![](media/image1.wmf)

August 2001

**AGENT ORANGE AND RELATED ISSUES**

THE VIETNAM CONFLICT

• An estimated 2.6 million personnel served within the borders of South
Vietnam and in adjacent waters.

AGENT ORANGE

Agent Orange was a herbicide used in Vietnam to defoliate trees and
remove cover for the enemy. Agent Orange spraying missions were flown in
Vietnam between January 1965 and April 1970. Shipped in orange-striped
barrels, it was a reddish-brown liquid containing four chemicals:
2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T), 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic
acid (2,4-D), cacodylic acid and picloram. The 2,4,5-T was contaminated
in the manufacturing process with dioxin. Several herbicides were
sprayed in Vietnam at different times \-- during different years as well
as during different seasons because of the variety of vegetation and
environmental conditions.

The history of herbicides for military use dates to World War II. During
the early part of the war, interest arose in chemicals that could be
used for crop destruction. Two chemicals were developed as a result of
those early efforts \-- 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. Although neither chemical was
used in World War II, the value of their use in weed and brush programs
was recognized, and both chemicals have been used widely throughout the
world since the 1940s by farmers, foresters and homeowners.

VA SERVICES FOR VIETNAM VETERANS

**Free** **Medical Care:** VA has offered special access to health
services and studies since 1978, when it initiated a medical
surveillance program for Vietnam veterans with health concerns. By 1981,
VA offered priority medical care to Vietnam veterans with any health
problems which may have resulted from Agent Orange exposure. That
program continues today.

-more-

Agent Orange \-- Page 2

**Special Compensation for 10 Diseases:** As with other veterans,
Vietnam veterans with disabilities incurred or aggravated by military
service may receive monthly VA compensation. As knowledge has grown from
studies of Agent Orange, some diseases that may not have become evident
in service have been recognized as service-connected. Based on clinical
research, the following diseases are now on VA\'s Agent Orange list:
chloracne, Hodgkin\'s disease, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin\'s
lymphoma, porphyria cutanea tarda, respiratory cancers (lung, bronchus,
larynx and trachea), soft-tissue sarcoma, acute and subacute peripheral
neuropathy and prostate cancer. In addition, monetary benefits, health
care and vocational rehabilitation services are provided to Vietnam
veterans\' offspring with spina bifida, a congenital birth defect of the
spine. VA presumes that all military personnel who served in Vietnam and
who have one of the listed diseases were exposed to Agent Orange.

VA RESPONSE TO CONCERNS ABOUT AGENT ORANGE

• VA developed the Agent Orange Registry Examination Program in 1978 to
identify Vietnam veterans concerned about Agent Orange exposure. Nearly
300,000 Vietnam veterans have been provided examinations under the
Registry program as of December 1999. VA maintains a computerized
registry of data from these examinations. Registrants receive periodic
updates on Agent Orange studies and VA policy.

• VA\'s Advisory Committee on Health-Related Effects of Herbicides was
established in 1979 to examine issues surrounding the possible health
effects of herbicides on Vietnam veterans. VA also established the
Veterans\' Advisory Committee on Environmental Hazards, consisting of
non-VA experts in dioxin and radiation exposure as well as several lay
members, to advise the Secretary on the results of Agent Orange-related
research, and regulatory, administrative and legislative initiatives.
Since passage of a 1991 law (PL102-4), which directs VA to request that
the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) review diseases associated with
herbicide exposure, the committee\'s work has been superseded by the NAS
review.

• The NAS reviews and evaluates scientific literature about Agent
Orange. NAS reviewed more than 6,000 abstracts of scientific or medical
articles and analyzed 230 epidemiological studies before its initial
July 1993 report, which led to the inclusion of additional diseases on
the list for presumptive service-connection. The NAS review has been
continuing, with acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy and prostate
cancer added to VA\'s presumptive list after the NAS issued an updated
report in March 1996. Also based on that report\'s findings of new
\"limited or suggestive evidence\" of an association between herbicides
and spina bifida in the children of Vietnam veterans, VA proposed
legislation to aid children of Vietnam veterans who suffer from that
disorder, and established a reproductive outcomes research center to
investigate potential environmental hazards of military service. An NAS
update, released in February 1999, contained no major changes in its
classifications of diseases.

In April 2000, VA asked IOM to broaden an ongoing study to include the
results of the military's latest report on Agent Orange, which found a
high rate of adult-onset diabetes among Vietnam veterans who
participated in spraying operations.

\- more -

Agent Orange -- Page 3

In October 2000, NAS issued a report that found "limited / suggestive
evidence" of a link between adult-onset (Type 2) diabetes and herbicides
used in Vietnam, including Agent Orange. The IOM report concluded that
other traditional risk factors for diabetes -- heredity, weight and
sedentary lifestyle -- far outweigh the risks of Agent Orange.

Still, based upon that IOM report, VA Secretary Anthony Principi
announced he was directing the addition of Type 2 diabetes to the list
of presumptive conditions associated with herbicide exposure. Rules
permitting eligible veterans to apply for and receive compensation for
adult-onset (Type 2) diabetes went into effect July 9, 2001. VA
officials estimate that more than 178,000 veterans might qualify for
disability compensation under the new rules within five years.

\###