hindsight he can't help but conclude that his exposure to this nasty stuff had an effect on his wife's attempts to bear children.

"We were not long married, and looking to start a family," he said. "My wife had seven miscarriages all told. The more we hear about this Agent Orange, the more suspicious we are that it was probably the cause."

The couple did finally have kids—one of them is now the police chief in Espanola, with adult children of his own—so there's a happy end to that story, but Mr. Towns fears that some of the kids and grandkids of his colleagues were prematurely robbed of a parent or grandparent as a result of the defoliant.

"Quite a few of my fellow workers have long since died, and in most cases it was from cancer," he said. "They're saying now that it could be from cancer-causing chemicals."

The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is continuing to collect information on the scope and possible consequences of Agent Orange use in earlier decades, and has engaged the Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) and Ontario's chief medical officer of health to assist in the process. Hydro agencies are also expected to co-operate in the inquiry.

A hotline has been set up for people with concerns about potential exposure to the herbicides, and MNR staff is eager to locate former employees who might have been exposed to the chemical, assured the minister.

Islanders who have reasons to suspect that they may have been exposed to the chemical in the 1950s and 1960s (it was phased out sometime in the 1970s) are encouraged to call the hotline at 1-888-338-3364.

Information is also available through the WSIB's occupational disease information line at 1-800-387-0750, as well as the MNR website at www.mnr.gov.on.ca, or the WSIB website at www.wsib.on.ca.