Forty years ago he was just doing his job — but the devastating effects of the role he played in the disposal of Agent Orange at Kindley Air Force Base will haunt Ronald Slater forever.Not only does he believe his own severe health problems were induced by exposure to the toxic chemical, Mr. Slater also has to live with the guilt of the damage it could have caused to Bermuda’s environment.

Every couple of weeks from 1965 to 1967, the ex-US Air Force serviceman says empty barrels of Agent Orange and other poisonous substances were poured into huge pits at the base, before he watched as they were set alight and thick fumes drifted over nearby homes in St. David’s.

The waste would usually continue burning for two or three days before Mr. Slater was ordered to bulldoze the remains into the sea at Annie’s Bay, perilously close to where some people would swim.

When he first started carrying out the work, Mr. Slater says he did not even wear any protective clothing. After six months, he complained his activities frequently made him sick and for the next year and a half was given what he describes as an old fireman’s hood.

It’s hardly surprising that some four decades later the 64-year-old is retired through ill health — suffering Type Two diabetes, a small tumour on his arm and a large growth on his kidney.

Type Two diabetes has been strongly linked to Agent Orange exposure, while experts say it cannot be ruled out that Mr. Slater’s other conditions are a result of the same thing; although scientists have identified no links to date.

Speaking to The Royal Gazette, Mr. Slater recalled the events at the base as if they happened yesterday.

“They would pour the Agent Orange and other stuff down the bank into the pits before lighting it on fire. It would take a couple of days for it to burn,” he said.

“After it was burnt down, it would have a red hot glow. I would take a bulldozer and go down the hill into the pits and bulldoze anything and everything left over right into the ocean. I did this about every other week.

“A great amount of it would sink immediately. A lot of it would float, but as it got more saturated, that would sink as well.”

Hundreds of barrels of Agent Orange, as well as other waste including the toxic Agent Blue, were brought into Bermuda during the 1960s, says Mr. Slater.

He says Agent Orange, a powerful defoliant, was sprayed on perimeter fences of the base to stop the growth of foliage which could act as a hiding place for anybody wanting to break in.

He also believes many barrels were brought in from elsewhere as the Island was effectively used as a dumping ground.

“There were so many barrels over a six to eight month period, I’m sure that was what happened,” he said.

Aged in his early 20s when he was first instructed to bulldoze waste, Mr. Slater said he did not immediately comprehend the consequences — not least because Agent Orange’s notoriety was not yet established.

“At the time I felt like I was thrilled to have a job,” he said, “but as I got older I realised I was a party to creating a toxic environment that I believe is still there.

“I identified it as Agent Orange by the types of the barrels. I wasn’t that naive or stupid not to at least look at the numbers on the barrels. But at the time I gave no thought to the band or the colour of the liquid.”

The dangers of Agent Orange may not have been widely known, but Mr. Slater said his colleagues regularly aired worries about what was going on.

“My only concern became if I didn’t get protection no matter what I was breathing it would eventually do me harm.

“Other people working there were concerned about their health. My fellow worker, he would come out of those pits filthy dirty. I was falling ill after six months, I was flu-ish all the time. I asked if I could have hooded protection and they gave me an old fireman’s hood, but I still had the same unprotected clothes. The damage was already done.”

His deteriorating health has prompted a battle for compensation from the US Government which, he says, has failed to recognise that Agent Orange was used anywhere other than Vietnam.

“I have always been an athlete. You can be an athlete all your life, but to have Type Two diabetes and a growth it makes you realise you are no longer the healthy specimen that you were. And it’s because of something you were ordered to do,” he said.

“As I have got much older, now I’m in my 60s, I have got a level of anger that my own country will not acknowledge me.”

Mr. Slater’s illnesses could also be partly attributed to spells he spent dealing with toxic substances, including Agent Orange which he says he worked with in Puerto Rico.

He also has fears for the future of the land at the site, adding: “They would take a barrel and dump it. The liquid would run out of them and into the ground and that would still be there now.

“If I had to bet, I would guess someone filled the pits with dirt. I can trust to one thing: whatever was poured out into the ground needs to be very systematically excavated.

“If there was to be any development there in the form of human occupancy, there would be a serious threat. What if kids were playing on the ground there? There needs to be a massive excavation first.”