1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:40,736 --> 00:00:43,695 - All these people here to enjoy the 4 00:00:45,523 --> 00:00:48,874 outdoors and boy, they have no idea what just drove by. 5 00:00:53,227 --> 00:00:56,317 And we'll go right up the top of the mountain and... 6 00:00:57,709 --> 00:00:59,711 spray 'em all. 7 00:00:59,755 --> 00:01:02,671 Douglas County Parks picnic area here. 8 00:01:05,804 --> 00:01:07,502 Swift Water Park. 9 00:01:10,070 --> 00:01:14,465 So we'll go up top and toxify things. 10 00:01:21,907 --> 00:01:24,867 - These helicopters flying over the ridge 11 00:01:24,910 --> 00:01:29,306 spraying something and they didn't even see the kids. 12 00:01:31,134 --> 00:01:33,658 The kids were all fishing or just playing by the river. 13 00:01:35,138 --> 00:01:37,967 And the kids were all choking and gasping. 14 00:01:38,010 --> 00:01:40,100 That night they were all really sick. 15 00:01:41,927 --> 00:01:44,626 They had diarrhea, they were having trouble breathing. 16 00:01:46,758 --> 00:01:49,196 We went down to the river that next day 17 00:01:49,239 --> 00:01:51,415 and that's when we found dead ducklings 18 00:01:51,459 --> 00:01:54,984 and dead crayfish, dead trout. 19 00:01:56,507 --> 00:01:58,640 We called the Forest Service 20 00:01:58,683 --> 00:02:02,034 and they said, "Oh no, it's perfectly safe." 21 00:02:03,775 --> 00:02:07,214 It was a mixture 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, Agent Orange, 22 00:02:08,954 --> 00:02:11,827 that was banned in Vietnam and nobody realized 23 00:02:11,870 --> 00:02:15,961 that the same chemicals were being used here. 24 00:02:18,529 --> 00:02:20,792 And it's still going on. 25 00:03:15,847 --> 00:03:18,328 - Agent Orange was a tremendously 26 00:03:18,372 --> 00:03:21,549 destructive component of a tremendously destructive war. 27 00:03:24,726 --> 00:03:28,425 In its own unique way, Agent Orange was 28 00:03:29,557 --> 00:03:31,167 the most destructive instance 29 00:03:31,211 --> 00:03:34,126 of chemical warfare in modern history. 30 00:03:51,056 --> 00:03:53,015 - You're such a good puppy, uh-huh. 31 00:03:53,058 --> 00:03:54,408 You're gonna be a big help? 32 00:03:59,674 --> 00:04:01,893 This is our newt pond. 33 00:04:01,937 --> 00:04:04,548 If the sun comes out, the newts will come out 34 00:04:04,592 --> 00:04:07,856 but they're all in hiding, and in the spring 35 00:04:07,899 --> 00:04:11,251 which probably in another month, they have orgies. 36 00:04:11,294 --> 00:04:14,906 Really, I have X-rated pictures of my newts. 37 00:04:15,907 --> 00:04:18,910 [chickens clucking] 38 00:04:20,347 --> 00:04:22,262 When I was still five years old or something, 39 00:04:22,305 --> 00:04:25,221 I read everything, cereal boxes, the New York Times. 40 00:04:25,265 --> 00:04:27,484 I mean it just didn't matter 41 00:04:27,528 --> 00:04:30,313 and it was still during the war 42 00:04:30,357 --> 00:04:34,317 and I read something about all the birds 43 00:04:34,361 --> 00:04:38,495 being killed by oil spills from ships being blown up 44 00:04:38,539 --> 00:04:40,454 and that's what I worried about 45 00:04:40,497 --> 00:04:43,370 during the War was all those birds. 46 00:04:43,413 --> 00:04:46,416 You coming, Mike? You gonna help me? 47 00:04:46,460 --> 00:04:47,983 And I started writing letters. 48 00:04:48,026 --> 00:04:51,073 I'm not sure who I sent them to or [chuckles], 49 00:04:51,116 --> 00:04:54,729 wanting someone to take care of those birds, please! 50 00:04:57,122 --> 00:05:02,127 Maybe that was the beginning of my activism, I have no idea. 51 00:05:06,088 --> 00:05:08,308 We moved here in '74. 52 00:05:09,657 --> 00:05:12,964 The kids were just part of this landscape. 53 00:05:13,008 --> 00:05:14,575 They were down along the river. 54 00:05:14,618 --> 00:05:17,099 They knew everything that lived down there, 55 00:05:18,448 --> 00:05:20,798 the dippers and they're called dippers 56 00:05:20,842 --> 00:05:23,540 because they'll sit on a rock and bow to you. 57 00:05:26,761 --> 00:05:30,591 My kids loved it, I mean they were part of it. 58 00:05:33,333 --> 00:05:36,510 There were beavers and otters in the river then too 59 00:05:36,553 --> 00:05:40,601 and of course all the fish and the herons and ospreys. 60 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,735 So they just were part of that, they loved it. 61 00:05:46,215 --> 00:05:47,999 There was nothing to worry about. 62 00:05:51,438 --> 00:05:53,918 [saw buzzing] 63 00:05:55,224 --> 00:05:58,227 [vehicles rumbling] 64 00:05:59,359 --> 00:06:02,013 [truck beeping] 65 00:06:07,062 --> 00:06:08,716 [Carol] Clear-cutting is one of the most 66 00:06:08,759 --> 00:06:10,631 insane things you could ever do. 67 00:06:10,674 --> 00:06:15,113 It's like strip mining a living organism, which a forest is. 68 00:06:17,464 --> 00:06:21,119 They weren't required to replant and most 69 00:06:21,163 --> 00:06:24,906 of those clear-cuts developed into huge brush fields. 70 00:06:24,949 --> 00:06:28,083 Anything that would save the soil was better than nothing. 71 00:06:31,739 --> 00:06:33,218 Then all of a sudden they were faced 72 00:06:33,262 --> 00:06:35,786 with this law that says you can't clear-cut 73 00:06:35,830 --> 00:06:38,267 unless you replant within three years. 74 00:06:39,964 --> 00:06:42,314 So then they had to clear all the brush 75 00:06:42,358 --> 00:06:45,492 on these old clear-cuts so they could replant them. 76 00:06:48,146 --> 00:06:50,279 It just all coincided 77 00:06:50,322 --> 00:06:54,936 with the end of the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam. 78 00:07:05,381 --> 00:07:08,558 Michael Newton from Oregon State University 79 00:07:08,602 --> 00:07:12,214 was getting surplus barrels of Agent Orange 80 00:07:12,257 --> 00:07:16,348 that the Air Force couldn't use anymore in Vietnam 81 00:07:16,392 --> 00:07:19,351 and was praising the use of these things 82 00:07:19,395 --> 00:07:24,095 and how they were going to transform forestry forever. 83 00:07:26,228 --> 00:07:29,274 And they started to just blanket these 84 00:07:29,318 --> 00:07:32,843 huge clear-cuts with a lot of Agent Orange. 85 00:07:35,455 --> 00:07:40,024 It drifts, and we could smell it and within a few days, 86 00:07:40,068 --> 00:07:43,506 our garden was dead, the kids were all sick again 87 00:07:43,550 --> 00:07:45,813 and the dog got so sick he died. 88 00:07:49,381 --> 00:07:52,472 [ominous tones] 89 00:07:54,038 --> 00:07:56,650 One woman had had 14 miscarriages 90 00:07:58,042 --> 00:08:01,306 and hunters were finding deformed deer, 91 00:08:01,350 --> 00:08:03,874 baby fawns with no eyes. 92 00:08:06,181 --> 00:08:10,054 Geese were hatching with horrendous deformities. 93 00:08:10,098 --> 00:08:13,362 They had their feet on backwards, they had crossed beaks. 94 00:08:15,059 --> 00:08:16,626 Some of them had only one wing 95 00:08:16,670 --> 00:08:19,455 or a little crippled up, you know what I mean? 96 00:08:21,196 --> 00:08:23,241 We just didn't know until we were hearing 97 00:08:23,285 --> 00:08:25,243 the same thing from other people and that 98 00:08:25,287 --> 00:08:27,463 it didn't happen until the spraying happened. 