Exposure to Agent Orange linked to prostate cancer in Vietnam veterans

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — UC Davis Cancer Center physicians today released results of research showing that Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange have greatly increased risks of prostate cancer and even greater risks of getting the most aggressive form of the disease as compared to those who were not exposed.

The findings, which appear online now and will be published in the September 15 issue of the journal Cancer, are the first to link the herbicide with this form of cancer. The research is also the first to utilize a large population of men in their 60s and the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test to screen for the disease.

"While others have linked Agent Orange to cancers such as soft-tissue sarcomas, Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, there is limited evidence so far associating it with prostate cancer," said Karim Chamie, lead author of the study and resident physician with the UC Davis Department of Urology and the VA Northern California Health Care System. "Here we report on the largest study to date of Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange and the incidence of prostate cancer."

Chamie also said that, unlike previous studies that were either too small or conducted on men who were too young, patients in the current study were entering their prime years for developing prostate cancer. There was also the added advantage that it was conducted entirely during the era of PSA screening, providing a powerful tool for early diagnosis and tracking of prostate cancer.

More than 13,000 Vietnam veterans enrolled in the VA Northern California Health Care System were stratified into two groups — exposed or not exposed to Agent Orange between 1962 and 1971. Based on medical evaluations conducted between 1998 and 2006, the study revealed that twice as many men exposed to Agent Orange were identified with prostate cancer. In addition, Agent Orange-exposed men were diagnosed two-and-a-half years younger and were nearly four times more likely to present with metastatic disease. Other prostate cancer risk factors — race, body-mass index and smoking — were not statistically different between the two groups.

"Our country's veterans deserve the best possible health care, and this study clearly confirms that Agent Orange exposure during service in Vietnam is associated with a higher risk of prostate cancer later in life," said Ralph deVere White, UC Davis Cancer Center director and a study co-author. "Just as those with a family history of prostate cancer or who are of African-American heritage are screened more frequently, so too should men with Agent Orange exposure be given priority consideration for all the screening and diagnostic tools we have at our disposal in the hopes of early detection and treatment of this disease."

Now a banned chemical, Agent Orange is a combination of two synthetic compounds known to be contaminated with the dioxin tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD) during the manufacturing process. Named for the color of the barrel in which it was stored, Agent Orange was one of many broad-leaf defoliants used in Vietnam to destroy dense forests in order to better visualize enemy activity.

It is estimated that more than 20 million gallons of the chemicals, also known as "rainbow herbicides," were sprayed between 1962 and 1971, contaminating both ground cover and ground troops. Most of the rainbow herbicide used during this time was Agent Orange. In 1997, the International Agency for Research on Cancer reclassified TCDD as a group 1 carcinogen, a classification that includes arsenic, asbestos and gamma radiation.

The study was funded by the UC Davis Cancer Center. In addition to Chamie and deVere White, study authors were Bryan Volpp, associate chief of staff, clinical informatics, VA Northern California Health Care System; Dennis Lee and Joon-ha Ok, UC Davis resident physicians with the Department of Urology; and Lars Ellison who, at the time the study was conducted, was an assistant professor with UC Davis and chief of urology with the VA Northern California Health Care System. Ellison is now affiliated with the Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Maine and a major in the U.S. Army Reserve currently serving active duty in Iraq. A copy of the study can be requested by e-mailing Amy Molnar at amolnar@wiley.com.

Prostate cancer is the second most common malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. It is estimated that there will be about 186,320 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States in 2008 and about 28,660 men will die of the disease this year.

Designated by the National Cancer Institute, UC Davis Cancer Center is leading the way in identifying the molecular pathogenesis of carcinoma of the prostate, enhancing therapeutic response and identifying chemopreventions. For more information, visit www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/cancer.

I spent most of my year in An Khe which I understand to have been an Agent Orange hotspot. I have been quite dubious about the many health problems associated with Agent orange. I've read that the guys most exposed to Agent Orange, the Airmen spraying it, have no more than average disease incidence.

Nonetheless...this at first glance seems a properly done study.

It has also been linked to soft tissue sarcoma. My brother in law has (had?) that. He’s had three very major surgeries to remove tumors. The doctors had told him it was probably caused by his exposure to agent orange. It wasn’t until after his third surgery that the government finally admitted it.

I respect all opinions and will regret if I start arguments with my statement. I included that just to state what my position has been given the topic I introduced.

I sprayed it from helicopters plus flew about 50% of my missions over the U Minh and Nam Can forests which were heavily defoliated with agent orange. In recent years I’ve been diagnosed with a merkel cell carcinoma, skin cancer, diabetes, hypertension, high tryglycerides, non-alcoholic cirrohsis and now anemia, although it is probably caused by the treatment for the cirrohsis. All of which occured within the space of about 3-4 years. For each malady I’ve pointed out to my doctors my association with agent orange and all I get is a blank stare.

