Agent Orange Report Inconclusive

Statement

In April 2017, Representatives Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam), Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) and I enlisted the Government Accountability Office to investigate concern about exposure to the Agent Orange defoliant widely used by the U.S. in the Vietnam War. We wanted to know where the U.S. stored, transferred, and used Agent Orange or its components and of any associated site contamination in the U.S. and its territories. The GAO report released Thursday found that nearly all of the Agent Orange procured by the U.S. was either used in military operations or destroyed. However, shipping documentation and logbooks for the time are incomplete. From the available logbooks, GAO identified at least one vessel carrying Agent Orange that stopped at Guam on its way to Vietnam and at least three vessels that stopped at Guam on the return from Vietnam. GAO did not find evidence, however, indicating that any of the tactical herbicides were offloaded or used in the Northern Mariana Islands or Guam. Because GAO was unable to obtain records for every shipment of Agent Orange, they cannot conclude with certainty whether Agent Orange was ever stored or used in the Marianas. DOD, EPA, and Guam EPA are currently conducting Agent Orange testing at Andersen Air Force Base. However, because of the short half-lives of the active chemical components found in Agent Orange, and the multiple sources of dioxins, there is a low probability of making any conclusive findings.

Source