Japanese report: No evidence of Agent Orange in barrels on Okinawa

There is no evidence that dozens of empty chemical drums, unearthed last year on former U.S. military property, contained the toxic defoliant Agent Orange, according to a Japanese government report.

The Okinawa Defense Bureau of the Ministry of Defense tested the final 61 of 83 barrels that were unearthed from land adjacent to the Kadena Air Base fence line. While it found they contained ingredients used in Agent Orange, they were of the incorrect consistency and quantities, leading officials to believe they were to be used as a common herbicide.

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Okinawa Dumpsite Offers Proof of Agent Orange: Experts Say

Two leading Agent Orange specialists have weighed in on the recent discovery of 22 barrels buried on former military land in Okinawa City.1 Richard Clapp, professor emeritus at Boston University School of Public Health, and Wayne Dwernychuk, the scientist previously in charge of identifying defoliant contamination in southeast Asia, likened the levels of dioxin contamination in Okinawa City to dangerous hot-spots in Vietnam where the U.S. military had stored toxic defoliants during the 1960s and ‘70s.2

Both scientists cited the risks to Okinawa residents and urged immediate clean-up of the land to limit the threat to human health. Dwernychuk also noted that the discovery of the barrels may disprove the Pentagon’s repeated denials that military defoliants were ever present on Okinawa.

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