Agent Orange Has Been
Linked to Cancer and Other Diseases
T he 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.
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