Attention Vietnam Vets or other AO exposed vets

If you served in Vietnam, and have any illnesses related to Hypertension, file a claim, or reopen previous claim.. also evidence of an association between exposure to the
chemicals of interest and the following health outcomes:
Laryngeal cancer
Cancer of the lung, bronchus, or trachea
Prostate cancer
Multiple myeloma
AL amyloidosis (category change from Update 2004)
Early-onset transient peripheral neuropathy
Porphyria cutanea tarda
Hypertension (category change from Update 2004)
Type 2 diabetes (mellitus)
Spina bifida in offspring of exposed people

also see message I sent July 31, 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VeteranIssues/

[VeteranIssues] Agent Orange Exposure and Hypertension

Data Suggest a Possible Association Between

Agent Orange Exposure and Hypertension, But the Evidence Is Limited



WASHINGTON — A new report from the Institute of Medicine finds suggestive but limited evidence that exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used during the Vietnam War is associated with an increased chance of developing high blood pressure in some veterans. The report is the latest update in a congressionally mandated series by the IOM that reviews every two years the evidence about the health effects of these herbicides and the type of dioxin — TCDD — that contaminated some of them.



see: http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_9207845 article

VA begins taking claims related to Agent Orange exposure
By Chris Roberts / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 05/09/2008 12:56:04 PM MDT


Veterans Affairs has started taking claims for hypertension related to Agent Orange exposure, but it will determine at a later date whether the claims will be honored as being military "service-related," according to service organizations who received notices from VA.
A letter from the Texas Veterans Commission to its county service officers indicates that the claims are expected to be approved. The claims won't be actively "worked" until the VA makes its decision.

Requests for comment made to local VA agencies were referred to Washington, D.C. However, after two days, the public affairs office in Washington, D.C., still had no comment.

If the claims are approved, it could mean as much as $300 a month for Bob Snow, a retired soldier who worked as a forward observer directing artillery fire in the Vietnamese jungles. Snow - who worked with special forces soldiers and Montagnards, a French name for the indigenous people of Vietnam's central highlands - operated in areas sprayed with Agent Orange, a defoliant that knocked down vegetation used as cover by the enemy.

Snow retired in 1982 and was diagnosed with hypertension by the VA in 1983. However, the condition was not considered service related and therefore his disability compensation was limited. If hypertension is connected to Agent Orange claims, it could mean as much as an extra $300 per month for Snow, which he said will relieve some of the pressure of the rising cost of living.

Jeri Elena Mark worked as a radar mechanic for Hawk missile systems at a base in Vietnam where she watched planes drop Agent Orange on vegetation surrounding the camp, which was being shelled. She had experienced high blood pressure, a symptom of hypertension, during her Army career, usually associated with flashbacks from her Vietnam service.

She retired in 1985, but her exposure is not considered combat-related, so she would get no increase in disability payments. However, her family would receive benefits after her death if the cause is related to hypertension.

Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.




Full report released below
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11906

