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Green Party of Canada
Media Release
For Immediate Release
Compensate victims of Agent Orange
(Montreal, 23 June 2005) People who lived in and around CFB Gagetown during the 1960s deserve compensation for their involuntary exposure to cancer-causing pesticides used on the base, said Green Party of Canada Environment critic Sharon Labchuk today.
CBC reported that both Agent Orange and the far more toxic Agent Purple were sprayed in the area by the Canadian military in the 1960s. Canadians are not the militarys unwitting lab rats, said Labchuk who called for the Canadian government to assume their full responsibility for this disgraceful
act.
Equally alarming for Labchuk is the fact that toxic pesticides are still registered for use in Canada and widely used on lawns, agricultural fields, forests and golf courses, inside buildings and to fog city streets. As tragic as the CFB Gagetown incident is, many Canadians are still regularly
exposed to cancer-causing pesticides in the air they breathe, and in their drinking water and food, said Labchuk.
The Green Party noted that Environment Canada tested Prince Edward Island air and found every sample, even in the control area, contaminated with cancer-causing pesticides used on potato fields. Pesticides are now found world-wide in air, rain, fog, glacial melt water, soil groundwater, rivers, lakes
and in the bodies of humans and animals.
Even after correcting for the effects of aging, cancer rates in Canada are increasing. The World Health Organization estimates that 25 per cent of all cancers are caused by occupational and environmental factors other than smoking. Pesticides are also linked to birth defects, learning disabilities,
behavioral problems, lowered IQ, immune system damage, reproductive problems and miscarriage. Humans arent the only casualties, said Labchuk. Wildlife and domestic animal poisonings are routine. Scientists estimate that pesticides kill 67 million birds annually in the United States.
The Green Party of Canada would end the use of pesticides on lawns immediately and phase out as quickly as possible all other chemical pesticides. The Green Party would de-register all pesticides that are not proven to be safe, impose heavy pollution taxes on pesticide products, and make it easier to
prosecute users and manufacturers for damages. The Green Party would also allocate research funding for the development of safer alternatives backed by incentives to help these products reach the market.
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For more information:
Sharon Labchuk
902-621-0719
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