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Monday, March 14, 2016

Agent Orange Linked to Kidney Cancer, Thyroid Problems

There is stronger evidence of a link between the herbicide Agent Orange and bladder cancer and thyroid problems among U.S. military personnel exposed to the chemical during the Vietnam War, a new Institute of Medicine report shows.

However, there is little to no evidence of an association between the birth defect spina bifida and a mother's or father's exposure to Agent Orange, according to the report.

The report committee also concluded that military personnel exposed to Agent Orange who have Parkinson's disease-like symptoms can file a claim for the condition.

Agent Orange is an herbicide sprayed during the Vietnam War to kill off trees and vegetation that the enemy used as cover. The U.S. military sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides during the war.

For this report, the authors looked at studies published between Oct. 1, 2012, and Sept. 30, 2014. The report is the final in a series of biennial reviews on the health effects of Agent Orange ordered by Congress.

The stronger evidence of a connection between Agent Orange and bladder cancer and hypothyroidism (under-active thyroid) comes from a large study of U.S. veterans of the Korean War who also served in the Vietnam War.

More here

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My father is a disabled Vietnam Veteran whose illnesses were linked to Agent Orange and there is alarming number of grown children of those Veterans who have health problems that can be linked to their fathers exposure.My sister and I both have thyroid issues and other autoimmune disorders but the VA will never admit the link.

Anonymous said...

March 14, 2016 at 11:06 AM

a guy I used to know across from me in philly died from agent orange and his son had defects related to agent orange. he won a lawsuit way back when, which his family received. I don't know how they can still try to deny agent orange is bad.

jfdrt said...

Good!