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11906#toc

Table of contents is above.... review for illnesses you have

Below is from Page 11, of the executive summary


TABLE S-1
Summary of Findings in Occupational, Environmental, and
Veterans Studies Regarding the Association Between Specific Health Outcomes
and Exposure to Herbicides
a
Sufficient Evidence of Association
Evidence is sufficient to conclude that there is a positive association. That is, a positive association
has been observed between exposure to herbicides and the outcome in studies in which chance,
bias, and confounding could be ruled out with reasonable confidence. For example, if several small
studies that are free of bias and confounding show an association that is consistent in magnitude
and direction, there could be sufficient evidence of an association. There is sufficient evidence of
an association between exposure to the chemicals of interest and the following health outcomes:
Soft-tissue sarcoma (including heart)
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)
Hodgkin’s disease
Chloracne
Limited or Suggestive Evidence of Association
Evidence suggests an association between exposure to herbicides and the outcome, but a
firm conclusion is limited because chance, bias, and confounding could not be ruled out with
confidence. For example, a well-conducted study with strong findings in accord with less
compelling results from studies of populations with similar exposures could constitute such
evidence. There is limited or suggestive evidence of an association between exposure to the
chemicals of interest and the following health outcomes:
Laryngeal cancer
Cancer of the lung, bronchus, or trachea
Prostate cancer
Multiple myeloma
AL amyloidosis (category change from
Update 2004)
Early-onset transient peripheral neuropathy
Porphyria cutanea tarda
Hypertension (category change from
Update 2004)
Type 2 diabetes (mellitus)
Spina bifida in offspring of exposed people
Inadequate or Insufficient Evidence to Determine Association
The available studies are of insufficient quality, consistency, or statistical power to permit a
conclusion regarding the presence or absence of an association. For example, studies fail to
control for confounding, have inadequate exposure assessment, or fail to address latency. There is
inadequate or insufficient evidence to determine whether an association exists between exposure to
the chemicals of interest and the following health outcomes
that were explicitly reviewed:
Cancers of the oral cavity (including lips and tongue), pharynx (including tonsils), or
nasal cavity (including ears and sinuses)
Cancers of the pleura, mediastinum, and other unspecified sites within the respiratory
system and intrathoracic organs
Esophageal cancer (category change from
Update 2004)
Stomach cancer (category change from
Update 2004)
continued
Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
This executive summary plus thousands more available at http://www.nap.edu
Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2006
http://books.nap.edu/catalog/11906.html
12
VETERANS AND AGENT ORANGE: UPDATE 2006
Colorectal cancer (including small intestine and anus) (category change from
Update
2004
)
Hepatobiliary cancers (liver, gallbladder, and bile ducts)
Pancreatic cancer (category change from
Update 2004)
Bone and joint cancer
* Melanoma
Non-melanoma skin cancer (basal cell and squamous cell)
* Breast cancer
Cancers of reproductive organs (cervix, uterus, ovary, testes, and penis; excluding
prostate)
Urinary bladder cancer
Renal cancer
Cancers of brain and nervous system (including eye) (category change from
Update
2004
)
Endocrine cancers (thyroid, thymus, and other endocrine)
Leukemia (other than CLL)
Cancers at other and unspecified sites
Infertility
Spontaneous abortion (other than for paternal exposure to TCDD, which appears not to
be associated)
b
Neonatal or infant death and stillbirth in offspring of exposed people
Low birth weight in offspring of exposed people
Birth defects (other than spina bifida) in offspring of exposed people
Childhood cancer (including acute myelogenous leukemia) in offspring of exposed
people
Neurobehavioral disorders (cognitive and neuropsychiatric)
Movement disorders, including Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS)
Chronic peripheral nervous system disorders
Respiratory disorders
Gastrointestinal, metabolic, and digestive disorders (changes in liver enzymes, lipid
abnormalities, and ulcers)
Immune system disorders (immune suppression, allergy, and autoimmunity)
* Ischemic heart disease
Circulatory disorders (other than hypertension and perhaps ischemic heart disease)
Endometriosis
Effects on thyroid homeostasis
This committee used a classification that spans the full array of cancers. However, reviews for
nonmalignant conditions were conducted only if they were found to have been the subjects of
epidemiologic investigation or at the request of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
By default, any
health outcome on which no epidemiologic information has been found falls into this category.
Limited or Suggestive Evidence of
No Association
Several adequate studies, which cover the full range of human exposure, are consistent in not
showing a positive association between any magnitude of exposure to the herbicides of interest and
the outcome. A conclusion of “no association” is inevitably limited to the conditions, exposures,
and length of observation covered by the available studies.
In addition, the possibility of a very
small increase in risk at the exposure studied can never be excluded.
There is limited or suggestive
TABLE S-1
Continued
Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
