Agent Orange Scientific Studies

War Legacies Project

Scientific Studies on Agent Orange/Dioxin

Recent Reports and Resources:

Comprehensive Assessment of Dioxin Contamination in Da Nang Airport, Viet Nam: Environmental Levels, Human Exposure and Options for Mitigating Impacts - Downloadable PDF - October 2009.

SUMMARY OF DIOXIN CONTAMINATION AT THE BIEN HOA, PHU CAT AND DA NANG AIRBASES, VIET NAM - Hatfield Consultants Powerpoint presentation to the Meeting of the US-Vietnam Dialogue Group On Agent Orange/Dioxin June 2009.
PDF

Overcoming consequences of toxic chemicals/dioxin: A difficult and long-term task. Committee 33 Powerpoint presentation. April 2009

People with Disabilities in Viet Nam: Findings from a Social Survey in Dong Nai, Quang Nam, Da Nang and Thai Binh Institute of Social Development Studies. Hanoi. December 2007

Congressional Research Service Report. “Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange and U.S.-Vietnam Relations” Michael Martin, May 2009

Due to the Agent Orange Act of 1991 the US Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences is required to conduct review of the scientific studies on the herbicides and defoliants used during the Vietnam war. The IOM helps the Veteran's Administration to determine the diseases and birth defects that are believed to be linked to Agent Orange, or other chemicals used during the war in Vietnam and therefore making the veterans or their children eligible for compensation from the VA.

To date the VA list includes the following illnesses and birth defects:

Diseases recognized by the Veteran’s Administration as related to service in Viet Nam

• Prostate cancer
• Peripheral neuropathy (acute and sub-acute)
• Diabetes Mellitus Type II
• Chloracne (one year after exposure)
• Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

• Parkinson's Disease
• Porphyria cutanea tarda (1 year after exposure)

• Respiratory cancers, including cancer of the

lung

bronchus

larynx

trachea

• Multiple myeloma
• Hodgkin’s disease
• Soft Tissue Sarcomas

• Al Amyloidosis

• Chronic Lymphhocytic Leukemia

• B Cell Leukemia

• Ischemic Heart Disease

Birth defects in children of male and female veterans recognized by the VA as related service in Viet Nam

• Spina Bifida Except Spina Bifida Occulta

Birth defects in children of female veterans recognized by the VA as linked to service in Vietnam

• Achondroplasia
• Cleft lip and cleft palate
• Congenital heart disease
• Congenital talipes equinovarus (clubfoot)
• Esophageal and intestinal atresia
• Hallerman-Streiff syndrome
• Hip dysplasia
• Hydrocephalus due to aqueductal stenosis
• Hypospadias
• Imperforate anus
• Neural tube defects (including spina bifida, encephalocele, and anencephaly)
• Poland syndrome
• Pyloric stenosis
• Syndactyly (fused digits)
• Tracheoesophageal fistula
• Undescended testicle
• Williams syndrome

In addition to the mandated IOM review of studies on herbicides there is considerable amount of research on Agent Orange, dioxin and other herbicides. Both on the human impacts and on the long term environmental impacts. Listed below is some of the more recent research.

Jeanne Stellman et al:

Columbia University School of public Health

The Extent and Pattern of usage of Agent Orange and other Herbicides in Vietnam (as pdf) Article by Stellman et al. from Nature 17 April 2003.

Video Map of Spraying of herbicides from 1963-1970 developed by Jeanne Stellman, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Institute of Medicine Report: Characterizing Exposure of Veterans to Agent Orange and Other Herbicides Used in Vietnam: Interim Findings and Recommendations (April 2003)

website: http://www.columbia.edu/~jms13/articles.html

Bibliographies of Research on Agent Orange

Compiled by Arthur Westing

Dr. Arthur Galston - Publications (1967 - 1972+)

Dr. Egbert W. Pfeiffer - Publications (1968 - 1990)

Dr. Arthur Westing - Publications (1967 - 2008)

Hatfield Consultants

Vancouver Canada

Comprehensive Assessment of Dioxin Contamination in Da Nang Airport, Viet Nam: Environmental Levels, Human Exposure and Options for Mitigating Impacts - Downloadable PDF - October 2009.

"The Agent Orange Dioxin Issue in Viet Nam: A Manageable Problem". - paper presented at Dioxin 2006, Oslo, Norway.

Dioxin Hotspots in Vietnam Wayne Dwernychuk Chemosphere 2005

Dioxin Reservoirs in Southern Vietnam- A legacy of Agent Orange - Wayne Dwernychuk et al. Chemosphere 2002

Agent Orange Studies in Viet Nam

Power Point Presentation by Wayne Dwernychuk. Washington, DC 2003.

Website: http://www.hatfieldgroup.com

Arnold Schecter et al:

Levels of 2,3,7, 8-TCDD in Blood from Agent Orange Sprayed locations in Vietnam - Dioxin 2006

Recent Dioxin Contamination from Agent Orange in a Southern Vietnam City JOEM May 2001

A follow-up: High levels of Dioxin contamination in Vietnamese from Agent Orange...JOEM March 2002

Food as a source of Dioxin exposure in the Residents of Bien Hoa City, Vietnam JOEM August 2003

Agent Orange and the Vietnamese... AJPH April 1995

Vietnamese Scientists:

Environmental Health Risk Assessment of Dioxin Exposure through Foods in a Dioxin Hot Spot—Bien Hoa City, Vietnam - Tran Thi Tuyet-Hanh, Le Vu-Anh, Nguyen Ngoc-Bich and Thomas Tenkate. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2010.

Study on the Variation of some Biological Factors such as Genetics Immunology, Biochemistry, Hematology in Patients with High Risk Exposure to Dioxin - Nguyen Van Tuong et al -Dioxin 2006

Agent Orange and the Environment: From Research to Remediation - Phung Tuu Boi - PDF of Powerpoint presentation

Vietnam War's Lasting Legacy - Phung Tuu Boi. PDF of Powerpoint Presentation

US Veteran Studies

National Academies of Science, Institute of Medicine:

Veterans and Agent Orange Update 2008

Veterans and Agent Orange Update 2006

Veterans and Agent Orange Update 2004

Veterans and Agent Orange Update 2002:
Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 1998:

EPA National Center for Environmental Assessment: Dioxin and Related Compounds

Dioxin Research at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences:

EPA's Exposure and Human Health Reassessment of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin

Air Force Agent Orange Study: http://www.brooks.af.mil/AFRL/HED/hedb/afhs.html

Air Force Health Study - An Overview Robinson, JN et al - Dioxin 2006

MORTALITY IN US AIR FORCE VETERANS OF OPERATION RANCH HAND M Pavuk, NS Ketchum , KA Fox Dioxin 2006

PCDDs, PCDFs, AND PCBs IN THE SERUM OF 800 US AIR FORCE VETERANS IN 2002 M Pavuk, DG Jr Patterson, WE Turner, JN Robinson, LL Needham Dioxin 2006

Studies in Australia, New Zealand, Korea

GENETIC DAMAGE IN NEW ZEALAND VIETNAM WAR VETERANS: Massey University Study that found that Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange had a significant levels of chromosomal damage compared to unexposed veterans.

Mortality and Cancer Incidence Among Australian National Service Vietnam War Veterans - Wilson, EJ et al. - Dioxin 2006