Panama Canal Zone Veterans (Toxic Chemical Exposure-Dioxin/Benzene vs Pesticide/Herbicide)
The Issue
FALL 2026 UPDATE — HELP US REACH 1,000 VERIFIED SIGNATURES
Dear Veterans, families, Zonians, advocates, researchers, legislative leaders, and dedicated public representatives:
The Panama Canal Zone toxic-exposure campaign has entered a new phase.
TIGER TEAM II — The PANAREF/PCZ Evidence Reconciliation Project is bringing years of advocacy, archival records, scientific research, veteran and family testimony, congressional work, media coverage, and claims evidence together into one source-indexed, professionally reviewable record.
Our immediate Fall 2026 goal is clear: help this petition grow from 830 verified signatures to at least 1,000—and use that public support to demand a complete federal accounting of toxic exposures connected to military service in and around the former Panama Canal Zone.
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION:
Please share the petition with at least five people and ask your elected representatives to support Panama Canal Zone veterans.
What We Are Asking
We respectfully urge the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary responsible for the Department of Defense to:
- Use the PACT Act presumptive-decision process established under 38 U.S.C. §§ 1171–1176 to formally evaluate toxic exposures and associated diseases affecting veterans who served in the Panama Canal Zone between January 1, 1958, and December 31, 1999.
- Reconcile and correct federal records concerning where tactical herbicides were tested, used, stored, transported, or otherwise present.
- Preserve and search all relevant pesticide, herbicide, fuel, environmental, unit, procurement, storage, training-area, medical-evacuation, and classified or declassification records.
- Investigate the full exposure picture—including tactical herbicides, DDT and other pesticides, diesel and petroleum carriers, solvents, PFAS, fuels, exhaust, combustion products, and potentially contaminated soil or water.
- Provide veterans, families, Congress, and qualified researchers with a transparent account of what the available evidence establishes, what remains uncertain, and what additional investigation is required.
Why Action Is Urgent
Historical records document extensive pesticide-control operations in the Panama Canal Zone.
A July 2, 1954, Panama Canal Review account described DDT dissolved in diesel oil and mechanically atomized into a fine fog through Canal Zone communities. That record does not, by itself, prove the dose received by any individual or establish that a particular disease was caused by the exposure. It does, however, document an exposure method involving pesticide aerosols and petroleum carriers that warrants serious scientific and governmental investigation.
Separate archival, scientific, veteran, and media records have raised continuing questions about tactical herbicides and other hazardous substances connected to Panama.
Official Government Proof of Incomplete and Inaccurate Toxic-Exposure Records
The U.S. Government Accountability Office—the investigative arm of Congress—has officially confirmed serious problems with the federal records used to identify locations where Agent Orange and other tactical herbicides may have been present outside Vietnam.
In its 2018 investigation, GAO determined that the Department of Defense’s official list of herbicide testing and storage locations was inaccurate and incomplete. GAO found missing context, omitted testing and storage locations, incomplete shipping documentation, gaps in vessel logbooks, and inadequate coordination between the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs.
GAO concluded that, without reliable and complete records, veterans and the public do not have quality information about the full extent of locations where Agent Orange was present and where potential exposure may have occurred.
This finding does not, standing alone, prove that Agent Orange was present in Panama. It does provide official government proof that the federal records and location lists used to evaluate veterans’ exposure claims have contained significant gaps and inaccuracies.
Those acknowledged deficiencies are precisely why the Panama Canal Zone evidence must receive a complete, independent, source-indexed review rather than being dismissed simply because Panama does not appear on the current presumptive-location list.
Listen to the official Government Accountability Office podcast:
GAO Watchdog Report — Agent Orange
https://www.gao.gov/podcast/agent-orange
Read the official GAO report:
Agent Orange: Actions Needed to Improve Accuracy and Communication of Information on Testing and Storage Locations
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-19-24
Read the official GAO podcast transcript:
https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/695365.txt
The GAO podcast states plainly that there are still gaps in government knowledge concerning where Agent Orange was shipped, used, and tested. It also explains that additional research—and potentially additional soil testing—may be necessary to identify locations where tactical herbicides might have been present.
That government finding directly supports the mission of TIGER TEAM II and the PANAREF/PCZ Evidence Reconciliation Project: locate the missing records, reconcile conflicting information, identify what the evidence supports, and ensure that Panama Canal Zone veterans are not denied recognition merely because the government’s own historical records remain incomplete.
Congressional Direction Concerning Panama
Congress directed the defense department, through the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act Joint Explanatory Statement, to brief the congressional armed-services committees concerning the use and presence of herbicide agents in the Panama Canal Zone.
