Posted on 07/23/2007 10:02:34 AM PDT by Right Winged American
Vietnam War Fighters Suspect Illnesses May Be Linked to Agent Orange
Lloyd Patrick Elnicki never asked what the Circle of Life Hospice nurse wrote in her evaluations every day. Secretly, he knew.
"I'm dying, aren't I?" he asked his wife, Sharon.
"Well, Pat, you're not getting any better," she said.
Three years before, the Vietnam veteran was a robust man with pale skin, dark red hair and a goatee. He had a clover tattooed on his back -- for luck...<snip>
Both Pat and Sharon Elnicki said they believe Pat's cancers may be linked to Agent Orange, an herbicide the U.S. armed forces sprayed on vegetation and crops in Vietnam to destroy enemy cover.
The U.S. sprayed more than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The herbicide contained dioxin, known to cause birth defects, rashes, multiple cancers and secondary diseases. It was meant to save lives, but it sickened thousands of veterans.
Pat Elnicki applied for medical benefits related to Agent Orange exposure. His claim has never been processed because he's among a group of soldiers known as "Blue Water" veterans, who were stationed on Navy ships off the Vietnam coast. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs won't compensate Blue Water veterans, saying they weren't exposed to the herbicide. A 2001 federal court case protesting the policy continues.
Meanwhile, Vietnam veterans waiting for an answer are dying.
(Excerpt) Read more at nwaonline.net ...
BTTT Tonk would be all over this issue
I ran all over I Corps ‘68-69. I wonder why I’m not sick.
I was all over I Corps in '71 and am doing fine. Someone sitting way off the coast is just a bit of a stretch. My brother tried claiming Agent Orange because he was in Saigon in '61. It didn't work either.
From what I can tell from www.BlueWaterNavy.org sensitivity to dioxin exposure varies widely among individuals. The Institute of Medicine's studies indicate that Navy veterans on shipboard appear to get these diseases in higher numbers that Army or Marine units in country. The Royal Australian Navy did a big study, and the data indicated that runoff from Agent Orange into rivers into the sea was concentrated by offshore vessels flash salt water evaporators.
Navy vets ate, drank, (and likely breathed if you worked on a flight deck - Steam Cats) concentrated dioxin laced food and water, for years.
Statistically, just over 1/4 of all male deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases, and just under 1/4 are due to various cancers. Accidents, cerebrovascular(brain), and lung diseases add up to 15%, and nothing else comes close. This is all American male deaths in 2003, not just veterans.
The association between agent orange and various health problems is far below proven, although I do believe that war service merits special consideration. But I seriously wonder if the anecdotal link presumed here constitutes actual cause and effect proof.
Uh, that turns out not to be the case. The following diseases have been proven in studies by the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine to be "presumptively assumend" to be caused by exposure to Agent Orange.
Diseases Linked To Agent Orange Exposure
Medical conditions the Department of Veterans Affairs says are likely caused by exposure to Agent Orange are birth defects such as spina bifida in veterans' children, skin conditions such as chloracne and porphyria cutanea tarda, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy, Hodgkin's disease, multiple myeloma, respiratory cancers that include lung, bronchus, larynx and trachea, prostate cancer, diabetes and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Further studies indicate:
Many veterans with adult-onset Type 2 diabetes suffer multiple secondary conditions including eye disease, high blood pressure, depression and sexual dysfunction.
Was his claim for one of the indicated diseases at the end of the article?
By The Numbers
Agent Orange
* The U.S. armed forces dumped at least 20 million gallons of Agent Orange in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971.
* About 323,000 veterans joined the Agent Orange Registry to be evaluated for long-term health effects.
* 99,226 filed claims alleging Agent Orange affected their health.
* 7,520 received disability compensation for Agent Orange-related causes.
* 8,394 Navy veterans filed exposure claims after August 2006 when the Veteran's Court stated Blue Water veterans -- those who served in coastal waterways -- were eligible for benefits.
Source: Department Of Veterans Affairs, 2001
Did he serve on a swiftboat or PBR? If not, it's a stretch.
