[R-G] Study shows Agent Orange cancer risk

[usman x]

From
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/79BEB6AB-A0AA-45F7-A04C-CB1E40CC58F4.
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Study shows Agent Orange cancer risk
Friday 23 January 2004 12:03 AM GMT


Some Vietnamese children still suffer consequences of using dioxins

A US air force study has found an increased risk of cancer for those exposed
to Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War.


For the first time, a study shows the sharp increase in prostrate, skin and
other types of cancer – a conclusion drawn from a statistical study of US
veterans who sprayed toxic chemical dioxins during the war.

Between 1965 and 1970, US forces used more than 19 million gallons of the
herbicide over the forests of southern Vietnam in an attempt to expose enemy
troops – with devastating health effects on hundreds of thousands of
Vietnamese and thousands of US troops.

The director of the National Protection Fund for Agent Orange Victims, Le Ke
Son, said only 10% of those people disabled by the herbicide were recognized
as victims of the chemical agent.

"Incomplete statistics show that there are over 1 million victims of the
dioxin nationwide, including second and third generation victims," Son said.

"Incomplete statistics show that there are over 1 million victims of the
dioxin nationwide, including second and third generation victims"

Le Ke Son,
director of the National Protection Fund for Agent Orange Victims

The latest study analysised data gathered over the past two decades -
information collected for the Air Force Health Study on Operation Ranch Hand

The research suggests that Vietnamese and veterans with the highest exposure
to dioxin were more than twice as likely to develop cancer "at any
anatomical site" than unexposed veterans who were in southeast Asia for two
years or less.

The Ranch Hand veterans' risk of contracting prostate cancer was more than
six times greater than that of the other veterans, while their risk of
melanoma, a type of skin cancer, was more than seven and a half times
greater, the study found.

But Joel Michalek, an author of the analysis, cautioned that there was less
statistical confidence in the figures for prostate cancer and melanoma
because they were based on a small number of cases.

The analysis will be published in the February edition of the Journal of
Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

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Reporter: What do you think of western civilization?
Mahatma Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea.