The US Army veteran who claims Agent Orange was burned at the former baselands at Southside last night threw his support behind St. David's resident Gregory Fox's fight to release a report into the safety of land.

Former US Army serviceman Ronald Slater — who yesterday revealed he now faces surgery for prostate cancer — said people have a right to know the results of environmental tests carried out at Kindley Air Force Base.

Mr. Slater said Government's repeated refusal to release the report — commissioned after he alleged the lethal defoliant was dumped and burned during the 1960s — made him suspicious the investigation had not been extensive enough.

He said another potential reason for keeping it behind closed doors could be that it shed lights on other information about the land Government wants to hide from the public. "This reeks of a slipshod investigation," Mr. Slater told The Royal Gazette. "Or maybe they discovered something else, like lead or arsenic.

"I'm glad the citizens of St. David's are now asking the right questions. By not releasing the report, your Government are leaving all your citizens in the dark, and that's not fair to them. People are no longer stupid or gullible — whether it's in the US or in Bermuda, they will not be lied to.

"Tell us what the investigation revealed, tell us how you did it. Then they can make up their own minds. All I've got is my word. I've got the photos, which don't lie. I wish I had the barrels in front of me to show I'm telling the truth."

Mr. Slater says he was ordered to pour Agent Orange into deep pits at the then-US military occupied site, before it was burned, sending poisonous fumes over St. David's homes, and he then bulldozed the remains into the sea.

As well as cancer, he now has Type Two diabetes, a tumour on his right arm and large growth on his kidney. He believes his poor health was brought on by exposure to Agent Orange.

Earlier this week, as this newspaper kicked off its A Right To Know: Giving People Power campaign, Mr. Fox reported how he grew up in a St. David's home yards from the baselands.

Mr. Fox said he was concerned about potential health effects of burning toxic waste on himself, his family and neighbours, and vowed to organise a protest among fellow residents if the Ministry of Works and Engineering continues to refuse to release the report.