99 00:08:32,207 --> 00:08:34,426 That first meeting we had out here, 100 00:08:34,470 --> 00:08:37,865 no one knew what they were spraying or what it was for. 101 00:08:39,301 --> 00:08:41,042 A lot of people just assumed, well, 102 00:08:41,085 --> 00:08:43,261 it's the government doing it, it must be okay. 103 00:08:45,525 --> 00:08:47,918 We invited the Forest Service 104 00:08:47,962 --> 00:08:50,312 and we were basically saying 105 00:08:50,355 --> 00:08:52,314 "This is what's happening to us and maybe you 106 00:08:52,357 --> 00:08:55,230 don't know about it but now you do and you need to stop." 107 00:08:57,493 --> 00:09:00,148 And of course they didn't take us seriously at all. 108 00:09:07,721 --> 00:09:10,941 We call ourselves the document junkies, you know? 109 00:09:12,377 --> 00:09:15,119 Yeah, "no trace Of contamination found." 110 00:09:15,163 --> 00:09:17,078 That's the lies they got published. 111 00:09:18,601 --> 00:09:21,256 - Carol has been just a tireless champion 112 00:09:21,299 --> 00:09:25,608 for uncovering true, factual, scientifically-based 113 00:09:25,652 --> 00:09:30,004 information and trying to get that before decision makers. 114 00:09:30,918 --> 00:09:33,398 [protesters chanting] 115 00:09:33,442 --> 00:09:35,836 These people were just literally at their wit's end 116 00:09:35,879 --> 00:09:38,926 and I remember sitting there thinking Bruce, 117 00:09:38,969 --> 00:09:41,842 there's some way you've gotta help these people. 118 00:09:41,885 --> 00:09:45,541 They are literally -- nobody's willing to help 'em. 119 00:09:45,585 --> 00:09:48,500 And I said, you've gotta produce the experts 120 00:09:48,544 --> 00:09:50,938 and if you can produce the experts, I'll take 121 00:09:50,981 --> 00:09:54,594 your case on and we'll go to battle over it. 122 00:09:54,637 --> 00:09:55,725 [camera snaps] 123 00:10:03,951 --> 00:10:06,344 - It was raining a minute ago and the sun just came out. 124 00:10:06,388 --> 00:10:09,217 So I just wanted to document this. 125 00:10:09,260 --> 00:10:10,784 I think this is why you're not 126 00:10:10,827 --> 00:10:13,395 supposed to spray at certain temperatures 127 00:10:13,438 --> 00:10:15,179 and obviously you're not supposed to spray 128 00:10:15,223 --> 00:10:17,660 during the rain because it goes right down 129 00:10:17,704 --> 00:10:21,490 into the creek and over there and over there. 130 00:10:21,533 --> 00:10:24,188 Anyways, everything's going into the creek around here. 131 00:10:26,582 --> 00:10:29,106 These vapors, I'm breathing 'em right now. 132 00:10:29,150 --> 00:10:31,282 I'm in a gas chamber right now. 133 00:10:32,588 --> 00:10:34,459 These chemicals volatize. 134 00:10:34,503 --> 00:10:36,636 [helicopter whirring] 135 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:38,246 You gotta be f'ing kidding me. 136 00:10:40,944 --> 00:10:42,424 I just got sprayed again. 137 00:10:47,951 --> 00:10:49,779 [horns honking] 138 00:19:13,282 --> 00:19:15,154 - [Reporter] At the White House, 139 00:19:15,197 --> 00:19:16,981 the stage of history is set for first meeting between 140 00:19:17,025 --> 00:19:19,332 President Eisenhower and Senator Kennedy since the election. 141 00:19:19,375 --> 00:19:21,203 - When Eisenhower passed over 142 00:19:21,247 --> 00:19:24,685 the national security apparatus to John Kennedy, 143 00:19:26,165 --> 00:19:28,210 how scared we had to be that Communism 144 00:19:28,254 --> 00:19:33,215 was on the march and we had to stop it wherever it was. 145 00:19:33,259 --> 00:19:38,177 Kennedy loved the idea that American ingenuity, 146 00:19:38,220 --> 00:19:42,093 not just big, scary bombs but 147 00:19:42,137 --> 00:19:46,272 different, more surgical kinds of technologies could be used 148 00:19:46,315 --> 00:19:50,406 to defeat these insurgencies. And Agent Orange, 149 00:19:50,450 --> 00:19:55,411 herbicides in general, was part of that strategic view. 150 00:19:56,325 --> 00:19:57,805 [dramatic trumpet music] 151 00:19:59,589 --> 00:20:01,591 - [Spokesman] Here at the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, 152 00:20:01,635 --> 00:20:04,942 Michigan, revolutionary chemical killers are being 153 00:20:04,986 --> 00:20:07,989 produced to help rid us of these costly pests. 154 00:20:08,032 --> 00:20:10,600 One of the newest and most versatile weapons in Dow's 155 00:20:10,644 --> 00:20:15,039 arsenal of chemical warfare is 2,4-Dow weed killer. 156 00:20:15,083 --> 00:20:16,737 Proved in action against hundreds 157 00:20:16,780 --> 00:20:19,827 of weeds and a wide variety of crops. 158 00:20:19,870 --> 00:20:23,570 2,4-D is a growth regulator type of weed killer. 159 00:20:23,613 --> 00:20:28,270 The action is physiological, appearing to upset the plant's 160 00:20:28,314 --> 00:20:32,448 growth processes and causing gradual but certain death. 161 00:20:44,417 --> 00:20:47,855 - The Saigon government in 1961 162 00:20:47,898 --> 00:20:51,293 was a vociferous proponent 163 00:20:51,337 --> 00:20:55,036 of the use of herbicides in Vietnam. 164 00:20:56,690 --> 00:21:00,215 The Diem government was fighting a Communist insurgency 165 00:21:00,259 --> 00:21:04,741 in the South that was supplied by the North. 166 00:21:04,785 --> 00:21:06,656 [gunfire clacking] 167 00:21:06,700 --> 00:21:09,877 They felt that the insurgency 168 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:13,097 was a major threat to their existence. 169 00:21:30,114 --> 00:21:30,941 - Okay. 170 00:21:32,247 --> 00:21:35,076 This is in October, 1961. 171 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:37,296 Things haven't really gotten started yet. 172 00:21:39,036 --> 00:21:42,649 These are Telexes: it's a message from Ambassador Nolting 173 00:21:42,692 --> 00:21:47,001 but basically saying President Diem is begging people 174 00:21:47,044 --> 00:21:52,049 to spray crops and there's so much doubt and confusion 175 00:21:53,747 --> 00:21:55,618 in Washington about whether to do this or not. 176 00:22:26,562 --> 00:22:29,522 - And as long as they controlled the defoliation program 177 00:22:29,565 --> 00:22:32,916 in a very professional way, then there wasn't any concern 178 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:37,704 that the prohibitions of the Geneva Protocol applied. 179 00:22:59,465 --> 00:23:01,510 "The President has approved the recommendation 180 00:23:01,554 --> 00:23:03,991 of the Secretary of State and the Deputy Secretary 181 00:23:04,034 --> 00:23:07,429 of Defense to participate in a selective 182 00:23:07,473 --> 00:23:10,345 and carefully controlled joint program 183 00:23:10,389 --> 00:23:13,174 of defoliant operations in Vietnam, 184 00:23:13,217 --> 00:23:15,611 starting with the clearance of key routes 185 00:23:15,655 --> 00:23:19,093 and proceeding thereafter to food denial." 186 00:23:25,142 --> 00:23:27,101 - [Zierler] - Take away the forest cover, 187 00:23:27,144 --> 00:23:29,495 take away the insurgents' capability 188 00:23:29,538 --> 00:23:32,889 to hide and conduct guerrilla ambush operations. 189 00:23:36,415 --> 00:23:40,331 But once the overall war escalated, the defoliation program 190 00:23:40,375 --> 00:23:43,987 just sort of followed rather mindlessly right behind it. 191 00:23:47,338 --> 00:23:50,472 Spraying millions of gallons of highly concentrated 192 00:23:50,516 --> 00:23:55,477 herbicides indiscriminately over vast areas of forest 193 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:58,915 many times over is chemical warfare. 194 00:24:00,613 --> 00:24:04,268 It was highly destructive and it was massive. 195 00:24:05,748 --> 00:24:09,143 It was a weapon of mass destruction. 196 00:24:23,157 --> 00:24:26,290 - Ranch Hand was the name for the 197 00:24:26,334 --> 00:24:30,120 herbicide defoliation program run by the Air Force. 198 00:24:31,774 --> 00:24:36,431 I was sent over to Vietnam in May of 1971 199 00:24:36,475 --> 00:24:38,520 to do the final historical write-up 200 00:24:38,564 --> 00:24:40,087 of the Ranch Hand program. 