EXPOSURE to toxic chemicals in Vietnam contributed to the subsequent
death of an Australian infantryman from a rare form of cancer, a tribunal
in Melbourne ruled last week. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal said that,
as a result, the infantryman鈥檚 widow is entitled to a war widow鈥檚 pension.
The landmark ruling is expected to result in a spate of legal actions by
Vietnam veterans and their families. More than 100 ex-servicemen are believed
to have died of cancer in the last 15 years.
Infantryman Adrian Paul Crisp, a farmer from Victoria, died in 1977
from a malignant schwannoma, a cancer which affects the nervous system.
The tribunal was told that while in Vietnam, Crisp was exposed to the defoliant
Agent Orange between November 1969 and March 1970, as well as to other herbicides
and pesticides.
The tribunal said that, based on the evidence before it, it was 鈥榓 reasonable
hypothesis鈥� to link Crisp鈥檚 death to his service in Vietnam. In the past,
the Repatriation Commission in Australia has refused to accept that service
in Vietnam was linked to cancer.
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