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Suggested Citation:"EXPANDING PERIMETER SPRAYING DATABASE." Institute of Medicine. 2003. Characterizing Exposure of Veterans to Agent Orange and Other Herbicides Used in Vietnam: Final Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10819.
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Page 23

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MILITARY UNIT AND HERBICIDE SPRAYING DATABASES, AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT MODEL DEVELOPMENT 23 While the research effort was directed at characterizing the exposures of US veterans of Vietnam, the databases and model created by the Columbia University researchers could be adapted for use in studies of other countries' veterans and of Vietnam residents. EXPANDING PERIMETER SPRAYING DATABASE Seven Army divisions served in Vietnam during the years in which herbicide spraying took place (1965– 1970). A Division Chemical Officer, who generally held the rank of lieutenant colonel or major, served in each division. Each officer served for a 1-year tour of duty, although some may have served for shorter periods and some for more than one tour. An objective of this Project 1 task was to attempt to learn how much perimeter spraying and local spraying took place during the Vietnam War for which no records exist on the Services-HERBS tape. The researchers intended to identify Division Chemical Officers from available military records, such as the Daily Journals and the Morning Reports, and interview them. They also anticipated retrieving further data on people in the Chemical Corps from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, which holds all military records for the armed services and Coast Guard. An exchange of correspondence occurred among the investigators, NPRC, representatives of the individual branches of the services, the DOD Privacy Board, the Secretary of Defense, and the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) (which maintains the Vietnam file) to secure more information. The records requested—unit assignments, military occupational specialties, and awards won—are releasable public records, in contrast with medical records and Social Security numbers, which are considered private records. The armed services have set up “routine-use” mechanisms by which private records may be released to federal contractors but have not established routine-use mechanisms for the release of releasable records. After negotiations among VA, NPRC, and DOD, it was agreed that a contract would be drawn between VA and NPRC for finding Social Security numbers of the chemical officers. The results of the search would be given to NAS, the VA contractor, and then to Columbia University, the NAS subcontractor.

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