201 00:24:48,269 --> 00:24:51,011 I had made friends with a young Army lieutenant over there 202 00:24:51,054 --> 00:24:54,493 and he came to me one afternoon and said, 203 00:24:54,536 --> 00:24:56,886 "We have received orders from headquarters." 204 00:24:56,930 --> 00:24:58,453 This was 1971. 205 00:24:59,846 --> 00:25:02,544 "We are to dump the computer and erase it." 206 00:25:02,588 --> 00:25:06,156 Not download it and ship to Washington. 207 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,332 "Dumped," he said. 208 00:25:08,376 --> 00:25:10,509 He said, "If you want any of that information 209 00:25:10,552 --> 00:25:12,815 for your report, you're gonna have to come 210 00:25:12,859 --> 00:25:15,209 with me tonight and we'll go over to MACV Headquarters 211 00:25:15,252 --> 00:25:18,560 and I'll get you into my office and we'll print 'em out." 212 00:25:18,604 --> 00:25:20,388 And he turned on the machine 213 00:25:20,431 --> 00:25:22,695 and we printed out a stack like that, 214 00:25:24,174 --> 00:25:26,437 that had missions, 215 00:25:28,135 --> 00:25:30,703 sorties, how many aircraft in every mission, 216 00:25:32,443 --> 00:25:36,839 coordinates, how many gallons dropped, the dates, 217 00:25:36,883 --> 00:25:41,452 everything for all of Southeast Asia including Laos. 218 00:25:43,454 --> 00:25:45,413 My report indicated that 219 00:25:47,371 --> 00:25:48,851 there were some real problems 220 00:25:48,895 --> 00:25:51,550 developing from people exposed to Agent Orange. 221 00:25:55,684 --> 00:26:00,254 I finished my report and it was immediately 222 00:26:00,297 --> 00:26:04,432 classified SECRET and the government kept it locked up 223 00:26:04,475 --> 00:26:08,871 for over 35 years and denied that it even existed. 224 00:26:10,394 --> 00:26:12,266 - It was tantamount to a cover up regardless. 225 00:26:12,309 --> 00:26:15,574 There was information that was withheld, distortions 226 00:26:16,923 --> 00:26:18,794 that were commonplace, 227 00:26:18,838 --> 00:26:20,491 that did a real disservice 228 00:26:20,535 --> 00:26:23,756 to the veterans and to our rule of law. 229 00:26:25,540 --> 00:26:28,587 All of that occurred with far greater regularity 230 00:26:28,630 --> 00:26:33,592 and at far higher levels than I would like to acknowledge. 231 00:26:35,419 --> 00:26:37,770 - [Clary] The powers that be went to great lengths 232 00:26:37,813 --> 00:26:39,423 to play down-- 233 00:26:40,903 --> 00:26:45,081 to deny--any effect of the TCDD, dioxin, 234 00:26:45,125 --> 00:26:47,388 in the herbicide. 235 00:27:19,768 --> 00:27:22,553 - When we started the litigation, 236 00:27:22,597 --> 00:27:24,686 this became a real David and Goliath act 237 00:27:24,730 --> 00:27:28,255 because we had the whole U.S.Attorney's office representing 238 00:27:28,298 --> 00:27:31,693 the Federal government and the largest law firm 239 00:27:31,737 --> 00:27:35,131 in the state of Oregon representing I.F.A., 240 00:27:35,175 --> 00:27:37,656 which is a front group for the chemical 241 00:27:37,699 --> 00:27:40,528 manufacturers and for timber sprayers. 242 00:27:45,533 --> 00:27:48,928 The Forest Service had been unwilling to do any kind 243 00:27:48,971 --> 00:27:51,757 of community health survey after the spraying 244 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:54,716 to see if anybody was in fact being harmed. 245 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:58,024 It was simply saying,"Our chemicals aren't harming anybody." 246 00:27:58,067 --> 00:28:00,853 But it wasn't looking to see if they were harmed. 247 00:28:00,896 --> 00:28:04,770 - My cousin, she said she had a miscarriage 248 00:28:04,813 --> 00:28:07,511 and a friend of mine, she did have a miscarriage. 249 00:28:07,555 --> 00:28:09,078 - [Reporter] And this was all 250 00:28:09,122 --> 00:28:09,949 in this area where they're spraying? 251 00:28:09,992 --> 00:28:11,602 - Yeah. 252 00:28:11,646 --> 00:28:14,867 - The women have lived in areas 253 00:28:14,910 --> 00:28:17,043 that have been sprayed very close to their homes. 254 00:28:17,086 --> 00:28:19,393 Many of us have gravity-feed water systems. 255 00:28:19,436 --> 00:28:21,221 And the dates that they were sprayed 256 00:28:21,264 --> 00:28:23,527 are really amazing because all of the areas 257 00:28:23,571 --> 00:28:26,139 were sprayed within a month before the miscarriage. 258 00:28:26,182 --> 00:28:28,010 - And it was very stunning 259 00:28:29,533 --> 00:28:32,536 that they would spray an area and within a month 260 00:28:32,580 --> 00:28:35,801 the miscarriage rate--what they called 261 00:28:35,844 --> 00:28:39,935 the spontaneous abortion rate--would skyrocket, 262 00:28:41,023 --> 00:28:43,460 according to the hospital data. 263 00:28:53,427 --> 00:28:56,909 - Between my husband and I and our nurse practitioner, 264 00:28:56,952 --> 00:29:01,696 we delivered between 100 and 150 children a year... 265 00:29:04,264 --> 00:29:06,875 seeing a larger number of birth defects 266 00:29:06,919 --> 00:29:09,356 than we would've expected. 267 00:29:09,399 --> 00:29:12,925 We saw a number of congenital hearts. 268 00:29:14,665 --> 00:29:19,496 And I think it was 1978, I delivered an anencephalic child. 269 00:29:21,237 --> 00:29:24,719 That's a child that doesn't have basically the normal brain. 270 00:29:26,199 --> 00:29:27,722 In my lifetime of delivering babies, 271 00:29:27,766 --> 00:29:29,506 I would not expect ever to see one. 272 00:29:30,943 --> 00:29:33,423 And about a year later, 273 00:29:33,467 --> 00:29:37,123 we delivered a second anencephalic child. 274 00:29:37,166 --> 00:29:40,604 Those odds were just astronomical 275 00:29:40,648 --> 00:29:42,781 that a small practice like ours 276 00:29:42,824 --> 00:29:44,739 would have two anencephalic children. 277 00:29:46,349 --> 00:29:48,787 All of these chemicals are suspect. 278 00:29:48,830 --> 00:29:51,311 We know in animals that they cause birth defects. 279 00:29:51,354 --> 00:29:53,443 Why are we using them in humans? 280 00:29:56,055 --> 00:29:58,797 It made me realize that there was something going on 281 00:30:00,581 --> 00:30:03,149 and the something that I was aware of 282 00:30:03,192 --> 00:30:06,500 was broadcast spraying of herbicides. 283 00:30:06,543 --> 00:30:11,548 At that point, it was mainly 2,4-D over our water supplies 284 00:30:12,941 --> 00:30:15,161 because we drink surface water at the coast. 285 00:30:16,727 --> 00:30:19,948 [ominous tones ] 286 00:30:52,502 --> 00:30:54,461 [camera snaps] 287 00:30:57,507 --> 00:31:01,337 - Down below me is a dam and a water supply. 288 00:31:01,381 --> 00:31:04,123 If this camera shows it, there's the helicopter 289 00:31:04,166 --> 00:31:06,038 on the ridge right there by the trees. 290 00:31:06,081 --> 00:31:08,692 So we're gonna be spraying right below it. 291 00:31:08,736 --> 00:31:10,607 Crazy! 292 00:31:10,651 --> 00:31:13,915 That whole unit over there is dead, dead, dead, dead 293 00:31:13,959 --> 00:31:15,264 and they're spraying more chemicals on it 294 00:31:15,308 --> 00:31:17,266 right now as we speak. 295 00:31:17,310 --> 00:31:19,225 I gotta hold this low because 296 00:31:19,268 --> 00:31:21,531 right over there is the honcho of the forest. 297 00:31:23,272 --> 00:31:26,188 So basically we dropped 1160 gallons 298 00:31:27,494 --> 00:31:29,061 into this right here 299 00:31:30,584 --> 00:31:32,455 and it is, I'm gonna show you real quick, 300 00:31:34,153 --> 00:31:39,114 it's gonna go basically right down into that watershed 301 00:31:40,550 --> 00:31:42,901 and the unit's already de-weeded anyways. 