25 June 2003
The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) will conduct soil testing at Yarram in Gippsland for chemical residuals from sprays used to control noxious weeds in the 1970's, after health concerns from former workers' families.
The union will investigate the exposure levels to defoliants - 2,4D and 2,4,5T - through soil testing which should reveal the residual signs of dioxins, a long lasting carcinogenic. CFMEU National vice-president Albert Littler said the union will interview about 40 families in the area whose relatives were employed to spray blackberries and noxious weeds in the 1970's for the former Victorian Lands Department.
Mr Littler said the workers and their families have been denied natural justice as they have suffered from severe health problems due to their exposure to the dioxins in the chemicals. The union will undertake research, monitoring and document their health problems.
Many of the former sprayers have died prematurely from either cancers or heart conditions, or have suffered from recurring rashes and other health problems such as a breakdown in the nervous system.
Mr Littler said the workers sprayed the chemicals without proper protection or instructions. Both 2,4D and 2,4,5T were used as defoliants in the Vietnam War and were known by the infamous name of Agent Orange, responsible for many of the health issues of former veterans.
The Western Australian Government recently conducted an inquiry into the use of the chemicals in Derby in the late 1960's and 1970's, after former sprayers reported on-going health problems.
The majority of the former sprayers were Aboriginal, and were not provided with adequate safety equipment or training.
In 1978 the former Victorian Lands Department commissioned a report into the health of workers and their families after a number of birth defects between 1975 and 1976. The Consultative Council on Congenital Abnormalities found that a number of birth defects could not be linked to the spraying.
Mr Littler labelled the report a "whitewash" and accused the Victorian Government of attempting to deny its duty of care and justice to the former sprayers. "The government has carried on as if these workers are supermen, somehow immune. The workers have never had any justice and the union wants a wrong corrected."
All employers have a duty of care to provide a healthy and safe workplace, safe plant, chemicals and systems of work.