Bad gut feeling over toxic find

By Dino Cesta - 8 September 2015

THE NEWCASTLE HERALD - Letter To The Editor 

 

I, for one, am unsurprised to read in the Herald of the toxic contamination discovery and concerns within the Port Stephens region.

 

I have Motor Neurone Disease, and my diagnosis occurred 9 months into my employment as a civilian for the Department of Defence at RAAF Williamtown base.

 

During my time at the RAAF Base, I was exposed to and inhaled rocket fuel fumes from firing fighter jets floating into the workplace’s air-conditioning vents, and when walking from one workplace building to another on the Defence Base!

 

And I have also wondered whether the drinking water, or the food cooked in potentially contaminated water, and the inhalation of toxic manufacturing and industrial materials such as cleaning products on the Base, triggered my terminal disease.

 

Can I prove that my employment at the RAAF Base caused my Motor Neurone Disease? No. Coincidence? Perhaps! But my gut feeling says ‘Yes’, and long after I’m gone, I believe science will one day prove me right.

 

So should the public be alarmed over the risk in having been exposed to toxic contaminants in their water and food in the Port Stephens region? Bloody oath we should!

 

Dino Cesta, Hamilton