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Company charged following spraying investigation

Published on November 19th, 2009
Published on Febuary 24th, 2010
Darrell Cole
Topics :
AMHERST , Cumberland County , New Brunswick

AMHERST - A New Brunswick company has been charged under the province's Environment Act for its actions related to the controversial roadside spraying program during the summer in Cumberland County.

Highland Vegetation Management of Rothesay has been charged under Section 158 (f) of the Act for allegedly violating the terms or conditions of its approval to conduct spraying operations.
"We investigated the complaints and concerns we received from the public and what we determined is that there was one section in particular that signage wasn't as what was required in the approval," Environment Department district manager Brad Skinner said Wednesday.
"We issued a summary offence ticket against the company and a warning to the actual applicator in charge of the job."
The maximum fine under the legislation is $682.
Skinner said the charge is related to the spraying program in the Lower Cove area where the department alleges the signage requirements of the permit approval process were not followed.
The company is scheduled to make an appearance in provincial court in Amherst on Nov. 25 at 9:30 a.m., to enter a plea to the charge.
The charge comes after the department received a number of complaints from residents concerned with the spray program and how the chemical, Tordon 101, was being applied to roadsides around the county. Residents claimed the spray killed every plant in its path and made the roadsides look like war zones.
Skinner said the department is not taking issue with the method used to apply the chemical.
"That's the nature of that kind of equipment. There's a lot of volume with very coarse droplets. There's a lot of water to get the coverage on the vegetation. That's the way it's supposed to be done," he said.
Cumberland County is believed to be the only area of the province to have a roadside spraying program this year. Skinner's office still plans to sit down with transportation officials to discuss the need for the program in future years.
Transportation uses the spray as part of its right of way program, with herbicides used in areas that have hazards including electrical power lines, railway beds, roadsides and pipelines.
dcole@amherstdaily.com

Comments

  • Username
    lb
    - February 24th, 2010 at 23:45:50

    its good to know what they are spraying around our roadways ... C/PThe Missing Part of the Equation - Hexachlorobenzene (HCB)

    In 1965 DND switched from using 2,4-D + 2,4,5-T to Tordon 101.

    Tordon 101 is a registered trademark name of a Dow Chemical Product. It is still in use today. However during the years that it was used at CFB Gagetown and on the surrounding communities from 1965 to 1984, it was heavily contaminated with Hexachlorobenzene as an inert ingredient in the Picloram used in Tordon 101.

    TORDON 101 was what the Americans called Agent White.

    Tordon 101 and it's dry form Tordon 10 K had the same ratio of ingredients guranteed by Dow Chemical. There were 65 grams per litre of Picloram and 240 grams of 2,4-D per litre contained in the Tordon products.

    However, the Tordon products (Agent White) contained Hexachlorobenzene which is one of the Dirty Dozen as defined by the Stockholm Convention. One of the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) which cause cancer and other dibilitating diseases.

    In 1985, Dow Chemical lost it's registration and license of the Tordon products because of the severe contamination by Hexachlorobenzene in their product. They did not regain the registration until the summer of 1988.

    It is interesting to note that our government has always maintained that their chemicals
    2,4-D+ 2,4,5-T and the Tordon products were always registered.

    However, DND kept spraying Tordon 101 from 1985 to 1988 when it was ILLEGAL.
    - Source - The Jacques Whitford Report

    From 1965 to 1984, DND sprayed over 3 million litres and kilograms of Tordon 101 containing Hexachlorobenzene poisoning hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians in surrounding communities with this deadly carcinogen, which is now banned in over 120 countries around the world.


    Hexachlorobenzene causes dozens of diseases and organ dysfunctions. The website
    Comparative Toxicogenomics Database lists a STAGGERING 183 possible diseases or dysfunctions associated with this chemical. See for yourself, just click the link below.

    http://ctd.mdibl.org/detail.go;jsessionid=AC3BAEAAEC9539EB9D47DA551C3106EA?view=disease&type=chem&acc=D006581

    Yet over three million litres of this Toxicant were sprayed on CFB Gagetown and surrounding communities. No wonder the government will not recognize the spraying of Agent White.

    Switching Gears

    In the Government's ex-gratia compensation plan one of the criteria is that you had to have been a resident of one of dozens of communities surrounding CFB Gagetown, within five kilometers of the base perimeter.

    That takes in a significant area of 427 square miles, (about 1100 square kilometers).

    DND has always insisted that the American testing of Agent Orange and Agent Purple in June of 1966 and June of 1967 was done in the middle of the training area, far away from any civilian communities.

    In fact, this is true.

    In June of 1966, DND and the Americans sprayed a total of 111 acres. In June of 1967 they sprayed a total of 319 acres for a total of 430 acres sprayed in both summers. The original documents of the US Army at Fort Detrick, Maryland state that the nearest community was 10 miles (16 kilometres) away from their total test acreage of 430 acres near Petersville Hill.

    (Click Here) & (Here) To view the original Fort Detrick Documents.

    DND has also consistently and vehemently taken the position there was no spray drift.

    Something is very wrong with this equation.

    As the Americans only sprayed a total of 483 litres during the two summers on plots of land totalling 430 acres in the middle of the base and there was no spray drift, then why is DND giving $20,000 to anyone who is sick with one of the listed diseases and who lived within 5 kilometres of the perimeter of the base.

    These communities are 10 to 50 miles (16 to 80 kilometers) away from where the Americans sprayed.

    We think you know where we are going with this.

    Why compensate people who were nowhere near the spraying by the Americans as DND has consistently maintained?

    The answer lies in one word - Hexachlorobenzene



    http://www.agentorangecanada.com/hcb.php

    Submit a Comment

  • Username
    Joe
    - February 24th, 2010 at 23:45:41

    Wow a company got a summary offence ticket under a piece of legislation whose biggest bite is a $682 fine. I wonder? Can they write off that fine as a business expense....I believe they can.

    Big whooop dee doo.....Why did this make it to the paper?

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