302 00:31:42,944 --> 00:31:44,554 I don't know why they did that. 303 00:31:45,642 --> 00:31:46,774 And here's the reservoir, 304 00:31:46,817 --> 00:31:48,123 I'm down here at the reservoir. 305 00:31:50,343 --> 00:31:52,214 And we're gonna go spray 306 00:31:53,694 --> 00:31:55,000 on the other side of the reservoir now. 307 00:31:55,043 --> 00:31:56,610 Both sides of the watershed. 308 00:31:59,613 --> 00:32:02,268 [Darryl coughs] 309 00:32:03,312 --> 00:32:05,271 My throat is burning. 310 00:32:16,891 --> 00:32:20,721 - The kids were involved in the whole herbicide battle. 311 00:32:23,028 --> 00:32:25,160 They were helping write the newsletters 312 00:32:25,204 --> 00:32:28,207 and draw the pictures and help with signs. 313 00:32:31,471 --> 00:32:34,648 There's the poster that Daphne made. 314 00:32:34,691 --> 00:32:36,606 She did that when she was about 11. 315 00:32:39,174 --> 00:32:41,872 They were right in the thick of it. 316 00:32:45,833 --> 00:32:48,096 We had like five minutes to come up with a name 317 00:32:48,140 --> 00:32:53,145 for this group: Citizens Against Toxic Sprays, CATS. 318 00:32:54,973 --> 00:32:58,237 It wasn't the most imaginative name but it worked, I guess. 319 00:32:59,238 --> 00:33:01,022 Hi. - Hi, Carol. 320 00:33:01,066 --> 00:33:04,765 - And it wasn't until basically CATS was formed 321 00:33:04,808 --> 00:33:09,117 and started questioning it with filing a court action 322 00:33:09,161 --> 00:33:12,860 and then it suddenly got some attention and 323 00:33:13,948 --> 00:33:15,776 there was a lot of pushback 324 00:33:15,819 --> 00:33:20,346 from the chemical companies and the timber companies. 325 00:33:20,389 --> 00:33:22,783 - Chemicals are being used as a means 326 00:33:22,826 --> 00:33:26,482 of achieving environmental goals, really. 327 00:33:28,876 --> 00:33:32,880 The attack is not scientific, it's purely emotional. 328 00:33:32,923 --> 00:33:37,058 The public does not understand and we unfortunately 329 00:33:37,102 --> 00:33:40,757 haven't successfully communicated to the public as yet. 330 00:33:40,801 --> 00:33:43,804 Take 2,4,5-T for example. 331 00:33:43,847 --> 00:33:46,589 2,4,5-T is about as toxic as aspirin. 332 00:33:49,636 --> 00:33:52,378 The safety factor in the use of 2,4,5-T 333 00:33:52,421 --> 00:33:56,077 is far greater than the safety factors in use of aspirin. 334 00:33:56,121 --> 00:33:58,036 Now does the public understand that? 335 00:34:06,653 --> 00:34:08,394 - [Carol] Documents disappearing 336 00:34:08,437 --> 00:34:11,179 is a common thing I think in this whole story. 337 00:34:14,748 --> 00:34:16,532 Susan Swift's health study 338 00:34:16,576 --> 00:34:19,405 that she was doing of everybody in this valley... 339 00:34:22,147 --> 00:34:25,106 she had done door-to-door survey 340 00:34:25,150 --> 00:34:28,414 of peoples' health and the children's health and animals, 341 00:34:28,457 --> 00:34:31,156 anything that people could report about 342 00:34:33,027 --> 00:34:35,986 and her house getting broken into and this health study, 343 00:34:36,030 --> 00:34:39,686 all the data she had collected, it was gone. 344 00:34:43,646 --> 00:34:45,431 - I was just taking information 345 00:34:45,474 --> 00:34:46,954 and gathered the data together 346 00:34:46,997 --> 00:34:50,218 and I created a questionnaire to go 347 00:34:50,262 --> 00:34:54,048 and I interviewed every home up and down Five Rivers Road. 348 00:34:54,092 --> 00:34:55,571 There was an enormous amount 349 00:34:55,615 --> 00:34:59,532 of small tumors and miscarriages. 350 00:34:59,575 --> 00:35:02,752 Right after that, my box of 351 00:35:02,796 --> 00:35:05,538 documented forms disappeared out of my house. 352 00:35:07,627 --> 00:35:10,934 The board members of Citizens Against Toxic Sprays 353 00:35:10,978 --> 00:35:13,372 were going to Eugene over the mountain 354 00:35:13,415 --> 00:35:15,113 taking these Forest Service roads, 355 00:35:15,156 --> 00:35:17,332 just going straight up and over the mountain, 356 00:35:17,376 --> 00:35:19,856 all gravel little logging roads, 357 00:35:19,900 --> 00:35:24,426 and we were being followed by a shiny sedan 358 00:35:24,470 --> 00:35:26,385 with guys in suits. 359 00:35:26,428 --> 00:35:28,822 And that was pretty bizarre. 360 00:35:28,865 --> 00:35:32,521 [low, ominous tones] 361 00:35:35,785 --> 00:35:38,048 - One Saturday morning when my husband 362 00:35:38,092 --> 00:35:41,008 was making rounds at the hospital, 363 00:35:41,051 --> 00:35:44,838 two fellows in suits showed up at my front door 364 00:35:46,622 --> 00:35:50,017 and said they wanted to talk about the herbicides. 365 00:35:50,060 --> 00:35:52,150 And I said that was fine. 366 00:35:52,193 --> 00:35:54,152 My two children were running around 367 00:35:54,195 --> 00:35:55,675 very happily playing. 368 00:35:57,198 --> 00:35:58,721 They didn't really say where they were from. 369 00:36:00,506 --> 00:36:02,551 I said, "Come on in, have a cup of coffee." 370 00:36:02,595 --> 00:36:05,293 Because I had had a number of reporters 371 00:36:05,337 --> 00:36:09,950 and other people show up. And then when they said, 372 00:36:09,993 --> 00:36:13,345 "Do you know at all times where your children are?" 373 00:36:15,173 --> 00:36:17,697 I realized that I didn't. 374 00:36:19,177 --> 00:36:23,093 And I said it was time to end the interview 375 00:36:23,137 --> 00:36:27,359 because it was clearly a threat against me and my children. 376 00:36:32,668 --> 00:36:34,888 And it worked, I'm done. 377 00:36:36,672 --> 00:36:40,720 - [Bruce] A van that had dark tinted windows on both sides 378 00:36:40,763 --> 00:36:44,245 suddenly showed up outside of Carol and Steve's house, 379 00:36:44,289 --> 00:36:45,768 who were the leaders of 380 00:36:45,812 --> 00:36:48,423 the Citizens Against Toxic Spray movement. 381 00:36:48,467 --> 00:36:49,946 - This is for Sadie. 382 00:36:51,818 --> 00:36:54,516 The car was parked here but they were walking up here 383 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:58,868 with all their gear, obviously thinking I wasn't home. 384 00:37:00,305 --> 00:37:02,481 He didn't really explain why they were here. 385 00:37:02,524 --> 00:37:04,613 It was when I realized the other guy 386 00:37:04,657 --> 00:37:07,312 was sneaking up there and talking to the kids, 387 00:37:07,355 --> 00:37:08,748 then I got kind of angry. 388 00:37:10,228 --> 00:37:12,491 He was asking them all about what kinds 389 00:37:12,534 --> 00:37:17,539 of deformed critters we had in the freezer--because we did! 390 00:37:19,019 --> 00:37:20,586 We saved a bunch of them hoping to get 'em 391 00:37:20,629 --> 00:37:23,284 analyzed to see what was in 'em. 392 00:37:23,328 --> 00:37:26,244 - But the rear door flew open as it drove away and they 393 00:37:26,287 --> 00:37:29,595 could see that there were large video cameras in there. 394 00:37:31,336 --> 00:37:33,120 - [Carol] The phone company itself, their employees 395 00:37:33,163 --> 00:37:36,210 told us that our phones were being tapped. 396 00:37:38,691 --> 00:37:40,432 Steve would get in the car 397 00:37:40,475 --> 00:37:42,390 and he would usually drive over the back roads. 398 00:37:42,434 --> 00:37:45,393 Nobody drives over there, nobody did then. 399 00:37:46,873 --> 00:37:48,440 Suddenly, there'd be a car behind him 400 00:37:48,483 --> 00:37:51,486 and it would stick to him all the way 401 00:37:51,530 --> 00:37:56,012 every time they went to the valley to do anything. 