Cancer compo deals

TasNetworks admits herbicide fallout

TWO former TasNetworks employees will be paid compensation after they fell ill due to herbicide exposure.

And there are fears many more could have been affected by other chemicals.

TASNETWORKS will provide compensation to two of its workers who fell ill after herbicide exposure, with fears more employees could have been affected by other chemicals.

The company’s CEO Lance Balcombe yesterday said more than 370 former employees had worked on Hydro Electric Commission vegetation teams in the 1970s and ’80s.

Employees at the time came into contact with herbicide 2,4,5-T, a known cancer-causer, and have since been offered medical examinations to test for three major cancers.

Mr Balcombe said 69 of the 70 staff who volunteered to be screened tested negative to Hodgin lymphoma, NonHodgkin lymphoma and Softcell sarcoma.

All three cancers have been linked to the herbicide.

Mr Balcombe said a male employee who tested positive was undergoing treatment, and the family of another man who had cancer and had died in the early 1980s, had now been offered compensation by TasNetworks.

“Our door will always be open should any of that 370 or any employees develop any of these cancers,” he said.

But Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union state secretary Michael Anderson said other chemicals previously used by staff had contributed to more health conditions.

“There are more substances we’re concerned about that haven’t been covered,” he said.

“We’re not talking about a wage claim, we’re talking about genuinely serious illnesses.”

He said herbicide 2,4-D, granulated pellets known as Ustalin, and a lead-based paint called Ferrador, were also potentially linked to diseases among CEPU members who previously worked for TasNetworks.

Former employee Leon Prewer said he began his employment in 1977 at 17 when he mixed herbicide 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D with diesel into a backpack and sprayed vegetation with no protective gear.

“We used the same overalls for a week because we only had two pairs,” he said. “It did sting your hands and it was sticky stuff.”

Mr Prewer has undergone multiple surgeries since February 2019 to remove a malignant tumour from his oesophagus: “I’ve got nothing now, I can’t do anything,” he said.

“I run out of breath, I can’t even walk along the block without stopping before I start puffing and panting.”