Agent Orange Has Been Linked
to Cancer and Other Diseases
The following epidemiological
studies have linked Agent Orange to cancer and other health effects:
- The Vietnam Experience
Study (VES) by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)The Department
of Veterans Affairs conducted studies in the 1980'sThe Air Force
Health Study focused on Ranch Hand veterans. More
information on the Air Force study is available at the Air Force
Research Laboratory web site.
- The Agent Orange Act of
1991 directed the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ask The Institute
of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences to form The
Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of
Exposure to Herbicides.
- The National Toxicology
Program has classified 2,3,7,8-TCDD, the dioxin in Agent Orange, to
be a known human carcinogen.
There is sufficient
evidence from epidemiological studies to associate the following cancers
and diseases with Agent Orange:
- Soft-tissue sarcoma but
not osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, or
mesothelioma
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Hodgkin disease
- Chronic lymphocytic
leukemia (CLL)
There is some limited evidence
suggestive of an association between the following cancers and Agent
Orange:
- Respiratory cancers such as
lung cancer, tracheal cancer, laryngeal cancer, and bronchial cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Multiple myeloma
Other health problems have
been linked with Agent Orange exposure, such as:
- High levels of dioxin
exposure are associated with chloracne, a distinctive form of acne
- Birth defects or neural
tube defects
- Neurotoxicity, including
neuropsychiatric dysfunction, deficits in motor function, and
peripheral neuropathy
- Diabetes
- Paternal Agent Orange
exposure and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in children
Since past Agent Orange
exposure is difficult to quantify, the VA classifies a veteran who
served in Vietnam between 1962 and 1975 who has been afflicted with an
Agent Orange related condition as having a service-related disability.
|