January 2003
Agent Orange And
Related Issues
An estimated 2.6 million personnel served within the borders of South Vietnam and in adjacent waters.
Agent Orange
Agent Orange was a herbicide used in
Vietnam to defoliate trees and remove cover for the enemy.� Agent Orange spraying missions were flown in
Vietnam between January 1965 and April 1970.�
Shipped in orange-striped barrels, it was a reddish-brown liquid
containing four chemicals:�
2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T), 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic
acid (2,4-D), cacodylic acid and picloram.�
The 2,4,5-T was contaminated in the manufacturing process with
dioxin.� Several herbicides were sprayed
in Vietnam at different times�during different years as well as during
different seasons because of the variety of vegetation and environmental
conditions.
The history of herbicides for military
use dates to World War II.� During the
early part of the war, interest arose in chemicals that could be used for crop
destruction. Two chemicals were developed as a result of those early efforts --
2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. Although neither chemical was used in World War II, the
value of their use in weed and brush programs was recognized, and both
chemicals have been used widely throughout the world since the 1940s by
farmers, foresters and homeowners.
Medical Services For Vietnam Veterans
VA has offered special
access to health services and studies since 1978, when it initiated a medical
surveillance program for Vietnam veterans with health concerns.� By 1981, VA offered priority medical care to
Vietnam veterans with any health problems which may have resulted from Agent
Orange exposure.� That program continues
today.
Special
Compensation for Disease
As with other veterans,
Vietnam veterans with disabilities incurred or aggravated by military service
may receive monthly VA compensation.� As
knowledge has grown from studies of Agent Orange, some diseases that may not
have become evident in service have been recognized as service-connected.� Based on clinical research, the following
diseases are now on VA�s Agent Orange list:�
chloracne, Hodgkin�s disease, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin�s lymphoma,
porphyria cutanea tarda, respiratory cancers (lung, bronchus, larynx and
trachea), soft-tissue sarcoma, acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy,
prostate and adult-onset diabetes.
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Agent Orange� 2/2/2/2
In addition, monetary
benefits, health care and vocational rehabilitation services are provided to
Vietnam veterans� offspring with spina bifida, a congenital birth defect of the
spine.� VA presumes that all military
personnel who served in Vietnam and who have one of the listed diseases were
exposed to Agent Orange.
VA Response To Concerns
About Agent Orange
�� VA developed the Agent Orange Registry Examination Program in 1978
to identify Vietnam veterans concerned about Agent Orange exposure.� Nearly 300,000 Vietnam veterans have been
provided examinations under the Registry program as of December 1999.� VA maintains a computerized registry of data
from these examinations.� Registrants
receive periodic updates on Agent Orange studies and VA policy.
�� VA�s Advisory Committee on Health-Related Effects of Herbicides was
established in 1979 to examine issues surrounding the possible health effects
of herbicides on Vietnam veterans.� VA
also established the Veterans� Advisory Committee on Environmental Hazards,
consisting of non-VA experts in dioxin and radiation exposure as well as
several lay members, to advise the Secretary on the results of Agent Orange-related
research, and regulatory, administrative and legislative initiatives.� Since passage of a 1991 law (PL102-4), which
directs VA to request that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) review
diseases associated with herbicide exposure, the committee�s work has been
superseded by the NAS review.
�� The NAS reviews and evaluates scientific literature about Agent
Orange.� NAS reviewed more than 6,000
abstracts of scientific or medical articles and analyzed 230 epidemiological
studies before its initial July 1993 report, which led to the inclusion of
additional diseases on the list for presumptive service-connection.� The NAS review has been continuing, with
acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy and prostate cancer added to VA�s
presumptive list after the NAS issued an updated report in March 1996.� Also based on that report�s findings of new
�limited or suggestive evidence� of an association between herbicides and spina
bifida in the children of Vietnam veterans, VA proposed legislation to aid
children of Vietnam veterans who suffer from that disorder, and established a
reproductive outcomes research center to investigate potential environmental
hazards of military service.� An NAS
update, released in February 1999, contained no major changes in its classifications
of diseases.�
In April 2000, VA asked
NAS to broaden an ongoing study to include the results of the military�s latest
report on Agent Orange, which found a high rate of adult-onset diabetes among
Vietnam veterans who participated in spraying operations.
In October 2000, NAS
issued a report that found �limited / suggestive evidence� of a link between
adult-onset (Type 2) diabetes and herbicides used in Vietnam, including Agent
Orange.� The IOM report concluded that other
traditional risk factors for diabetes � heredity, weight and sedentary
lifestyle � far outweigh the risks of Agent Orange.
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Agent Orange 3/3/3/3
Still, based upon that NAS
report, VA Secretary Anthony Principi announced he was directing the addition
of Type 2 diabetes to the list of presumptive conditions associated with
herbicide exposure.� Rules permitting
eligible veterans to apply for and receive compensation for adult-onset (Type
2) diabetes went into effect July 9, 2001.�
VA officials estimate that more than 178,000 veterans might qualify for
disability compensation under the new rules within five years.
On Jan. 23, 2003, IOM
issued a report citing "sufficient evidence of an association between
exposure to herbicides" during the Vietnam War and chronic lymphocytic
leukemia (CLL).� That same day,
Secretary Principi announced that he was directing VA officials to draft
regulations adding CLL to the list of presumptive conditions associated with
herbicide exposure.
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