Ottawa will compensate people exposed to Agent Orange at CFB Gagetown even though two new studies suggest the chemical posed no risk to their health, Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson said Thursday.

Thompson said the Conservative government would keep its commitment to a compensation program, but the new reports probably mean fewer people will be eligible.

Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson says people exposed to Agent Orange at CFB Gagetown will be compensated, even though two new studies suggest they face no increased health risks.

"What that number will be we have no idea, but the number will most likely, based on what we're hearing [Thursday], be smaller than anticipated, not larger than anticipated," he said.

Veterans and others believe they're sick because of exposure to Agent Orange, a herbicide which was sprayed at the base in the 1960s.

They have pinned their hopes for recognition and compensation on a fact-finding mission led by Dr. Dennis Furlong, a former provincial health minister.

Furlong released two new studies Thursday, and they don't do much to bolster the case for compensation.

Elliot Sigal, who headed the study that looked at U.S. military test spraying in the 1960s and its impact on human health, said veterans involved in the program faced no increased health risks.

"The short-term exposures estimated for people who were directly involved in the chemical testing do not suggest that they would have been at increased risk for long-term irreversible health effects," Sigal said.

A second report released Thursday says current contamination levels don't present a risk today, either.

Veterans say they hope the government takes a more critical look at the new studies before it decides who will get compensation and who won't.

Retired soldier Grant Payne said the findings appear to contradict earlier results, which showed current levels of dioxin — a carcinogen found in Agent Orange — still exceed national guidelines in some areas.

"They're above acceptable levels and then after a month or so, they're back to normal levels," he said. "I'm confused."

Peer review questions conclusions

A scientific peer review also raised questions about the study of present-day contamination.

Reviewers were concerned about the small number of soil and water samples. They also said the study's authors make statements about a lack of risk that are too sweeping and that call their objectivity into question.

Furlong defended the reports. "We also read this stuff and if I felt myself that there was a major flaw in this, I would have said so," he said.

"There's always a different opinion. Even in my medicine background, we may have varying opinions. This is about opinion."

Thompson said Ottawa will make a final decision on the compensation program in the next six months.