Agent Orange Being Blamed for More Problems

(December 27, 2009) - The Department of Veteran's Affairs is adding three more health conditions to the list of conditions presumed to have been caused by Agent Orange. The three are Parkinson's disease, ischemic heart disease and hairy-cell leukemia. (Read about "Parkinson's Disease" "The Heart & Cardiovascular System" "Leukemia")

A new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) finds suggestive but limited evidence that exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used during the Vietnam War is associated with an increased chance of developing ischemic heart disease and Parkinson's disease for Vietnam veterans. The report is the latest in a congressionally mandated series by the IOM that every two years reviews the evidence about the health effects of these herbicides and a type of dioxin - TCDD - that contaminated some of the defoliants.

IOM also affirmed that hairy cell leukemia is in the same category as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and lymphomas. (Read about "Lymphoma") Previous reviews in the series found sufficient evidence to state that there is an association between herbicide exposure and increased risk for CLL and lymphomas.

The report presents scientific data only and does not suggest or intend to imply policy decisions that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs might make. Also, the findings relate to exposures and outcomes in broad populations; researchers' abilities to pinpoint the health risks faced by any individual veteran are hindered by inadequate information about military personnel's exposure levels during service in Vietnam.

U.S. forces sprayed Agent Orange and other defoliants over parts of southern Vietnam and surrounding areas from 1962 to 1970. Most large-scale sprayings were conducted from airplanes and helicopters, but herbicides were also dispersed from boats and ground vehicles and by soldiers wearing back-mounted equipment.