Australia to investigate veterans' defoliant claims

The Australian government said Monday it would investigate claims that herbicides, including the powerful defoliant Agent Orange, caused birth defects among the children of 41,000 Australians who served in Vietnam. One Vietnam veterans group reported that as many as 400 children of Australian veterans who were exposed to herbicides were born with defects. The US Army used Agent Orange to deny Viet Cong guerrillas food and cover by thinning out the Vietnamese jungle.