Operation Ranch Hand was the unit responsible for aerial herbicide spraying
in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971.
An Air Force study has found a 47 percent increase in diabetes among
veterans with the highest levels of dioxin in their bloodstream. The
result is based on 1997 physical examinations of 1,000 Air Force veterans
who were exposed to Agent Orange during the years that it was used as a
defoliant and crop killer in Vietnam.
See the
Air Force Health Study website for general information.
The following is a quote from that website:
To address concerns among Vietnam War veterans about the consequences of exposure to Agent Orange and its contaminant 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (dioxin), Congress in late 1978 directed the Air Force to begin planning the Air Force Health Study to evaluate the health, survival and reproductive outcomes of veterans of Operation Ranch Hand, the unit responsible for the aerial spraying of herbicides in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971. The study protocol was written and approved during the period June 1979 through January 1982. The study seeks to determine whether Ranch Hand veterans have experienced adverse health and whether those effects, if they exist, can be attributed to exposure to herbicides or dioxin. Ranch Hand veterans were exposed to herbicides during flight operations and maintenance of the aircraft and spray equipment. A comparison group of other Air Force veterans involved in C-130 aircraft missions in Southeast Asia during the same period that the Ranch Hand unit was active was included. Comparison veterans were not involved with spraying herbicides. The study includes periodic analyses of post-service mortality, physical examinations, in-person interviews, medical record retrievals, and psychological testing. Physical examinations were administered in 1982, 1985, 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2002.
Also see
-
DoD Releases Study on Link Between Agent Orange and Diabetes
[July 8, 2005]
Results from the 2002 physical examination support adult-onset diabetes as the most important health problem seen in the Air Force Health Study. They suggest that as dioxin levels increase, not only are the presence and severity of adult-onset diabetes increased, but the time to onset of the disease is decreased.
A 166 percent increase in diabetes requiring insulin control was seen in those with the highest levels of dioxin. This is consistent with the strong evidence found in animal studies.
- Air Force Times 05-19-97:
VIETNAM HERBICIDE LINKED
TO DIABETES.
A reprint of an article by Bryant Jordan,
Times staff writer:
"SAN ANTONIO -- Air Force scientists say that airmen involved in the spraying
of Agent Orange in Vietnam have a 50 percent higher chance of contracting
diabetes than people not exposed to the herbicide."
- There are
44 abstracts at
PubMed with a search of "diabetes dioxin"
[as of July 9, 2005]
They include:
- Sioux City Journal
Opinion:
Agent Orange fiasco
[no longer online July 9, 2005]
"In the past, the military denied any link between the defoliant and the
health problems. Only last, year did the Air Force admit Agent Orange might
have caused a higher rate of diabetes, but evidence about other health
effects has remained hidden away."
- The American People's Dioxin Report
[no longer online July 7 2002]
"Dioxin interferes with the hormone insulin and alters glucose tolerance
which leads to diabetes. In one study of 55 exposed workers evaluated 10
years after exposure, 50% of the workers were diabetic or have abnormal
glucose tolerance, an early indicator of diabetes.
Since this striking finding, there have been mixed findings of diabetes or
glucose tolerance in several studies. In the NIOSH workers, the risk of
diabetes increased 12% for every 100 ppt dioxin in blood lipid."
-
A search of the
Vietnam Veterans of America
website for
"diabetes" and "dioxin"
at Google.com found 32 links
[as of July 9, 2005]
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