Veterans, families, and the public deserve to know the status and results of that work.
The PACT Act created a formal process through which the Department of Veterans Affairs may evaluate scientific evidence, exposure information, claims data, severity, rarity, and other relevant factors when considering new presumptions.
Read the statutory process under 38 U.S.C. § 1171:
https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/38/1171
Panama Canal Zone veterans deserve a complete and disciplined review through that process—not continued exclusion caused by incomplete records, unexamined chemicals, or an arbitrary geographic boundary.
A Veteran’s Case—and a National Responsibility
I served as a U.S. Army radio operator and linguist in Panama during the 1980s. Decades later, after developing serious illnesses, I filed a Panama toxic-exposure claim that was denied in approximately 30 days.
Task & Purpose documented my experience and the similar struggles of hundreds of veterans who served in Panama:
https://taskandpurpose.com/military-life/panama-veterans-toxic-exposure/
I am already rated as a 100% disabled veteran. This campaign is not about increasing my personal disability rating.
It is about establishing the truth, protecting other veterans and their families, and ensuring that future servicemembers are informed about documented and potential hazards before entering these environments.
The TIGER TEAM II — PANAREF/PCZ Evidence Reconciliation Project
TIGER TEAM II is organizing the PANAREF Index and the PCZ Papers as traceable, source-verified evidence records.
The project is reconciling historical records, government reports, military documents, scientific studies, photographs, veterans’ testimony, environmental evidence, medical information, and claims-related materials concerning toxic exposures in and around the Panama Canal Zone.
View the TIGER TEAM II — PANAREF/PCZ Evidence Project on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DR0fBQ5kcid/?img_index=2
The project’s evidence standard is straightforward: internet and AI-assisted discovery may help locate potential evidence, but trained human reviewers must verify every source, preserve its provenance, disclose its limitations, and clearly distinguish among:
• Documented facts
• Sworn testimony
• Firsthand recollections
• Scientific interpretations
• Working hypotheses
• Unresolved questions
This effort brings together The V.O.I.C.E.S. of Our Veterans, participating veterans and family members, LULAC representatives, BurnPits360 leadership, public officials, researchers, clinicians, attorneys, veterans-service organizations, and advocates.
Participation or consultation does not mean that any individual or organization has predetermined a scientific, legal, medical, or claims outcome. The evidence must guide the conclusions.
Help Us Complete the Fall 2026 Push
Please take three actions today:
SIGN the petition:
https://www.change.org/p/panama-canal-zone-veterans-toxic-chemical-exposure-dioxin-benzene-vs-pesticide-herbicide
SHARE it with at least five veterans, relatives, friends, advocates, or community leaders.
CONTACT your members of Congress and ask them to support a transparent VA–defense-department review and equitable PACT Act consideration for Panama Canal Zone veterans.
Help us reach 1,000 verified signatures.
Our goal is to complete the initial PANAREF evidence lock by November 1, 2026, and—following review and release authorization—deliver a decision-ready evidence package to federal leaders before Veterans Day.
Panama Canal Zone veterans served the United States.
They should not be left outside the toxic-exposure record because federal records are incomplete, the chemicals involved do not fit one convenient label, or their duty station falls outside an existing geographic box.
HONOR THE PACT ACT.
BREAK THE SILENCE IN THE SILENT WAR.
SIGN AND SHARE TODAY.
Additional References
Panama Canal Zone Veterans Petition:
TIGER TEAM II — PANAREF/PCZ Evidence Project on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DR0fBQ5kcid/?img_index=2
GAO Watchdog Report Podcast — Agent Orange:
https://www.gao.gov/podcast/agent-orange
GAO Report — Agent Orange Records and Location Information:
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-19-24
GAO Podcast Transcript:
https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/695365.txt
Panama Veterans Capitol Visit Resources:
https://panamaveterans.org/capitol-visit
Research study previously cited in this petition:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6d74/b1a01d46624b5cd0e197e23ccb0f95af99bb.pdf
The People vs. Agent Orange:
https://youtu.be/gL8i9KUEnog?si=BP7XOwKkLji0zMuR
Silent Spring video excerpt by Rachel Carson:
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxvqiYWLgW-UiogElASFlqZFRoJ93qnktB?si=qf2v4Hks0zanS4SZ
Thank you,
Steven C. Price Sr.
