Agent Orange :: essays research papers

Agent Orange Link Diabetes Strongly Associated With Vietnam Exposure to Pesticide U.S. Air Force planes spray the defoliant chemical Agent Orange over dense vegetation in South Vietnam in this 1966 photo. Dioxin is the component of Agent Orange linked to many health effects in laboratory animals. (AP Photo) By Robert Burns The Associated Press W A S H I N G T O N, March 29 — An Air Force study released today confirmed a connection, long suspected by Vietnam veterans, between wartime exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange and diabetes. The Air Force said the link so far is only statistical and is yet to be proven conclusively by biological study. The National Academy of Sciences, a research arm of the government, is reviewing the results and is to report to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which will decide possible compensation to veterans. The study found a 47 percent increase in diabetes among veterans with the highest levels of dioxin in their bloodstream. Dioxin is the compound in Agent Orange linked to health effects in laboratory animals. The result is based on 1997 physical examinations of 1,000 Air Force veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange during the nine years that it was used as a defoliant and crop killer in Vietnam. Joel Michalek, the lead investigator in the study, told a Pentagon news conference that because studies have not yet explained a biological relation between dioxin and diabetes, the Air Force cannot say conclusively that wartime exposure to Agent Orange is a cause of diabetes. Still, he said, the latest results provide â€Å"the strongest evidence to date† that herbicide exposure is associated with diabetes. He said the Air Force knew as far back as 1991 of a statistical link between dioxin and diabetes and has since hardened its data based on additional physical exams of veterans. The Air Force is financing research at two academic institutions on a biological link between dioxin and diabetes. Also Linked to Heart Disease In its report on the health effects on veterans involved in the aerial spraying of Agent Orange in Vietnam, the Air Force said it also found a 26 percent increase in heart disease. The increase was 50 percent among enlisted airmen who served as ground crew for Operation Ranch Hand, the military code name for the spraying campaign. The ground crew are presumed to have had the greatest exposure to Agent Orange among 1,200 Air Force veterans who were involved in the spraying from 1962 to 1971.