Characterizing Exposure of Veterans to Agent Orange and Other Herbicides Used in Vietnam Interim Findings and Recommendations (2003) / Chapter Skim
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Foundation for Findings
Foundation for Findings
Pages 5-12
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FOUNDATION FOR FINDINGS The contractor has developed databases of wartime spraying and accidental dispersion of herbicides, of troop locations and movements, and of land features and soil typology. The Columbia University researchers have developed a geographic information system (GIS)
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The GIS also includes documented spray mission targets; herbicide storage, transport, and unplanned-dispersal information; military unit identification codes; locations of military units, bases, structures, air fields, and landing zones; movements of combat troops; land features2; soil typology; and locations of civilian populations. The development and contents of the GIS are addressed at length in a 2003 Environmental Health Perspectives paper published by the Columbia University researchers (Stellman et al., 2003a)
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The Columbia University researchers have developed an approach to classifying military units so that they can be separated by the degree to which their missions required frequent changes in location. That approach has permitted them to develop a database of locations and changes in location over time for about 80 percent of all Army troops, most Air Force personnel, and Navy personnel assigned to construction battalions or permanent installations.
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Limited qualitative and quantitative validation information for the model itself is also available. The Columbia University researchers have noted, in presentations to the committee, a correspondence between their database's records of spraying and an independent set of measure4 The limitations involved in more-widespread application of such techniques are discussed below.
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flown January I, 1966, in the Rung Sat Special Zone showing all grid points whose centers fell within ~ km (large blue dots) and 5 km (small black dots)
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Source: adapted from contractor presentation made at 48-month update meeting, July 24, 2002, Washington, DC.
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and the Spearman correlation coefficient 0.32 (p =0.10~. Overall, the committee believes that the Columbia University researchers' work provides an adequate demonstration that the model represents a valid means of assessing wartime herbicide exposure of Vietnam veterans.
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From page 12... ...
, a constituent of Agents Orange, Orange II, Purple, Pink, and Green. Agents Whites and Blue, which together account for about one-third of the gallonage sprayed, were composed of other herbicides.9 The TCDD concentration in stocks 7 The databases and model created by the Columbia University researchers could be adapted for use in studies of Vietnam residents and may have great utility in this regard.
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