Former Sergeant, United States Army
Founder and Project Lead
The V.O.I.C.E.S. of Our Veterans
TIGER TEAM II — The PANAREF/PCZ Evidence Reconciliation Project
1,068
The Issue
FALL 2026 UPDATE — HELP US REACH 1,000 VERIFIED SIGNATURES
Dear Veterans, families, Zonians, advocates, researchers, legislative leaders, and dedicated public representatives:
The Panama Canal Zone toxic-exposure campaign has entered a new phase.
TIGER TEAM II — The PANAREF/PCZ Evidence Reconciliation Project is bringing years of advocacy, archival records, scientific research, veteran and family testimony, congressional work, media coverage, and claims evidence together into one source-indexed, professionally reviewable record.
Our immediate Fall 2026 goal is clear: help this petition grow from 830 verified signatures to at least 1,000—and use that public support to demand a complete federal accounting of toxic exposures connected to military service in and around the former Panama Canal Zone.
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION:
Please share the petition with at least five people and ask your elected representatives to support Panama Canal Zone veterans.
What We Are Asking
We respectfully urge the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary responsible for the Department of Defense to:
- Use the PACT Act presumptive-decision process established under 38 U.S.C. §§ 1171–1176 to formally evaluate toxic exposures and associated diseases affecting veterans who served in the Panama Canal Zone between January 1, 1958, and December 31, 1999.
- Reconcile and correct federal records concerning where tactical herbicides were tested, used, stored, transported, or otherwise present.
- Preserve and search all relevant pesticide, herbicide, fuel, environmental, unit, procurement, storage, training-area, medical-evacuation, and classified or declassification records.
- Investigate the full exposure picture—including tactical herbicides, DDT and other pesticides, diesel and petroleum carriers, solvents, PFAS, fuels, exhaust, combustion products, and potentially contaminated soil or water.
- Provide veterans, families, Congress, and qualified researchers with a transparent account of what the available evidence establishes, what remains uncertain, and what additional investigation is required.
Why Action Is Urgent
Historical records document extensive pesticide-control operations in the Panama Canal Zone.
A July 2, 1954, Panama Canal Review account described DDT dissolved in diesel oil and mechanically atomized into a fine fog through Canal Zone communities. That record does not, by itself, prove the dose received by any individual or establish that a particular disease was caused by the exposure. It does, however, document an exposure method involving pesticide aerosols and petroleum carriers that warrants serious scientific and governmental investigation.
Separate archival, scientific, veteran, and media records have raised continuing questions about tactical herbicides and other hazardous substances connected to Panama.
Official Government Proof of Incomplete and Inaccurate Toxic-Exposure Records
The U.S. Government Accountability Office—the investigative arm of Congress—has officially confirmed serious problems with the federal records used to identify locations where Agent Orange and other tactical herbicides may have been present outside Vietnam.
In its 2018 investigation, GAO determined that the Department of Defense’s official list of herbicide testing and storage locations was inaccurate and incomplete. GAO found missing context, omitted testing and storage locations, incomplete shipping documentation, gaps in vessel logbooks, and inadequate coordination between the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs.
GAO concluded that, without reliable and complete records, veterans and the public do not have quality information about the full extent of locations where Agent Orange was present and where potential exposure may have occurred.
This finding does not, standing alone, prove that Agent Orange was present in Panama. It does provide official government proof that the federal records and location lists used to evaluate veterans’ exposure claims have contained significant gaps and inaccuracies.
Those acknowledged deficiencies are precisely why the Panama Canal Zone evidence must receive a complete, independent, source-indexed review rather than being dismissed simply because Panama does not appear on the current presumptive-location list.
Listen to the official Government Accountability Office podcast:
GAO Watchdog Report — Agent Orange
https://www.gao.gov/podcast/agent-orange
Read the official GAO report:
Agent Orange: Actions Needed to Improve Accuracy and Communication of Information on Testing and Storage Locations
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-19-24
Read the official GAO podcast transcript:
https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/695365.txt
The GAO podcast states plainly that there are still gaps in government knowledge concerning where Agent Orange was shipped, used, and tested. It also explains that additional research—and potentially additional soil testing—may be necessary to identify locations where tactical herbicides might have been present.
That government finding directly supports the mission of TIGER TEAM II and the PANAREF/PCZ Evidence Reconciliation Project: locate the missing records, reconcile conflicting information, identify what the evidence supports, and ensure that Panama Canal Zone veterans are not denied recognition merely because the government’s own historical records remain incomplete.
Congressional Direction Concerning Panama
Congress directed the defense department, through the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act Joint Explanatory Statement, to brief the congressional armed-services committees concerning the use and presence of herbicide agents in the Panama Canal Zone.
