My Right

Overwhelmingly, the committee accepted that New Zealand Vietnam veterans were exposed to a very toxic environment," committee chairwoman Steve Chadwick said.

"That's our key recommendation for the Government to consider."

However, the committee stopped short of recommending compensation or an apology, saying most veterans who made submissions simply wanted acknowledgement.

Today's report would be considered by the Government, and it was up to the Government to decide if it wanted to apologise, Ms Chadwick said.

Side-effects Laboratory studies made in 1969 established a link between Agent Orange and birth defects, and two years later the use of chemical defoliants was stopped. But it was too late. By then some 5 million acres of forest had defoliated, half of which remains unrestored today. Dioxin accumulated from repeated spraying entered the ecosystem of Vietnam, while tens of thousand of troops on both sides had been exposed to the chemical. Not least, Vietnamese birth defects are now double those of neighboring countries. Scientific surveys, continue to uncover side-effects, the latest (1996) documenting the high proportion of children with spina bifida born to Vietnam veterans.

Other spinoffs of Agent Orange include nerve and urological disorders, skin diseases, and soft-tissue cancers. In 1984 a $240 million settlement was made to Agent Orange victims in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada (excluding South Korea, the second-largest foreign contingent), but many are still fearful of long-term reproduction in their children."