“Agent Orange” is actually 2,4,D a herbicide widely used by farmers, and homeowners used to kill wide leaf weeds in crops and lawns. (such as dandilions)
Refering to it by its military name makes it sound sinister.
It was a political decision to make it a “presumptive” cause of diseases.
The fact that there is no large outbreak of disease in those groups shows that there is no proven link between the herbicide and diseases.
If there were a proven link, the herbicide would have been taken off the market.
I am a Veteran, but was never in Vietnam. I grew up on a ranch and we used 2,4,D on the ranch. I use it on my lawns. I do not have any of the mentioned diseases.
i haven’t seen any vets compensated for anything...have they been? seems to me we have the agent orange vets, desert storm, all the gassed soldiers from WWII and those who were tested with chem/bio....have any been compensated? or is there never a link that can be made between their illnesses and what was done to them?
Lyme disease which looks a lot like an auto-immune disease is a parasitic infection not identified until circa 1977 in Connecticut. A guy I knew who spent two tours in Spec Op's told me all the surviving members of his team have strange conditions. I asked if agent orange was a possibility but he said he was never in an area agent orange was used. For other vet's such as Carlos Hathcock who spend a considerable amount of time in the field laying on the ground, I wonder if what they really suffered from are undiagnosed parasitic infection(s)?
The Dioxin in 2,4,T was the herbicide, 2,4,D or TCDD, was a contaminate, since removed.
Various herbicidal (plant-killing) formulations were used, but most were mixtures of 2 herbicides known as phenoxy herbicides because of their chemical structures:
Each formulation was shipped in a chemical drum marked with an identifying colored stripe. The most widely used mixture contained equal parts 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. Because this herbicide came in drums with orange stripes, it was called Agent Orange. Today, Agent Orange is used to refer generally to all the phenoxy herbicides sprayed at the time. (Other types of herbicides were also used, including cacodylic acid and picloram.)
The 2,4,5-T was contaminated with small amounts of dioxins, which were created unintentionally during the manufacturing process. Dioxins are a family of biologically active compounds formed during the manufacturing of paper and some other industrial processes. Because they can remain in the environment for years, they form part of a group of chemicals known as "persistent organic pollutants." The particular dioxin present in Agent Orange, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, or TCDD, is unusually toxic.
from History of Agent Orange, by David A. Butler, Ph.D.
==> “Many veterans with adult-onset Type 2 diabetes suffer multiple secondary conditions including eye disease, high blood pressure, depression and sexual dysfunction.” <==
Yes, I am a veteran with the entire list of maladies included in the quoted statement above - and although I was in from 62 to 64, I was in Korea instead of Vietnam and never saw combat. What you describe is a legal determination, not a medical judgement. It might or might not be medically accurate, but it is justified in my mind by combat service.
But medically, how much more frequently do the maladies listed occur in veterans in general - like me - compared to the general population? How about the same comparison with Vietnam vets? Is there any kind of exposure - frequency association?
I have retired military friends who have told me about the broken promises to them concerning medical care, so I have some understanding about VA problems as well. Veterans deserve better, and we as citizens have an obligation to provide it.
But medically, how much more frequently do the maladies listed occur in veterans in general - like me - compared to the general population? How about the same comparison with Vietnam vets? Is there any kind of exposure - frequency association?
I have retired military friends who have told me about the broken promises to them concerning medical care, so I have some understanding about VA problems as well. Veterans deserve better, and we as citizens have an obligation to provide it.
Might I suggest you check out the information and data available at www.BlueWaterNavy.org, I understand what you are saying, but as I mentioned above, the data has been accumulated and evaluated by the Institute of Medicine, which is a governmental agency. I have to assume that their conclusions would have to be given complete credibility, since the DVA accepts it. Maybe I'm just to naive, though.
Here's something else you may want to check out:
Army Units that served at or near the Korean DMZ added to the presumption of herbicide exposure list
Letter from Dept of Veteran Affairs referencing these Units
Listing of Units in Korea from April 1968 to July 1969 on Presumption List
The ships had asbestos on them. Has he tried claiming asbestos exposure?
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