Herbicide sprays used at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick were within the acceptable levels, according to two new reports released Thursday.

The reports were prepared by environmental consulting firm Jacques Whitford Ltd. for the Department of National Defence.

They reveal that although traces of poisons can still be found at the base, all sprays met government requirements, and many were commonly used across Canada.

Until the mid-1980s, the sprays contained dioxin, a toxic byproduct which is now banned from the products.

"At the time this was taking place -- and this spray program existed from the mid 1950s right up to 2004 -- each and every year those sprays, and that application of herbicide defoliant, including the application of dioxin, was within acceptable and government levels at the time," CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell told CTV Newsnet.

Some of the chemicals used on the heavily forested base were used many times over, while some were only used once.

"We've also learned that as recently as 1990, Dow Chemical was allowed to conduct tests at CFB Gagetown," said Campbell, although it's unclear what chemicals were used in those tests.

The chemicals that are of greatest concern are Agent Orange, Agent White and Agent Purple. They were applied at the base over several days in 1966 and 1967 by the U.S. military.

The chemicals were used as a defoliant to clear jungle in the Vietnam War.

The authors of the study have restricted access and recommended risk assessment studies for several areas of the base where the agents were tested, and are still present in high levels.

In total, there are 22 locations on the base where dioxin levels have been identified as unacceptable - vindication for veterans who have said for years they were exposed to dangerous chemicals.

"The things that we've been talking about, the questions we've been asking, we've been denied," said retired soldier John Chisholm. "Well, now it's been accepted; now it's on paper."

The studies are part of a fact-finding mission to help the federal government decide whether to compensate veterans and residents who claim they were adversely affected by herbicide sprays at the base.

Campbell said a health risk assessment will now be completed, whereby officials will meet with veterans and residents to determine whether there is a link between health problems and the spray program.

"This is in essence vindication (for veterans)," Campbell said.

"They've been saying all along they were sprayed, they were dumped on, not just during what the government has admitted was 1966 and 1967 test periods of Agent Orange, Agent Purple and Agent White, but really years of chemical herbicide spray at base Gagetown. The government, the military and now the fact-finding mission has confirmed that that is in fact what took place."

The reports will help "dispel any myths" about what happened, says the head of the fact-finding mission.

The first report details the history of herbicide spraying at the southern New Brunswick base going back to 1954, said Dennis Furlong, co-coordinator of the federal government's inquiry into chemical spraying at the base.

The report outlines "each and every product used, each and every year, how it was applied, and the impurities and the active ingredients," Furlong said Thursday on CTV's Canada AM.

The second report gives the results of soil and vegetation testing at the base, he said.

Together, "that information is a collation of data for people to peruse as we get towards the answer to the question" of whether there is a relationship between the chemical spraying and the hundreds of people who say they became sick because of herbicides.

Over a few days in 1966 and 1967, the U.S. military carried out tests of a number of defoliating agents, including Agents Orange, White and Purple.

The Defence Department has cited a U.S. study that says there is "sufficient evidence of an association," between Agent Orange and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, soft-tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and chloracne.

There is also a suggestion that exposure to the chemical is related to a number of forms of cancers as well as diabetes.

Furlong said the two reports to be released today are just the first of several to be presented to the federal government.

"We have three different tasks. This is the second task which has five different parts -- and two of those parts will be released today," Furlong told Canada AM.

They are part of a "larger final report which will be coming out in salvos over the next 12 months, the final one of which of course will be next summer."

Furlong said the toughest jobs remain, including a major health study that likely will not be completed until the middle of 2007, and finding the names of all of the people who worked at CFB Gagetown during the spray periods for the past 50 years.

So far, about 50,000 people have been identified.

With a report from The Canadian Press