[CPEO-MEF] HERBICIDES, GLOBAL: "U.S. marine wins compensation for Okinawa [Japan] toxin exposure and calls for tests on residents near Futenma"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

U.S. marine wins compensation for Okinawa toxin exposure and calls for tests on residents near Futenma

by Jon Mitchell
Japan Times
August 17, 2015


The U.S. government has awarded compensation to the ailing former marine at the center of allegations that Agent Orange was dumped on Futenma Air Base in Okinawa.

On Aug. 10 the Board of Veterans’ Appeals ruled that retired Lt. Col. Kris Roberts, chief of maintenance at the installation in the early 1980s, had developed prostate cancer due to “exposure to hazardous chemicals.” The presiding judge based the decision on evidence including medical reports, statements and “photographs of barrels being removed from the ground.”

However, the carefully worded ruling avoids specific reference to Agent Orange, which the Pentagon denies was stored on its Okinawa bases.

Roberts is the first veteran known to have won compensation for exposure on Futenma, and now he is urging the military to come clean about what really happened at the air base.

…

For the entire article, see
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2015/08/17/issues/u-s-marine-wins-compensation-okinawa-toxin-exposure-calls-tests-residents-near-futenma/#.VdKKis6fObh

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
LSiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org

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