Representatives from the Government Accountability Office will be on
island next week to talk to stakeholders regarding the reported
incidents of Agent Orange exposure on Guam.
U.S. Navy Capt.
Jeffrey Grimes, the chief of staff for Joint Region Marianas, confirmed
the series of meetings during the 24th General Assembly of the
Association of Mariana Islands Mayors, Vice Mayors, and Elected
Municipal Council Members yesterday at the Guam Reef Hotel.
During
the assembly, Santa Rita Mayor Dale Alvarez asked if the herbicide was
ever used on island. Grimes acknowledged that there have been plenty of
studies and discussions on the issue.
Grimes said he received a phone call yesterday confirming the GAO team's visit.
"They
will be here next week to further look on the discussions that are
ongoing from the veterans and other people who have worked at Andersen
(Air Force Base)," he said. "They will be interacting with the military.
They will be interacting with the people, the government, and the
Legislature."
Agent Orange was one of the defoliants – known as
"rainbow herbicides" – used by the U.S. military as part of its
herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971.
They were used to destroy bushes, trees and vegetation to deprive
insurgents of cover and food crops, as part of a starvation campaign in
the early 1950s, according to Post news files.
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