Veterans, families, and the public deserve to know the status and results of that work.
The PACT Act created a formal process through which the Department of Veterans Affairs may evaluate scientific evidence, exposure information, claims data, severity, rarity, and other relevant factors when considering new presumptions.
Read the statutory process under 38 U.S.C. § 1171:
https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/38/1171
Panama Canal Zone veterans deserve a complete and disciplined review through that process—not continued exclusion caused by incomplete records, unexamined chemicals, or an arbitrary geographic boundary.
A Veteran’s Case—and a National Responsibility
I served as a U.S. Army radio operator and linguist in Panama during the 1980s. Decades later, after developing serious illnesses, I filed a Panama toxic-exposure claim that was denied in approximately 30 days.
Task & Purpose documented my experience and the similar struggles of hundreds of veterans who served in Panama:
https://taskandpurpose.com/military-life/panama-veterans-toxic-exposure/
I am already rated as a 100% disabled veteran. This campaign is not about increasing my personal disability rating.
It is about establishing the truth, protecting other veterans and their families, and ensuring that future servicemembers are informed about documented and potential hazards before entering these environments.
The TIGER TEAM II — PANAREF/PCZ Evidence Reconciliation Project
TIGER TEAM II is organizing the PANAREF Index and the PCZ Papers as traceable, source-verified evidence records.
The project is reconciling historical records, government reports, military documents, scientific studies, photographs, veterans’ testimony, environmental evidence, medical information, and claims-related materials concerning toxic exposures in and around the Panama Canal Zone.
View the TIGER TEAM II — PANAREF/PCZ Evidence Project on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DR0fBQ5kcid/?img_index=2
The project’s evidence standard is straightforward: internet and AI-assisted discovery may help locate potential evidence, but trained human reviewers must verify every source, preserve its provenance, disclose its limitations, and clearly distinguish among:
• Documented facts
• Sworn testimony
• Firsthand recollections
• Scientific interpretations
• Working hypotheses
• Unresolved questions
This effort brings together The V.O.I.C.E.S. of Our Veterans, participating veterans and family members, LULAC representatives, BurnPits360 leadership, public officials, researchers, clinicians, attorneys, veterans-service organizations, and advocates.
Participation or consultation does not mean that any individual or organization has predetermined a scientific, legal, medical, or claims outcome. The evidence must guide the conclusions.
Help Us Complete the Fall 2026 Push
Please take three actions today:
SIGN the petition:
https://www.change.org/p/panama-canal-zone-veterans-toxic-chemical-exposure-dioxin-benzene-vs-pesticide-herbicide
SHARE it with at least five veterans, relatives, friends, advocates, or community leaders.
CONTACT your members of Congress and ask them to support a transparent VA–defense-department review and equitable PACT Act consideration for Panama Canal Zone veterans.
Help us reach 1,000 verified signatures.
Our goal is to complete the initial PANAREF evidence lock by November 1, 2026, and—following review and release authorization—deliver a decision-ready evidence package to federal leaders before Veterans Day.
Panama Canal Zone veterans served the United States.
They should not be left outside the toxic-exposure record because federal records are incomplete, the chemicals involved do not fit one convenient label, or their duty station falls outside an existing geographic box.
HONOR THE PACT ACT.
BREAK THE SILENCE IN THE SILENT WAR.
SIGN AND SHARE TODAY.
Additional References
Panama Canal Zone Veterans Petition:
TIGER TEAM II — PANAREF/PCZ Evidence Project on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DR0fBQ5kcid/?img_index=2
GAO Watchdog Report Podcast — Agent Orange:
https://www.gao.gov/podcast/agent-orange
GAO Report — Agent Orange Records and Location Information:
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-19-24
GAO Podcast Transcript:
https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/695365.txt
Panama Veterans Capitol Visit Resources:
https://panamaveterans.org/capitol-visit
Research study previously cited in this petition:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6d74/b1a01d46624b5cd0e197e23ccb0f95af99bb.pdf
The People vs. Agent Orange:
https://youtu.be/gL8i9KUEnog?si=BP7XOwKkLji0zMuR
Silent Spring video excerpt by Rachel Carson:
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxvqiYWLgW-UiogElASFlqZFRoJ93qnktB?si=qf2v4Hks0zanS4SZ
Thank you,
Steven C. Price Sr.
Former Sergeant, United States Army
Founder and Project Lead
The V.O.I.C.E.S. of Our Veterans
TIGER TEAM II — The PANAREF/PCZ Evidence Reconciliation Project
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Petition created on July 2, 2023