More info: Yesterday I got this in a newsletter I receive on Veterans Affairs.

AGENT ORANGE EQUITY: On 23 JUL House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) held a press conference to announce the introduction of H.R. 6562, the Agent Orange Equity Act of 2008.

If enacted every service member awarded the Vietnam Service medal, or who otherwise deployed to land, sea or air, in the Republic of Vietnam is fully covered by the comprehensive Agent Orange laws Congress passed in 1991. It will make it easier for VA to process Vietnam War veterans’ claims for service-connected conditions that scientists have conclusively linked to toxic exposures during the Vietnam War and that are identified in current law.

First, I’m sorry to hear of your ailments.

What you relate sounds like other stories I’ve read. Whether Agent Orange is a cause for any or all of your ailments is probably impossible to determine. What you or yours doctors come to believe will be much what you choose to believe.

Have you been to the VA about this?

My brother who's sure he was sprayed has no prostate problems. Myself who spent his time in Ft. Carlson, CO had prostate cancer surgically removed years ago and I'm doing fine. It will be something else that ends my posting career.

Thanks for the info. If there is any group the feds should be willing to spend money on then that would be its military veterans.

My brother in law was there, he was exposed, and he has been dead for 6 years.

Left behind four children and a wife. Thanks a hell of a lot to this nation.

P.S. Agent orange affects offspring of the exposed person too. Yeah, thanks.

I haven’t been to the VA about it yet. So far my primary, secondary and tertiary insurance has covered most of it. I’ve been lucky in that respect. I’ve got Blue Cross/Blue Shield where I work now and BC/BS from a company I retired from and Tricare from my military retirement. I haven’t been able to force myself to go through the hassle of working with the VA.

I’d like to know if a comparison study has been done on the Vietnamese males also exposed to Agent Orange. Have they also seen an increase in prostate cancer, or has the Vietnamese population as a whole, seen an increase of any of the other cancers associated with this toxin? My brother was a Vietnam Veteran 1966-67. He died of a 2nd massive heart attack at the age of 51. As far as I know, he never had any prostate problems. While I’m more than willing to accept Agent Orange as the culprit in U.S. Vets, another side of me would like to know how Agent Orange affected all the groups exposed to it.

I’ve never been exposed to Agent Orange and suffer from the same problems as you except for merkel cell carcinoma, skin cancer, and anemia. I’m a 61 year old female. No one else in my family has had diabetes, but I managed to come up with it. I have a connective-tissue disorder similar to lupus, which my mother also had. I also have hypothyroidism which runs in the females of a family. My two sisters and my niece also take thyroid medication. I have a fatty liver, which I take medication for. At one point, they thought I had liver cancer, but it seems my raised liver enzyme level was caused by the medication (Lipitor) I was taking. Once I went off of it, my liver levels went back to normal.

I doubt there are any statistics for Vietnamese. People living in straw huts, the ones most likely exposed, I'd think, don't get much medical care.

"People living in straw huts, the ones most likely exposed, I'd think, don't get much medical care."

Probably true, but it would be a study I would still like to see done.

Dupont shipped the entire amount of unused Agent Orange stock by rail from Houston to Gulfport, Ms, in August 1974. There were more than 20 boxcars full of barrels filled with Orange. The USAF monitored the leakage from the rail cars...there was no leakage. The barrels were then transferred to an incinerator ship and the Orange was burned in international waters South of Mississippi.

The USAF Veterinary Service monitored the shipment wearing the M-3a suits in August. We had to change out of them every hour because of the heat.

Dupont shipped the entire amount of unused Agent Orange stock by rail from Houston to Gulfport, Ms, in August 1974.

By then, dioxin had become controversial.

The USAF Veterinary Service monitored the shipment...

Veterinary Service? I thought we Army guys were the doggies.

The USAF Veterinary Service caught the Army Veterinary Service taking bribes at Class 3 operations in the CONUS. There was a very public Senate hearing on the issue involving an investigation of the USA Veterinary Service and the DPSC. In the fight, the lobby for the USA was larger than that of the USAF and under Jimmy Carter the USAF Veterinary Service was abolished as of 1982 (The effective date). The USAF Veterinary Service was responsible for the NBC warfare monitoring in 1974 as well as food inspection, public health and the animals (the MW Dog program was at Lackland AFB). USAF Veterinary Service lasted from 1947 until 1982. So now the veterinarians at USAF bases are from the Army...just rearranging the chairs and was not any savings of $$. The USAF Veterinarians and technicians were more versatile than those of the Army.

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