This executive summary plus thousands more available at http://www.nap.edu
Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2006
http://books.nap.edu/catalog/11906.html
SUMMARY
13
For the first time, a VAO committee found itself deadlocked with respect to
classifying the evidence for several health outcomes. The committee could not
reach consensus about the strength of the evidence concerning association of
herbicide exposure with three health outcomes: two cancers, breast cancer and
melanoma, and the specific cardiovascular condition, ischemic heart disease. In
each case, the debate was whether there was now enough evidence to move the
condition from “inadequate or insufficient evidence to determine association” to
“limited or suggestive evidence of association.”
As mandated by PL 102-4, the distinctions among categories are based on
statistical association, not on causality. The committee was directed to review the
scientific data, not to recommend VA policy; therefore, conclusions reported in
Table S-1 are not intended to imply or suggest policy decisions. The conclusions
are related to associations between exposure and outcomes in human populations,
not to the likelihood that any individual’s health problem is associated with or
caused by the herbicides in question.
Risk in Vietnam Veterans
There have been numerous health studies of Vietnam veterans, but most have
been hampered by relatively poor measures of exposure to herbicides or TCDD
and by other methodologic problems. In light of those problems, many conclusions
regarding associations between exposure to the chemicals of interest and
disease have been based on studies of people exposed in various occupational
and environmental settings rather than on studies of Vietnam veterans, although
studies of health consequences in the maturing veterans themselves have now
begun to generate more informative findings. The committee believes that there
is sufficient evidence to reach general or qualitative conclusions about associa-
TABLE S-1
Continued
evidence of
no association between exposure to the herbicides of interest and the following health
outcomes:
Spontaneous abortion and paternal exposure to TCDD
b
a
Herbicides indicates the following chemicals of interest: 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D),
2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) and its contaminant 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-
p-dioxin
(TCDD, or dioxin), cacodylic acid, and picloram. The evidence regarding association was drawn from
occupational, environmental, and veteran studies in which people were exposed to the herbicides used
in Vietnam, to their components, or to their contaminants.
b
This conclusion appropriately constrained by specific chemical and exposed parent was drawn in
Update 2002
but was not carried into the summary table.
* The committee was unable to reach consensus as to whether these endpoints had
Limited or
Suggestive Evidence of Association
or had Inadequate or Insufficient Evidence to Determine
Association
, and so these were left in the lower category.
Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
This executive summary plus thousands more available at http://www.nap.edu
Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2006
http://books.nap.edu/catalog/11906.html
14
VETERANS AND AGENT ORANGE: UPDATE 2006
tions between herbicide exposure and health outcomes, but the lack of adequate
exposure data on Vietnam veterans themselves makes it difficult to estimate the
degree of increased risk of disease in Vietnam veterans, as a group or individually.
Without information on the extent of herbicide exposure among Vietnam veterans
and quantitative information about the dose–time–response relationship for
each health outcome in humans, estimation of the risks experienced by veterans
exposed to the compounds of interest during the Vietnam War is not possible.
Because of those limitations, only general assertions can be made about risks
to Vietnam veterans, depending on which category of association has been attributed
to a given health outcome. If there were “limited or suggestive evidence
of
no association” between herbicide exposure and a health outcome, the evidence
would suggest no increased risk of the outcome among Vietnam veterans
attributable to exposure to the compounds of interest (at least for the conditions,
exposures, and lengths of observation covered by the studies reviewed). The only
health outcome remaining in this category is spontaneous abortion with respect to
paternal exposure specifically to TCDD. Even qualitative estimates are not possible
when there is “inadequate or insufficient” evidence of an association. For
outcomes categorized as having “sufficient” or “limited or suggestive” evidence
of an association with herbicide exposure, the lack of exposure information on
Vietnam veterans prevents calculation of precise risk estimates.
The requisite information to assign risk estimates continues to be absent despite
concerted efforts to model the exposure of the troops in Vietnam, to measure
the serum TCDD concentrations of individual veterans, and to model the dynamics
of retention and clearance of TCDD in the human body. Accordingly, this
committee has deleted the repetitious statements about the inability to calculate
risk for Vietnam veterans that had appeared with each health outcome in prior
updates. In place of those repeated statements, the committee states a general
conclusion that, at least for the present, it is not possible to derive quantitative
estimates of any increased risks of various adverse health effects that Vietnam
veterans may have experienced in association with exposure to the herbicides
sprayed in Vietnam.

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