WEBVTT FILE 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]