Agent Orange / Dixons: Diabetes and heart disease

To:     Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
          Senior Research Scientist
          State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation - Integrated Pest Management

Dear Lyndon, I thought you might like to read an article that appeared in The Seattle Times on 3/30/00 which finds a health connection to the unregistered contaminants found in your "registered" POISONS - only after many generations pass and many thousands of innocent people are contaminated, the article is entitled: Study finds diabetes, Agent Orange connection, by Robert Burns, of The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON - An Air Force study released yesterday reported the strongest evidence to date of a connection between exposure to Agent Orange, the herbicide used by U.S. forces in the Vietnam War, and diabetes.

The study also found an apparent link between Agent Orange exposure and heart disease.

A 47 percent increase in diabetes was detected in Air Force veterans with the highest levels of dioxin in their bloodstream. Dioxin is the compound in Agent Orange that has been linked to health effects in laboratory animals.

The lead investigator, Joel Michalek of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, told a Pentagon news conference that diabetes and cardiovascular disease "seem most likely related to herbicide exposure." He said biological studies are needed to prove a cause-and-effect relation.

The Air Force report, which compared the health of exposed veterans with 1,300 other Vietnam veterans who had no contact with Agent Orange, said that as dioxin levels in the body increased, the presence and severity of adult-onset diabetes increased.

It also found that exposed veterans experienced a 26 percent increase in heart disease, although the rate did not increase as dioxin levels increased. In a related finding, the report said that instances of high blood pressure among the 1,000 veterans did increase with higher levels of dioxin. And it found that those with higher levels of dioxin in their bloodstream had an increased incidence of heart attacks.

The report said it found no consistent evidence that Agent Orange is related to cancer.

Air Force planes sprayed 11 million gallons of Agent Orange in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to destroy jungle cover for communist supply lines, expose enemy sanctuaries and bases and destroy crops needed to feed enemy troops.

Airmen were exposed to the chemical during their spraying flights, in the loading process and while doing maintenance on their aircraft and the spray equipment.

Rep. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., a member of the House Government Reform Committee that oversees veterans affairs, said the Air Force findings confirm a diabetes link that many people have long suspected.

"Given this latest evidence, the federal government must acknowledge the suffering of Vietnam veterans with diabetes and provide them with compensation to which they are entitled," Sanders said.

The results of the report are being reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences. The Academy will report to the Department of Veterans Affairs to inform decisions on compensation to victims.

The study was started in 1981 and the first physical examinations of exposed Air Force veterans were done a year later. The work is to be completed in 2006.

The Vietnam Veterans of America and other groups have criticized the study as being too small. They have accused the Air Force of being too secretive about its findings and too slow to make them available to other researchers.

Well Lyndon, what can I say except "someone" has obviously been doing a bad, bad thing! Why are you still only allowing the "legal" use of dangerous "registered" POISONS to "control" pest problems in California??

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