Jeff Neumann —
After a Toronto Star investigation, the Canadian government has acknowledged that it used Agent Orange — the same cancer- and birth defect-causing chemical used by the U.S. military to clear the jungles of Vietnam — to clear brush from roadsides in Ontario between the 1950s and 1980s. Yes, until the fucking 80s!
So who was exposed to Agent Orange in Ontario? Oh, you know, just a bunch of kids and stuff:
Records from the 1950s, 60s and 70s show forestry workers, often students and junior rangers, spent weeks at a time as human markers holding red, helium-filled balloons on fishing lines while low-flying planes sprayed toxic herbicides including an infamous chemical mixture known as Agent Orange on the brush and the boys below.
"We were saturated in chemicals," said Don Romanowich, 63, a former supervisor of an aerial spraying program in Kapuskasing, Ont., who was recently diagnosed with a slow-growing cancer that can be caused by herbicide exposure. "We were told not to drink the stuff but we had no idea."
Hey kids, it's ok stand under that refreshing mist in the blistering summer heat, but don't drink it!
[Image via AP]
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