Agent Orange Exposure

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives Assembled in Parliament
Application of Factor Related to Agent Orange Exposure

This petition by former members of the Royal Australian Navy, Citizens of Australia, draws to the attention of the House that:

Those members serving in HMA Ships during the Vietnam War were exposed to
carcinogenic dioxins when contaminated riverine water was distilled to produce potable water which was supposedly fit for human consumption. Sadly, this is not the case.

Seven diseases accepted by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) reflect this concern. Yet five diseases still exist where the DVA do not accept the Factor: ‘that must as a minimum exist before it can be said that a reasonable hypothesis has been raised connecting (specific disease) with the circumstances of a person’s relevant service is;

On land in Vietnam
At sea in Vietnamese waters, or
On board a vessel and consuming potable water supplied on that vessel when the water supply had been produced by evaporative distillation of estuarine waters for a cumulative period of at least thirty days, at least five years before the clinical onset of (specific disease).’

Your petitioners request the House to:
Refer the true circumstances of the above service in Vietnam - and Vietnamese waters - to the Minister(s) concerned, with a recommendation that the following diseases have the Factor quoted inserted into the Statements of Principles for
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Type 2 Diabetes
Ischemic Heart Disease
Parkinson’s Disease
Hypothyroidism

On behalf of the members of the HMAS Sydney Assoc. (Inc Vic).
Dr. John R Carroll