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05-13-2008, 07:39 AM | #1 | |||
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In Remembrance
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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 ****) (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. http://vets4politics.blogspot.com/20...-other-ao.html
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. ALS/MND Registry . |
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