Veterans and Agent Orange Update 1998 (1999) / Chapter Skim
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2 Veterans and Agent Orange: Previous IOM Reports
2 Veterans and Agent Orange: Previous IOM Reports
Pages 17-31
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From page 17... ...
1116, directed the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to request that the National Academy of Sciences conduct a comprehensive review and evaluation of scientific and medical information regarding the health effects of exposure to Agent Orange, other herbicides used in Vietnam, and their components, including dioxin. In February 1992, the Institute of Medicine (IOM)
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The committee was not asked to and did not make judgments regarding specific cases in which individual Vietnam veterans have claimed injury from herbicide exposure; this was not part of its congressional charge. Rather, the studies provide scientific information for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to consider as the DVA exercises its responsibilities to Vietnam veterans.
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From page 19... ...
The committee felt that considering studies of other groups could help address the issue of whether these compounds might be associated with particular health outcomes, even though the results would have only an indirect bearing on the increased risk of disease in veterans themselves. Some of these studies, especially those of workers in chemical production plants, provide stronger evidence about health effects than studies of veterans because exposure was generally more easily quantified and measured.
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However, new data regarding porphyria cutanea tarda combined with the studies reviewed in VAO justified moving PCT to the category of limited/ suggestive evidence of an association with herbicide exposure. Chapter 11 of Update 1996 details this decision.
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This classification is addressed in Chapter 10 of the 1996 report. A 1995 analysis of birth defects among the offspring of Ranch Hands, in combination with earlier studies of neural tube defects in the children of Vietnam veterans published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
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Increased Risk in Vietnam Veterans The second of the committee's three statutory mandates calls on it to determine, to the extent that available scientific data permit meaningful determinations, the increased risk of disease among individuals exposed to herbicides during service in Vietnam. Although there have been numerous health studies of Vietnam veterans, many have been hampered by relatively poor measures of exposure to herbicides or TCDD, in addition to other methodological problems.
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From page 23... ...
The original committee also saw value in continuing the existing Ranch Hand study and expanding it to include Army Chemical Corps veterans. The committee' s research recommendations emphasized studies of Vietnam veterans, rather than general toxicologic or epidemiologic studies of occupationally or environmentally exposed populations.
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that the Secretary establish a presumption of service connection for prostate cancer based on exposure to an herbicide agent; 2. that the Secretary establish a presumption of service connection for acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy based on exposure to an herbicide agent if manifested within one year of exposure to the agent; 3.
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From page 25... ...
Subsequently, Section 404 of Public Law 105-114, signed on November 21, 1997, made technical corrections to some of the definitions in the original act. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE TO CONCERNS OVER THE MILITARY USE OF HERBICIDES IN VIETNAM The federal government has been involved with international and domestic policy issues related to the health effects associated with the military use of herbicides, particularly Agent Orange, since the defoliation program began in Vietnam.
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From page 26... ...
In 1981, Public Law 97-72 expanded the scope of the epidemiologic study to include an evaluation of the impact on the health of Vietnam veterans of other environmental factors existing in Vietnam; this study was later transferred from the VA to the CDC and is referred to as the "Vietnam Experience Study." On April 7, 1986, President Reagan signed Public Law 99-272, which included provisions directing the VA to conduct an epidemiologic study of the long-term health effects of herbicide exposure on women who served in Vietnam. The Women Veterans Health Programs Act of 1992 (P.L.
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From page 27... ...
As discussed earlier, this law also mandated the review of the scientific literature that resulted in the Veterans and Agent Orange series of reports. Department of Veterans Affairs The Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for providing health care, compensation, and benefits to veterans of the Vietnam era.
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From page 28... ...
receive the Agent Orange Review, a newsletter that provides updated information about Agent Orange and related matters. EAS also compiles fact sheets, called Agent Orange Briefs, about Agent Orange and related concerns; copies of these briefs are available through the Agent Orange Coordinator at all DVA medical centers.
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Numerous reports and papers regarding the Ranch Hand study population have been published. Many of these are reviewed in the earlier Veterans and Agent Orange reports.
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From page 30... ...
1994. Veterans and Agent Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam.
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From page 31... ...
1996. Report to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on Veterans and Agent Orange.
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