As a Vietnam veteran I’ve been immersed in the Agent Orange debate for decades, but mostly as an observer. For a while I tried convincing some of my mates that trying to prove that Agent Orange was responsible for the many ailments and conditions of Vietnam veterans, their children and grandchildren. was counter-productive. I thought that we would have been better off going to Government for a “fair go”, rather than trying to force them to accept a cause and effect relationship. No-one was listening.
It wasn’t until 2016 that I was drawn back into the debate after the WAI 2500 series of claims began to be heard by the Waitangi Tribunal in 2015, and on into 2016. I appeared as a witness early in July at Tuahiwi Marae in Christchurch. Since then I have been researching the history, politics and science of the whole issue, in anticipation of being recalled for cross examination by the claims panel, claimants’ lawyers, and Crown lawyers.
At the Tribunal (4-6 July 2016)
Brief of Evidence
Appendices to Brief of Evidence
Papers on Agent Orange
These papers have been posted into the NZ Vietnam Veterans & Families Group on Facebook. The group has 1,130 members as at 29 April 2018. The papers are extracted from an ongoing research paper and were prepared in response to a debate about Agent Orange. The research is very much a work in progress.
11April 2019 – Research Methodology
20 May 2018 – The Research Framework
The above paper describes the research framework upon which the other papers in this series are based, and provides an introduction to the problems of the science of Agent Orange.
24 March 2018 – Science, Law & Presumption
30 March 2018 – Science – An Easter Story
22 April 2018 – Agent Orange and the Law
29 April 2018 – Agent Orange and Presumption
10 April 2018 – Agent Orange Exposure
11 June 2018 – The Rainbow Agents
14 June 2018 – Vietnam Veterans and the Toxic Environment
11 June 2018 – Dibutylphthalate (DBP) and Intergenerational Birth Defects
15 April 2018 – The Transgenerational Effect of Agent Orange (including birth defects)
Why bother? Here’s why.
16 June 2018- Mamae: An Affliction of the Spirit
Papers Cited
2003 – Relaxed evidentiary rules in veterans’ legislation: a comparative and empirical analysis by Bruce Topperwien
2017 – PTSD Study Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation
Links (R.N.Himona – WebMaster)
The Original Victor Company RNZIR
The Punji Pit, poems by Major John Moller