402 00:37:56,056 --> 00:37:57,753 Who is it? We don't know. 403 00:37:57,797 --> 00:38:01,322 Is it government people? Is it industry people? 404 00:38:01,366 --> 00:38:03,846 There was no way to really know. 405 00:38:05,674 --> 00:38:07,459 - [Bruce] It was an obvious attempt to try to intimidate 406 00:38:07,502 --> 00:38:10,984 the folks who were bringing this litigation 407 00:38:11,027 --> 00:38:13,987 to try to reduce herbicide aerial spraying. 408 00:38:20,950 --> 00:38:24,476 - Well, we won a temporary injunction. 409 00:38:28,654 --> 00:38:30,699 What the Judge in the CATS case, 410 00:38:30,743 --> 00:38:33,398 thanks to all those scientists and studies 411 00:38:33,441 --> 00:38:37,619 that we were able to compile, ruled was that hey, 412 00:38:37,663 --> 00:38:41,623 you've got to include in your environmental impact 413 00:38:41,667 --> 00:38:45,410 statement the effects of these chemicals in Vietnam. 414 00:38:47,150 --> 00:38:51,198 And that was a blow to the Forest Service because by then, 415 00:38:51,241 --> 00:38:56,246 there were some really documented impacts in Vietnam. 416 00:39:03,558 --> 00:39:05,778 We felt vindicated in a lot of ways 417 00:39:05,821 --> 00:39:10,217 but his injunction only applied to 2,4,5-T, 418 00:39:10,260 --> 00:39:12,088 which was half of Agent Orange. 419 00:39:20,749 --> 00:39:24,144 The CATS case generated quite a bit of publicity 420 00:39:25,841 --> 00:39:29,715 just because it was so amazing that these people living 421 00:39:29,758 --> 00:39:33,240 out in the woods could sue the Federal government and win. 422 00:39:33,283 --> 00:39:36,896 It was kind of unheard of at that point, 423 00:39:36,939 --> 00:39:38,985 especially on an environmental issue. 424 00:39:40,769 --> 00:39:44,164 So other people were contacting us. 425 00:39:44,207 --> 00:39:47,254 They were all experiencing the same thing. 426 00:39:47,297 --> 00:39:51,258 This was people in other places in Oregon, in 427 00:39:51,301 --> 00:39:55,915 the state of Washington, in Idaho, in Northern California. 428 00:39:55,958 --> 00:39:59,484 There were even requests from places back east. 429 00:40:01,311 --> 00:40:03,096 - [Susan] One thing I'll never forget is that just 430 00:40:03,139 --> 00:40:06,795 gathering scientific data from Oregon State University, 431 00:40:06,839 --> 00:40:09,885 what we were able to find from their own library, 432 00:40:09,929 --> 00:40:13,280 studies in Idaho of roadside spray workers 433 00:40:13,323 --> 00:40:17,806 that showed deformed sperm after the spray season. 434 00:40:19,286 --> 00:40:22,637 - So we put together an information packet 435 00:40:22,681 --> 00:40:25,161 and then they could use that information to take 436 00:40:25,205 --> 00:40:29,557 their own actions and file their own cases, whatever. 437 00:40:36,825 --> 00:40:40,089 [ominous music] 438 00:40:43,136 --> 00:40:46,052 There were negative feelings toward what we were doing. 439 00:40:46,095 --> 00:40:47,706 The propaganda put out by 440 00:40:47,749 --> 00:40:50,143 the chemical companies and the timber companies 441 00:40:50,186 --> 00:40:53,189 that number one, there's nothing wrong with the sprays 442 00:40:53,233 --> 00:40:57,280 and number two, these people are just the lunatic fringe. 443 00:40:59,848 --> 00:41:01,589 They convinced the loggers or some 444 00:41:01,633 --> 00:41:03,504 of them anyway that they were gonna all 445 00:41:03,548 --> 00:41:07,377 be out of work if they couldn't use the herbicides. 446 00:41:17,475 --> 00:41:21,827 - The house was on fire when Carol came up the driveway. 447 00:41:21,870 --> 00:41:23,481 The house was totally in flames. 448 00:41:24,873 --> 00:41:26,440 Patrick said he stopped her, 449 00:41:26,484 --> 00:41:28,268 that she grabbed a knife off his belt and started 450 00:41:28,311 --> 00:41:31,793 running up the hill and he just grabbed her and held her. 451 00:41:33,229 --> 00:41:36,232 And he felt sure that Carol was gonna 452 00:41:36,276 --> 00:41:38,887 try to take her own life that night. 453 00:41:43,718 --> 00:41:46,504 The Van Strum children were gone... 454 00:41:52,684 --> 00:41:55,077 And we all crumbled, we all just couldn't believe it. 455 00:42:00,909 --> 00:42:03,521 - The firefighters said it was arson. 456 00:42:16,621 --> 00:42:20,276 It's hard to talk about it, I just can't really. 457 00:42:38,730 --> 00:42:41,602 They had done the absolute worst thing anybody 458 00:42:41,646 --> 00:42:46,346 could do to me and they couldn't do anymore. 459 00:42:50,263 --> 00:42:52,570 Okay everybody, who's hungry? 460 00:42:53,658 --> 00:42:55,268 Yes, you want some brekker. 461 00:42:55,311 --> 00:42:56,965 The animals were still here. 462 00:42:57,009 --> 00:43:00,012 I think that's what kept me going, you know? 463 00:43:00,055 --> 00:43:02,057 It was what was left of my kids 464 00:43:02,101 --> 00:43:04,582 was what they loved, you know? 465 00:43:05,583 --> 00:43:07,759 Oh boy, here you go. 466 00:43:07,802 --> 00:43:11,589 Oakey's the big one, 30 years old. 467 00:43:11,632 --> 00:43:13,155 He's very intuitive. 468 00:43:14,940 --> 00:43:17,943 Like if you're really upset about something, he will come 469 00:43:17,986 --> 00:43:22,469 and just like lean against you and be comforting. 470 00:43:23,557 --> 00:43:24,732 Hey, Rudy-tooty. 471 00:43:26,516 --> 00:43:30,825 He wants to help you feel better, I don't know. 472 00:43:32,740 --> 00:43:33,785 I rely on him. 473 00:43:35,874 --> 00:43:37,571 [Carol laughs] 474 00:43:39,573 --> 00:43:43,142 This was the garage, there was no floor here. 475 00:43:43,185 --> 00:43:46,667 And so we put a floor in and I just was living 476 00:43:48,016 --> 00:43:50,236 in this room and I still am. 477 00:43:54,240 --> 00:43:59,158 In a way, it was in honor of my kids I had to keep going. 478 00:43:59,201 --> 00:44:03,031 They fought this fight too, it wasn't just me. 479 00:44:03,075 --> 00:44:07,427 And the only thing was to keep going for their sake. 480 00:47:31,587 --> 00:47:35,330 - The Federal government basically federalized 481 00:47:35,374 --> 00:47:38,072 all the chemical companies to do nothing but produce 482 00:47:39,769 --> 00:47:41,859 Agent Orange and other chemicals for the war in Vietnam. 483 00:47:43,338 --> 00:47:44,905 And they knew that the more they produced, 484 00:47:44,949 --> 00:47:46,037 the more money they would make. 485 00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:48,126 So they, in order to 486 00:47:49,910 --> 00:47:52,130 deliver as much as they could as quickly as they could, 487 00:47:52,173 --> 00:47:55,568 they violated then existing industry standards 488 00:47:55,611 --> 00:47:57,744 for the production of herbicides 489 00:47:57,787 --> 00:48:01,487 by using a process that was much shorter, 490 00:48:01,530 --> 00:48:03,358 at higher temperatures, 491 00:48:03,402 --> 00:48:07,362 that was responsible for the presence of the dioxin 492 00:48:07,406 --> 00:48:12,411 in the ultimate chemical substances that were created. 493 00:48:14,108 --> 00:48:15,588 And they knew that it posed a risk to individuals. 494 00:48:15,631 --> 00:48:17,764 They knew that it posed a risk to the land. 495 00:48:17,807 --> 00:48:19,897 They knew that it contained a poison 496 00:48:21,550 --> 00:48:25,337 and they knew that the effects could be devastating. 