Korea: Buried Toxic Herbicides Threaten

Veterans-For-Change Requests Congress Hold Hearings on Toxic Herbicides Buried by US Army in Korea

by Jim Davis

As you may have heard or seen in recent news articles from both U.S. and South Korean News Departments, major reports have been reported about toxic herbicides being buried throughout Korea by U.S Army personnel.

Searching on the Internet with Google, delivered 58,400 hits under the key words of ‘toxic herbicides being buried throughout Korea by U.S Army personnel,’ including an interesting article at the Korea Times website,

In addition, some documents and testimony has been made public which indicates the deployment of the Dioxin contaminated herbicides Agent Orange, Agent Blue and Monuron covered a much wider date range than has historically been reported by the Departments of the Army and Defense at hearings in Congress. For those who have never heard the terminology of Monuron, Monuron is a herbicide “recommended for use in non-crop areas for total control of weeds, and it would be released to the environment as a result of this use.

Monuron’s registration with EPA for use as a herbicide was cancelled in 1977, and therefore if it is still manufactured, it would be manufactured for export.

In soil, monuron is transformed to its metabolites primarily by biodegradation.

Additionally, a document from the Appeals Management Center of the Department of Veterans Affairs — clearly states that the areas where these toxic herbicides were deployed is far greater than reported – in fact into areas far to the south of the DMZ, Demilitarized Zone.

Veterans-For-Change, respectfully request that both Houses of Congress hold hearings immediately to call the Department of Defense, Department of the Army and the Department of Veterans Affairs to explain the following:

1. Why was this information, which clearly existed in the files center for Unit Records Research, were not previously reported so that affected former service members would know what is causing their serious health problems today?; and
2. Why have the records of this deployment of toxic herbicides and the Unit Histories suddenly become unavailable to former Service Members since the cited document was revealed by the Board of Veterans Appeals?; and
3. How many more Veterans of Korean Service and Korean Civilians must suffer and die from the many diseases associated with and proven to be a result of poisoning carried out by the U.S. Departments of the Army and Defense before the U. S. Government reveals the complete truth?; and finally
4. Why has this Appeal Case Decision not been posted in the Board of Veterans Appeal on-line files despite the fact that ruling was issued in late 2009?

The time has arrived for a thorough investigation of the items listed above, along with a thorough investigation/hearings to make the Department of Defense, Department of the Army and the Department of Veterans Affairs accountable to all effected parties, including our Veterans.

As your constituent, Veterans-For-Change expects actions among the leaders in calling for this hearing. It is time for our United States Congress to be accountable about the issues concerning the United States of America and our military and not dwell so much about the actions, morals, or lack of morals from our representatives.

Jim Davis

Jim Davis is the son of USMC MGySgt. Lesley Davis (Ret.) who passed away on April 24, 2006, from ALS caused by Agent Orange. His dad’s mission before he passed on was to ensure all veterans, spouses, children, and widows all received the benefits, medical care and attention, and proper facilities from the VA.

Because of the promise made to his dad to carry on the mission, in May 2006 Davis began as a one-man show sending out 535 letters every single week to all members of Congress requesting and politely demanding the fulfill their promises made over the past decades to care for life those who wore the uniform and their families.

Veterans-For-Change was born in August 2006 with a very small membership of 25 people composed of veterans, spouses, widows, family members, and friends and to date continues to grow.