CONCERNS that cancer deaths are higher in a north Queensland town where the army tested chemical weapons at the start of the Vietnam War will be investigated by the State Government, Premier Anna Bligh says.
Australian military scientists sprayed the toxic defoliant Agent Orange on rainforest in the water catchment area of Innisfail in 1966, Fairfax reported today.
The sprayed site, where jungle has never regrown, lies on a ridge about 100m above the Johnstone River, which supplies water for the town in the state`s far north.
Figures from the Queensland Health Department show 76 people died from cancer in the town of almost 12,000 in 2005, 10 times the state`s average and four times the national average.
"Any concerns these residents have can and will be investigated thoroughly just as we have when there`s been complaints about unusual cancer rates at workplaces," Ms Bligh said today.
"I would encourage these residents who have any concerns to talk to the Environmental Protection Agency."
Ms Bligh would not say whether the army should come clean about its testing of Agent Orange in the region.
"I am not even sure what the facts are behind any defence force action in that area," she said.
"If there has been any suggestion the defence force has any matters they should deal with I would encourage people to talk to the Federal Government and we will be doing the same."
Researcher Jean Williams, who has been awarded the Order of Australia Medal for her work on the effects of chemicals on Vietnam War veterans, found details of the secret tests at Innisfail in Australian War Memorial archives.
"These tests carried out between 1964 and 1966 were the first tests of Agent Orange and they were carried out at Gregory Falls near Innisfail," she told Fairfax.
"I was told there is a high rate of cancer there but no one can understand why.
"Perhaps now they will understand."
Ms Williams found three boxes of files in the archives, with one file, marked "considered sensitive", showing the chemicals 2,4-D, Diquat, Tordon and diemthyl sulphoxide (DMSO) were sprayed on the rainforest.
"It was considered sensitive because they were mixing together all the bad chemicals, which just made them worse," she said.
Innisfail RSL president Reg Hamann, who suffers cancer after being exposed to Agent Orange while fighting in Vietnam, said his children had been born with health issues.
"The amount of young people in this area who die of leukaemia and similar cancers to what I got from Agent Orange is scary.
"The authorities are scared of digging into it as there would be lots of lawsuits."
Share this article