497 00:48:34,650 --> 00:48:36,478 - While I was preparing my report, 498 00:48:36,522 --> 00:48:40,047 I came across a letter that I got out of headquarters 499 00:48:40,091 --> 00:48:44,486 that was from Dow to the government and back and said, 500 00:48:44,530 --> 00:48:46,445 "We cannot produce the quantities 501 00:48:46,488 --> 00:48:51,493 of Agent Orange you want and maintain the low level, 502 00:48:52,973 --> 00:48:55,628 insignificant level, of TCDD, dioxin." 503 00:48:57,064 --> 00:48:58,631 And they went back and said, 504 00:48:58,674 --> 00:49:01,025 "Don't worry about it, we need the quantities. 505 00:49:02,809 --> 00:49:05,551 Besides, it's gonna be sprayed on the jungle over there. 506 00:49:05,594 --> 00:49:07,857 There aren't gonna be any people there. 507 00:49:07,901 --> 00:49:09,729 And if they happen to get into it, so what? 508 00:49:09,772 --> 00:49:10,643 We're at war." 509 00:49:12,079 --> 00:49:14,125 - In a letter from Dr. James Clary, 510 00:49:14,168 --> 00:49:16,910 an Air Force scientist, saying that he and others involved 511 00:49:16,954 --> 00:49:20,392 in Ranch Hand knew that Agent Orange was harmful. 512 00:49:27,138 --> 00:49:29,140 - We knew dioxin 513 00:49:30,576 --> 00:49:33,535 is an extremely potent carcinogenic, 514 00:49:35,233 --> 00:49:37,713 mutagenic, meaning it causes chromosomes to mutate, 515 00:49:39,193 --> 00:49:42,066 teratogenic, affecting the fetus of a woman. 516 00:49:43,023 --> 00:49:44,198 Very potent compound. 517 00:49:48,942 --> 00:49:50,726 - National Bureau of Standards 518 00:49:50,770 --> 00:49:53,991 estimate on the half-life for a dioxin molecule: 519 00:49:55,035 --> 00:49:56,167 two billion years. 520 00:49:57,995 --> 00:50:01,346 That's why EPA regards it as equivalent to plutonium, 521 00:50:02,825 --> 00:50:06,090 both in its toxicity and in its longevity, 522 00:50:06,133 --> 00:50:08,005 how long it can persist. 523 00:50:09,745 --> 00:50:13,097 So it doesn't go away, it goes away politically. 524 00:50:14,620 --> 00:50:17,579 - This is the first time that the scientists have 525 00:50:17,623 --> 00:50:21,714 ever created a molecule this toxic and that they 526 00:50:21,757 --> 00:50:26,762 know that even just one to two parts per trillion 527 00:50:28,112 --> 00:50:30,070 can cause birth defects, mutations, cancer. 528 00:50:30,114 --> 00:50:33,987 - We sprayed 20 million gallons of that stuff over there. 529 00:50:35,423 --> 00:50:37,077 Their watersheds are contaminated. 530 00:50:37,121 --> 00:50:38,818 Their rice fields are contaminated. 531 00:50:38,861 --> 00:50:40,515 Their wells are contaminated. 532 00:50:41,951 --> 00:50:43,431 Depending on who you want to believe, 533 00:50:43,475 --> 00:50:46,043 there's four or 500,000 adults 534 00:50:46,086 --> 00:50:48,523 contaminated with it and half a million children. 535 00:50:51,570 --> 00:50:54,747 [somber tone] 536 00:52:41,984 --> 00:52:45,205 [helicopters whirring] 537 00:52:52,256 --> 00:52:56,042 - The Forest Service never did spray 2,4,5-T again. 538 00:52:56,085 --> 00:52:59,524 They substituted 2,4-D on the assumption 539 00:52:59,567 --> 00:53:02,353 that it had no dioxin in it 540 00:53:03,441 --> 00:53:04,920 and that it was safe 541 00:53:07,619 --> 00:53:11,318 and Melyse's water supply got sprayed. 542 00:53:14,974 --> 00:53:17,194 - [Reporter] Melyse Connelly was one of the Five Rivers 543 00:53:17,237 --> 00:53:18,891 women who pleaded with the government 544 00:53:18,934 --> 00:53:21,110 to come and test their environment. 545 00:53:21,154 --> 00:53:22,721 She remembers that the EPA 546 00:53:22,764 --> 00:53:25,245 sent two scientists from Colorado. 547 00:53:25,289 --> 00:53:26,899 They took some samples and left, 548 00:53:26,942 --> 00:53:29,467 promising to return in 90 days. 549 00:53:29,510 --> 00:53:31,033 In the meantime, they wanted 550 00:53:31,077 --> 00:53:33,122 Melyse to come up with more material. 551 00:53:33,166 --> 00:53:34,950 That included a backyard chicken 552 00:53:34,994 --> 00:53:37,518 which she still has in her freezer and a number 553 00:53:37,562 --> 00:53:41,043 of water samples taken with special EPA filters. 554 00:53:41,087 --> 00:53:42,741 - We called him, we wrote him. 555 00:53:42,784 --> 00:53:44,395 We wondered where he was. 556 00:53:44,438 --> 00:53:46,223 90 days is what he gave us, 557 00:53:46,266 --> 00:53:48,486 that he would be back in touch with us. 558 00:53:48,529 --> 00:53:50,009 That was in '79. 559 00:53:50,052 --> 00:53:51,880 '83, here we are. 560 00:53:51,924 --> 00:53:54,274 - Are you angry? - I'm very angry. 561 00:53:54,318 --> 00:53:55,623 I'm very upset. 562 00:53:57,625 --> 00:54:02,587 - There were samples taken of people in the area, 563 00:54:03,979 --> 00:54:06,330 of tissue and blood and I believe 564 00:54:06,373 --> 00:54:09,985 urine as well and submitted for testing. 565 00:54:10,029 --> 00:54:13,075 Somehow, they disappeared. 566 00:54:13,119 --> 00:54:16,296 How can you have something like that disappear? 567 00:54:16,340 --> 00:54:19,995 - Well it's both a bureaucratic bollix and suppression. 568 00:54:20,039 --> 00:54:22,302 - [reporter] Paul Merrell and Carol Van Strum 569 00:54:22,346 --> 00:54:24,957 have been battling with the EPA for years. 570 00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:27,351 They're also responsible for uncovering many 571 00:54:27,394 --> 00:54:29,570 of the EPA documents that have now come to light. 572 00:54:29,614 --> 00:54:34,575 - The EPA planned ahead of time with the Forest Service 573 00:54:36,360 --> 00:54:40,015 to come in after they sprayed and collect the body count. 574 00:54:40,059 --> 00:54:41,495 - [reporter] You're saying the people 575 00:54:41,539 --> 00:54:42,931 out there were used as guinea pigs? 576 00:54:42,975 --> 00:54:44,193 - That's right. - How do you know that? 577 00:54:44,237 --> 00:54:45,978 - From their own documents. 578 00:54:46,021 --> 00:54:48,633 - I'm not sure what's gonna happen now but 579 00:54:49,895 --> 00:54:52,376 somebody's gonna pay. 580 00:55:01,602 --> 00:55:03,343 - [reporter] Dr. Mike Newton of Oregon State 581 00:55:03,387 --> 00:55:05,345 says that a recent study of herbicide 582 00:55:05,389 --> 00:55:08,174 applicators showed no signs of health hazards. 583 00:55:28,499 --> 00:55:30,022 - They've got to start listening 584 00:55:30,065 --> 00:55:35,070 to some of the residents and our rights. 585 00:55:36,855 --> 00:55:39,771 I mean I have to move because my daughter became very ill 586 00:55:39,814 --> 00:55:43,252 just a year ago with a blood disease 587 00:55:43,296 --> 00:55:47,474 that has been associated with herbicides. 588 00:55:50,477 --> 00:55:52,479 I feel like I'm just 589 00:55:54,655 --> 00:55:57,049 up against the wall, you know? 590 00:55:57,092 --> 00:56:01,880 And that I've done all that I can do peaceably. 591 00:56:01,923 --> 00:56:06,363 - This is sort of a cause of life and death in a way. 592 00:56:25,469 --> 00:56:27,558 - Working within the system has been done. 593 00:56:27,601 --> 00:56:30,169 The appeals have been done, lawsuits have been done. 594 00:56:30,212 --> 00:56:32,389 Public hearings, conferences with officials 595 00:56:32,432 --> 00:56:34,695 have been done and still the spraying goes on. 596 00:56:36,480 --> 00:56:39,570 - This person has been contaminated. They spray people! 597 00:56:48,492 --> 00:56:50,058 - [Carol] There've been incidents 598 00:56:50,102 --> 00:56:51,930 in other parts of the country where 599 00:56:51,973 --> 00:56:53,845 people have actually shot at the spray helicopter. 600 00:57:00,721 --> 00:57:03,594 - [Masked Woman] A helicopter was burned as a message 601 00:57:03,637 --> 00:57:08,076 to the companies who profit from spraying poisons. 