Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Tue, 18 Aug 1992 16:46:22 PDT
From:         jdo@SJC.MENTORG.COM
Subject:      [news] VN: STUDY OF DIOXIN'S EFFECT IN VIETNAM HAMPERED
X-To:         SEASIA-L@msu.edu

The New York Times                              Tuesday, 18 August 1992
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STUDY OF DIOXIN'S EFFECT IN VIETNAM HAMPERED BY DIPLOMATIC FREEZE

by Barbara Crossette

Washington - A 17-year freeze in relations between Vietnam and the
United States is hindering vital research into the long-term effects of
Agent Orange and other effects of dioxin on both military and civilian
populations, a New York scientist says.
    "Where does this nasty stuff go, and how long does it persist?" said
the scientist, Dr Arnold Schechter, a preventive-medicine specialist at
the clinical campus of the State University of New York's Health
Sciences Center in Binghamton. His research into dioxin began in 1981,
when toxic contamination was released in a transformer fire in a New
York State office building in Binghamton.
    Three years later, Dr Schecter went to Vietnam, convinced that he
could learn about the potential dangers of industrial toxin in the West
by studying the people in areas sprayed during the Vietnam War with
large doses of American defoliants containing dioxin.
    Every year, Dr Schecter returns to Vietnam to collect tissue samples
from people who might have been exposed to dioxin. To do that, he must
overcome the bureaucratic and diplomatic hurdles caused by the lack of
formal diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States.
    While Vietnamese and American officials move at a glacial pace in
negotations to improve ties, time is running out for dioxin victims in
Vietnam, he said in an interview from Binghamton.
    Dr Schecter, who is constrained by an American embargo from using
Federal funds for his one-man research project, said that while
numerous scientists are studying dioxin in the United States and
Europe, Vietnam is an ideal location for more research into potential
links between dioxin and cancer, reproductive dysfunction, hormone
problems, immune deficiencies, disorders of the central nervous system,
liver damage, diabetes and altered lipid metabolism.
    Dioxin, which comes in several chemical forms, is an unwanted
byproduct of the manufacture of some agricultural and industrial
compounds. Although dioxin is known to cause cancer and birth defects
in laboratory animals, its only proven toxic effect in humans is
chloracne, a skin disorder.
    Dioxin is "ubiquitous and symbolic of industrialization," Dr
Schecter said, adding that it was critical to determine the level at
which it might become dangerous to humans. In the United States and
other industrial countries, Dr Schecter said, dioxin from certain
industries and urban incinerators have begun to appear in the food
chain, in milk, meat and fish.
    Dr Ellen Silbergeld, a professor of toxicology at the University of
Maryland who has conducted research on dioxin for a number of years,
said scientists believed that Vietnam could provide excellent
opportunities for study for two reasons.
    First, a large number of Vietnamese of all ages and both sexes have
been exposed to dioxin. In the West, high-dose industrial accidents or
cases of neighborhood contamination -- in Seveso, Italy; Times Beach,
Missouri; or Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York -- have involved
small groups in confined areas. In factories and among veterans, most
of those exposed have been men.
    "We really need to understand the effects of dioxin on women," Dr
Silbergeld said. "Dioxin is very toxic to the female reproductive
system and the development of the fetus. We do not have a group here to
study. In Vietnam, many women and children were exposed."
    The second reason Vietnam is a good place to study is that it
furnishes an extensive control group. Dr Schecter said Vietnamese from
the north who were not sprayed by defoliants made up a control group
because they live in an area with little industrialization, so they
would not have a substantial exposure to dioxin from any sources. To
determine dioxin's effects, the health of the control group can be
compared to the health of those who were exposed to defoliants in the
central and southern regions during the Vietnam War.
    Dr Schecter said that 12 million to 20 million gallons of Agent
Orange was dumped on Vietnam from 1962 to 1970, when an outcry from
scientists led President Richard M Nixon to order an end to defoliation.
Agent Orange -- the name came from the color of the barrel markings --
was contaminated by low levels of dioxin. It was a mixture of two
herbicides, 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, which contained the most toxic type of
dioxin.
    Many Vietnamese had substantial exposures to dioxin. "Eighty
percent of the Vietnamese lived in rural areas and were frequently
barefoot or in sandals" during the period when Agent Orange was sprayed,
Dr Schecter said, adding, "Now, after a latency period of 20 to 30
years, we ought to start seeing an excess of cancers if they are going
to occur."
    Dr Schecter has build relations over the last eight years with
Vietnamese doctors. He sends specimens of Vietnamese tissue to dioxin
chemists around the world, asking them to help interpret them. He is
being assisted by researchers at the Harvard University Medical School
and the Columbia University School of Public Health.
    "Cooperation with Vietnam couldn't be better," he said. "They have
opened centers around the country to help in joint research.
    "If we don't go into Vietnam as soon as possible, we're letting a
unique opportunity fade," he said. "Although elevated levels of dioxin
will be found for decades, the presence slowly decreases. Older people
are dying. People at higher risk are dying. We are losing opportunities
to study the health consequences for all of us."
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