DID UNIROYAL CHEMICAL IN ELMIRA SUPPLY AGENT ORANGE FOR USE THROUGHOUT ONTARIO?

A few years back the Ontario government through the Ministry of Natural Resources instituted a Fact-Finding Panel to determine where, when and how much 2,4,5-T was used by government departments and agencies in Ontario from 1950 until it was banned by the federal government in 1985. 2,4,5-T otherwise known as 2,4,5 Trichlorophenoxyacetic Acid was the major culprit in the mass poisonings which occurred in both Vietnam as well as in the bodies of U.S. servicemen who handled the chemical defoliant. The active contaminant in 2,4,5-T is a Dioxin specifically known as 2,3,7,8 TCDD (tetrachlorodibenzodioxin). This is the worst of the worst Dioxins and it is but one more unintended legacy of human arrogance, stupidity and greed.

It turns out that indeed the Ministry of Natural Resources and its' predecessor the Department of Lands and Forests used 2,4,5-T extensively as did the Ministry of Transport plus Ontario Hydro. Whether on its' own or in mixtures 2,4,5-T was used as a weed killer along hydro transmission lines and highways. It was also used to kill tree species in northern Ontario considered inferior to and competing with both white and black spruce. Oh the hubris of human beings!

At the federal level our Canadian authorities were equally as guilty. Camp Gagetown in New Brunswick was used as a testing ground for the mixture known as Agent Orange. The U.S. military with Canadian approval sprayed large areas to test the efficacy of the herbicide prior to its' use in Vietnam. Lawsuits and settlements have flowed from that behaviour in recent years.

The Fact-Finding Panel led by Dr. Leonard Ritter of the University of Guelph had a very narrow mandate. For example they did not study the use of 2,4-D or 2,4,5-TP throughout Ontario. 2,4-D was the usual partner with 2,4,5-T in the manufacture of Agent Orange. 2,4,5-TP includes Propionic Acid along with the 2,4,5-T. Furthermore and this is most disturbing their focus was on provincial ministries and agencies. They did not look at either municipal use of 2,4,5-T nor private use. The private use would have been by farmers primarily using herbicides along their gravel roads and fences or on hedgerows between fields. That said the Panel did estimate that total useage of 2,4,5-T was much greater by Municipalities than it was by the provincial government agencies and ministries.

So to be very clear here folks the bottom line is that private industrial manufacturers profited directly from municipal and provincial government poisoning of the population of Ontario. Industry and government collusion is a well known fact. Less well known, beyond the financial fleecing of citizens, is the pain, suffering and death caused by industry/government collusion.