602 00:57:09,600 --> 00:57:12,690 We sabotage poison-spreading machines 603 00:57:12,733 --> 00:57:15,910 as an act of self-defense. 604 00:57:15,954 --> 00:57:18,435 - [Carol] No one was hurt. 605 00:57:18,478 --> 00:57:21,612 It was the frustration, even with the CATS case, 606 00:57:21,655 --> 00:57:24,528 that they could still go ahead and spray 2,4-D 607 00:57:24,571 --> 00:57:26,704 and at that point they were adding, since they 608 00:57:26,747 --> 00:57:29,663 couldn't use 2,4,5-T, they added glyphosate 609 00:57:29,707 --> 00:57:31,709 and atrazine and- - Tordon. 610 00:57:31,752 --> 00:57:34,189 - Tordon. - All these chemical 611 00:57:34,233 --> 00:57:36,801 cocktails that no one has ever put together 612 00:57:36,844 --> 00:57:38,933 and tested on any living creature. 613 00:57:38,977 --> 00:57:42,720 - And so they could continue spraying is the point. 614 00:57:42,763 --> 00:57:44,591 - [Masked Woman] Our present health 615 00:57:44,635 --> 00:57:48,900 and genetic future are at stake. We will strike again. 616 01:00:14,349 --> 01:00:16,656 - Newly released court documents indicate 617 01:00:16,700 --> 01:00:19,093 that the companies which manufactured Agent Orange 618 01:00:19,137 --> 01:00:23,054 knew as far back as the 1960s that one of its ingredients 619 01:00:23,097 --> 01:00:27,711 known as 2,4,5-T contained the toxic contaminant dioxin. 620 01:00:30,931 --> 01:00:35,153 - It just blew my mind to see documents, 621 01:00:35,196 --> 01:00:39,157 internal memos from chemical companies, that would say 622 01:00:39,200 --> 01:00:43,248 "We know this is toxic, we're gonna sell it anyway." 623 01:00:50,037 --> 01:00:53,998 - Dow realized that they needed to settle 624 01:00:54,041 --> 01:00:57,828 the Agent Orange case to keep all that information buried. 625 01:01:00,613 --> 01:01:04,182 In the fall of 1983, 626 01:01:04,225 --> 01:01:08,012 Dow as the leader of all the 2,4,5-T 627 01:01:08,055 --> 01:01:12,930 manufacturers withdrew all registrations for 2,4,5-T. 628 01:01:16,498 --> 01:01:19,676 And what that did was bury everything: 629 01:01:20,981 --> 01:01:23,854 all that evidence of dioxin 630 01:01:25,333 --> 01:01:27,596 in the environment, in human tissues, 631 01:01:27,640 --> 01:01:29,424 in the Vietnam veterans. 632 01:01:30,774 --> 01:01:32,645 Very, very damaging information on 633 01:01:32,689 --> 01:01:36,083 the health effects of 2,4,5-T and dioxin 634 01:01:36,127 --> 01:01:39,783 just was swept under the rug, went into EPA archives 635 01:01:39,826 --> 01:01:43,308 and it's now gone forever except what I managed to save. 636 01:01:45,571 --> 01:01:48,661 So that record would have been dynamite 637 01:01:48,705 --> 01:01:53,274 for the veterans if that case had continued, 638 01:01:53,318 --> 01:01:55,146 but it didn't. 639 01:01:55,189 --> 01:01:58,149 - The case was not settled on any scientific basis. 640 01:01:58,192 --> 01:02:00,717 It was settled on a political basis. 641 01:02:03,241 --> 01:02:04,851 The defendants wished 642 01:02:06,026 --> 01:02:08,289 to avoid further litigation. 643 01:02:08,333 --> 01:02:10,988 The moment it was settled, their stock went up. 644 01:02:11,031 --> 01:02:13,468 So they made a wise decision. 645 01:02:29,702 --> 01:02:32,487 - I think this is good for the veterans. 646 01:02:32,531 --> 01:02:35,273 I think it's good for the defendants. 647 01:02:35,316 --> 01:02:37,144 I think it's good for the country 648 01:02:37,188 --> 01:02:40,931 because I think it allows us all now to put this issue 649 01:02:40,974 --> 01:02:44,543 behind us and get on with the business we have to do. 650 01:02:53,857 --> 01:02:56,773 - My mother had two miscarriages when my father 651 01:02:56,816 --> 01:03:00,428 came back from Vietnam and then I was born in '72. 652 01:03:01,865 --> 01:03:04,737 I only weighed three pounds and four ounces. 653 01:03:04,781 --> 01:03:06,173 My father said he could hold me 654 01:03:06,217 --> 01:03:08,959 in his hand like this, I was so small. 655 01:03:09,002 --> 01:03:12,745 I'm missing my right leg below the knee, 656 01:03:12,789 --> 01:03:15,400 my fingers and I'm missing my big toe 657 01:03:15,443 --> 01:03:18,751 and my other toes are webbed but, yeah. 658 01:03:20,579 --> 01:03:23,451 My story is not very much unlike many, many children 659 01:03:23,495 --> 01:03:27,455 in Vietnam and other American children as well. 660 01:03:27,499 --> 01:03:31,808 So we share the same type of birth defects. 661 01:03:39,337 --> 01:03:42,122 - No, I don't get any benefits from the government. 662 01:03:43,210 --> 01:03:44,646 They deny that the children 663 01:03:44,690 --> 01:03:46,910 of male Vietnam veterans 664 01:03:49,738 --> 01:03:50,783 are affected. 665 01:03:54,613 --> 01:03:58,008 My father's own illness, he died of. 666 01:04:00,271 --> 01:04:04,188 So I'm hoping with your lawsuit, that things will change. 667 01:04:04,231 --> 01:04:06,799 That it'll stick this time 668 01:04:06,843 --> 01:04:09,715 and many people will understand how 669 01:04:09,758 --> 01:04:13,762 the chemical companies have destroyed many people. 670 01:04:18,985 --> 01:04:20,987 - I was getting so angry 671 01:04:24,512 --> 01:04:26,036 that my own government 672 01:04:28,560 --> 01:04:31,998 didn't want to provide help to veterans who were suffering. 673 01:04:36,960 --> 01:04:39,832 - We had a sense of moral outrage about what happened 674 01:04:39,876 --> 01:04:42,400 and the fact that we felt as lawyers, we had 675 01:04:42,443 --> 01:04:46,839 the opportunity and the obligation to raise these issues. 676 01:04:55,804 --> 01:04:58,329 [gavel bangs] 677 01:05:02,115 --> 01:05:03,638 And the case died. 678 01:05:05,205 --> 01:05:06,076 It's frustrating. 679 01:05:26,183 --> 01:05:30,491 - Was any assurance given when you arrived at 680 01:05:30,535 --> 01:05:35,496 the settlement with the chemical companies and the veterans 681 01:05:36,410 --> 01:05:37,716 that there would not be 682 01:05:38,760 --> 01:05:40,893 any more litigation? 683 01:05:40,937 --> 01:05:43,548 Would such an assurance have 684 01:05:44,462 --> 01:05:47,334 affected your role 685 01:05:47,378 --> 01:05:50,642 when the Vietnamese people's case came to you? 686 01:05:52,296 --> 01:05:56,691 - I'm not prepared to discuss the Vietnamese issue. 687 01:05:58,563 --> 01:06:01,174 It was a separate case, 688 01:06:01,218 --> 01:06:05,004 decided long after the major settlement was 689 01:06:06,484 --> 01:06:10,096 decided upon, accepted and fully executed. 690 01:06:11,532 --> 01:06:13,926 - [Alan] So then no such assurance was given 691 01:06:13,970 --> 01:06:17,408 to the chemical companies in the original case? 692 01:06:17,451 --> 01:06:19,453 - The original case gave 693 01:06:21,499 --> 01:06:25,329 the producers what they settled for. 694 01:06:27,331 --> 01:06:29,202 - [Alan] And was there finality, 695 01:06:29,246 --> 01:06:31,596 an assurance of finality to that? 696 01:06:31,639 --> 01:06:33,337 - I thought there was. 697 01:06:33,380 --> 01:06:35,121 - These companies have been able 698 01:06:35,165 --> 01:06:38,298 to avoid accountability for what they've done. 699 01:06:38,342 --> 01:06:43,042 I think your case is incredibly important as sort of 700 01:06:43,086 --> 01:06:47,699 the last opportunity that we may have to hold these 701 01:06:47,742 --> 01:06:51,833 companies accountable for the wrongdoing that they knew 702 01:06:51,877 --> 01:06:55,794 they were engaged in when they made this poisonous product. 