New Zealand: We were Agent Orange supplier
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-09 10:49

New Zealand supplied Agent Orange chemicals to the United States military during the Vietnam war, a New Zealand government minister has admitted.

The disclosure led to immediate claims that New Zealand was in breach of the Geneva convention and could face a flood of lawsuits from veterans and Vietnamese.

Sculptural works by Vietnamese students representing disabled child victims of the defoliant Agent Orange used by US army during the Vietnam War. [AFP]

Transport Minister Harry Duynhoven said the highly toxic chemical was sent to a United States base in the Philippines during the 1960s.

"The information that has been given to me is that products used to make Agent Orange were shipped from New Plymouth to Subic Bay in the Philippines," he told the Sunday News newspaper.

After nearly three decades of official denials, a high-level parliamentary committee formally acknowledged late last year that New Zealand soldiers in the Vietnam War were significantly exposed to Agent Orange, but no mention was ever made that the country was a supplier.

Some New Zealand veterans are seeking compensation for chronic illnesses suffered by them and their families.

Although the National Party was in power during the Vietnam War, Duynhoven said his current Labour government was responsible for setting the record straight.

"Any government has to deal with the situation it finds itself in and it's always a problem if previous governments leave a mess."

From 1961 to 1971, the US and South Vietnamese military sprayed millions of litres of toxic herbicides, mainly Agent Orange, over South Vietnam to destroy the vegetation used by communist forces for cover and food.

Hanoi says the defoliant has caused health problems for more than one million Vietnamese and continues to have devastating consequences.

A study released in August last year by scientists from the United States, Germany and Vietnam found that Agent Orange was still contaminating people through their food.

Dioxin, the defoliant's deadly component, can cause an increased risk of cancers, immunodeficiencies, reproductive and developmental changes, nervous system problems and other health effects, according to medical experts.

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