703 01:09:01,311 --> 01:09:03,791 - The National Forest here is no longer sprayed 704 01:09:03,835 --> 01:09:06,794 and the reason is a series of lawsuits 705 01:09:06,838 --> 01:09:09,493 that began with the CATS lawsuit. 706 01:09:09,536 --> 01:09:12,191 But how about all those other people? 707 01:09:12,235 --> 01:09:14,411 How about people right down the road that have 708 01:09:14,454 --> 01:09:18,937 private timberland around them that's getting sprayed? 709 01:10:25,482 --> 01:10:27,440 - Here he comes, I gotta reload him. 710 01:10:31,618 --> 01:10:33,664 All these chemicals are going in there. 711 01:10:33,707 --> 01:10:35,231 All this goes into that truck. 712 01:10:38,799 --> 01:10:40,236 This stuff is nasty stuff. 713 01:10:42,238 --> 01:10:44,370 It's a nasty combo and it kills everything. 714 01:10:44,414 --> 01:10:46,285 It kills everything including 715 01:10:46,329 --> 01:10:47,982 my ability to breathe correctly. 716 01:10:51,421 --> 01:10:52,987 [camera snaps] 717 01:10:55,642 --> 01:10:58,166 Hold on, it says on the label: 718 01:10:58,210 --> 01:11:01,126 "hazardous to humans and domestic animals." 719 01:11:02,867 --> 01:11:05,783 And it leaks out onto everywhere. 720 01:11:08,829 --> 01:11:12,572 There's just so many things not right about this. 721 01:11:14,095 --> 01:11:15,314 - [Carol] They're gonna keep these chemicals 722 01:11:15,358 --> 01:11:17,664 on the market no matter what. 723 01:11:19,187 --> 01:11:21,842 The only hope is for the community rights 724 01:11:21,886 --> 01:11:25,324 movement to keep insisting that we have the right 725 01:11:25,368 --> 01:11:30,242 to protect all of our communities from being poisoned. 726 01:11:32,026 --> 01:11:34,594 And maybe it's a pipe dream but if these corporations 727 01:11:34,638 --> 01:11:37,641 have human rights according to the Supreme Court, 728 01:11:37,684 --> 01:11:39,817 well damn it, they should be subject 729 01:11:39,860 --> 01:11:43,386 to capital punishment just like an individual would be. 730 01:11:43,429 --> 01:11:45,301 [people applauding] 731 01:12:15,548 --> 01:12:18,551 [people applauding] 732 01:14:01,045 --> 01:14:03,264 - It's been hard work coming for us but- 733 01:14:03,308 --> 01:14:04,831 - A lot of hard work but I want 734 01:14:04,875 --> 01:14:07,268 to emphasize how important the work is. 735 01:14:07,312 --> 01:14:11,447 Even though you feel sometimes you're working in isolation, 736 01:14:11,490 --> 01:14:13,057 there's a lot of people watching this. 737 01:14:17,191 --> 01:14:18,889 - [Amelie] She was diagnosed with cancer this week. 738 01:14:54,446 --> 01:14:57,275 [thunder booming] 739 01:17:12,497 --> 01:17:15,892 - [Carol] Documents accumulated over 40 years 740 01:17:15,935 --> 01:17:19,373 of Freedom of Information Actions that I did, 741 01:17:19,417 --> 01:17:21,158 including several lawsuits 742 01:17:21,201 --> 01:17:23,639 to try to get documents out of EPA, 743 01:17:25,031 --> 01:17:28,339 PCB lawsuits, the Agent Orange lawsuits 744 01:17:28,382 --> 01:17:31,516 trying to stop the government spraying out here. 745 01:17:35,215 --> 01:17:37,000 Then I had a bunch of stuff 746 01:17:37,043 --> 01:17:39,306 from Dow Chemical that they hoped I'd never get. 747 01:17:41,569 --> 01:17:43,876 I couldn't afford to store them anywhere 748 01:17:43,920 --> 01:17:46,052 and that's when Peter von Stackelberg, 749 01:17:46,096 --> 01:17:50,187 the Canadian journalist, drummed up some funding to get them 750 01:17:50,230 --> 01:17:53,843 all scanned and that was how the Poison Papers happened. 751 01:17:57,107 --> 01:18:00,240 We must have scanned close to 200,000 pages. 752 01:18:02,155 --> 01:18:04,723 He could upload them as they were scanned. 753 01:18:05,985 --> 01:18:08,422 10 hours a day, non-stop. 754 01:18:11,512 --> 01:18:13,384 A lot of the documents involved 755 01:18:13,427 --> 01:18:17,605 the fraudulent testing of chemical products. 756 01:18:19,607 --> 01:18:22,480 So lawyers now in bringing these lawsuits 757 01:18:22,523 --> 01:18:25,962 are being able to find that information and use it. 758 01:18:32,620 --> 01:18:33,839 I hope they'll make trouble. 759 01:18:33,883 --> 01:18:35,754 I mean, that's the whole goal 760 01:18:35,798 --> 01:18:39,540 is to make them available to anybody that needs them. 761 01:19:33,725 --> 01:19:36,859 [camera snapping] 762 01:19:38,338 --> 01:19:40,514 - Will you film my tongue please? 763 01:19:44,127 --> 01:19:44,954 Can you see that? 764 01:19:47,739 --> 01:19:49,306 I am at the hospital 765 01:19:50,394 --> 01:19:51,830 and I'm getting ready to go into 766 01:19:53,571 --> 01:19:56,400 the decontamination shower. 767 01:19:56,443 --> 01:19:58,924 I showed them some of the pamphlets 768 01:20:00,056 --> 01:20:00,883 of 769 01:20:02,406 --> 01:20:05,278 what I got sprayed with and this one right here, 770 01:20:05,322 --> 01:20:07,498 they seemed to be very concerned about. 771 01:20:07,541 --> 01:20:09,848 They have told me to come out here 772 01:20:09,892 --> 01:20:13,373 and stand here because they don't want me in the hospital 773 01:20:13,417 --> 01:20:18,248 and so I'm being treated like a biological hazard here. 774 01:20:21,164 --> 01:20:22,774 I just got up. 775 01:20:22,818 --> 01:20:23,775 This is what... 776 01:20:26,299 --> 01:20:27,953 [Darryl coughs] 777 01:20:27,997 --> 01:20:29,694 The only way I can sleep at night... 778 01:20:32,392 --> 01:20:34,177 is eating lots of those 779 01:20:34,220 --> 01:20:36,657 'cause I can't breathe right due to these chemicals. 780 01:20:36,701 --> 01:20:38,659 This is my old rag I have at night 781 01:20:39,922 --> 01:20:41,662 by the bed and obviously, 782 01:20:41,706 --> 01:20:44,404 you can see I'm using it for, really nasty, 783 01:20:44,448 --> 01:20:46,058 I know this is a nasty video but 784 01:20:46,102 --> 01:20:48,582 this is the crap that's coming out of me. 785 01:20:49,453 --> 01:20:50,933 [coughs] 786 01:20:53,457 --> 01:20:55,502 - [Susan] There's a wonderful saying that 787 01:20:55,546 --> 01:20:57,417 if you think you're too little to make a difference, 788 01:20:57,461 --> 01:20:59,855 then you have never been in bed with a mosquito. 789 01:21:01,900 --> 01:21:04,337 - It is with great pleasure that the conference co-directors 790 01:21:04,381 --> 01:21:07,253 of the 36th annual Public Interest Environmental Law 791 01:21:07,297 --> 01:21:10,256 Conference select Carol Van Strum as a recipient 792 01:21:10,300 --> 01:21:13,520 of this year's David Brower Lifetime Achievement Award 793 01:21:13,564 --> 01:21:15,609 in recognition of her outstanding environmental 794 01:21:15,653 --> 01:21:18,264 social justice work in Lincoln County, Oregon. 795 01:21:18,308 --> 01:21:21,311 [people applauding] 796 01:21:22,965 --> 01:21:26,664 - I just want to thank everybody for making this happen. 797 01:21:26,707 --> 01:21:29,493 It's amazing and the other thing 798 01:21:29,536 --> 01:21:33,149 I want to say is that it was never about me. 799 01:21:33,192 --> 01:21:35,978 It's always 800 01:21:36,021 --> 01:21:37,544 been a lot of other people, 801 01:21:37,588 --> 01:21:40,591 some of them not alive with us today. [sniffs] 802 01:21:43,768 --> 01:21:47,903 And that's what's gonna make the changes that are needed. 803 01:21:47,946 --> 01:21:50,383 I think you've got several generations 804 01:21:50,427 --> 01:21:52,690 coming up of troublemakers that'll do 805 01:21:52,733 --> 01:21:55,649 a whole lot more than any of us did, I hope. 806 01:21:55,693 --> 01:21:58,522 [people cheering] 807 01:23:16,121 --> 01:23:20,821 [Music crescendoes]