Agent Orange Linked To Heart Disease, Parkinson's

[bob_abad]

Just come out @yahoo news(07/24/09). Please share w/ fellow VN vets.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090724/ap_on_...ns_agent_orange

[john999]

They better hurry up and make the link so we can get Heart conditions and AO exposure SC'ed or we will all be dead. You know the WWII vets are going to be gone in a few years and us RVN era vets are the next big lump in the python. When all the WWII vets are gone we are next. You can bet the VA does not want to link heart disease and AO exposure because that will mean many more claims and many more DIC claims.

[Berta]

This would be incredible!!!!!!!!!!

I heard there was a bill being proposed to put Parkinsons on the AO list but heart disease too ???? this is big news to me.

I just hope this isnt just coming from scuttlebutt that occurred when there was minor suggestion from IOM that HBP could be due to AO some years ago-

someone I know gave this story to a newspaper and they ran with it as to IOM and the HBP due to AO and suddenly vets were asking how to file claims-

It seems to me what IOM says is often parsed very well by the VA BUT this article is stronger than usual as to the IOM itself suggesting a strong association from AO to CAD than ever before.

Thanks for this info.There is bound to be plenty more on this on the net.

[Berta]

This would cost the VA plenty $$$$ too-these would all be Nehmer class action vets and widows if this becomes reg.

Odd- the BVA awarded me direct SC death DIC due to DMII from AO causing fatal CAD- but the RO award holds to my husband's heart disease as sole reason for the direct SC award.

Maybe they anticipated this IOM report?

In any event I asked them to CUE it and it is with their appeals team.

BVA says heribicides as cause- but like my daughter said when she read it- it looks like they awarded DIC for heart disease causing death due to Vietnam Service but not AO.She asked how many vets the RO decision could help.

I would publish it in a heartbeat if it would help but the RO decision is completely wrong anyhow.

[billy2]

They better hurry up and make the link so we can get Heart conditions and AO exposure SC'ed or we will all be dead. You know the WWII vets are going to be gone in a few years and us RVN era vets are the next big lump in the python. When all the WWII vets are gone we are next. You can bet the VA does not want to link heart disease and AO exposure because that will mean many more claims and many more DIC claims.

[/quote

John999,

I second your thoughts exactly, I was just thinking today that I'm 60 and I sometimes wonder how I lasted this long.

Bill

[Berta]

Here is the actual IOM report:

http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-...posure-52674-3/

This could go somewhere-------

DMII was also based on limited date that suggested an association from dioxin to DMII and this report seems to be more strongly suggestive of that link than the DMII report years ago-

Ischemic heart disease is what they focused on.

I wonder if they took into account vets with ischemic heart disease directly from their DMII or an overview of

rates of heart disease in all incountry veterans.Then again how would IOM have data on vets who get private care for CAD?

This is more positive than I thought it would be.

But as you guys said-Time is the enemy.

Let's hope this gets somewhere and leads to CAD ischemia as presumptive.

[Chuck75]

This is still not definitive, and, (as you would expect) allows the VA to try and weasel out of awarding benefits if they choose to do so. It will likely take the Secretary to make a ruling as was done for ALS before the current VA nonsense is reduced to some sort of reasonable level concerning heart disease. Older studies, such as "Ranch Hand" showed a statistical increase in heart disease among Vietnam veterans, but did not attempt to place heart disease at any level of association with A.O

Definition

Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD) any of a group of acute or chronic cardiac disabilities resulting from insufficient supply of oxygenated blood to the heart.

I'd bet that the VA will try to restrict this general definition to a subset that has a smallest veteran population possible. On the other hand, I'm glad that IOM used this rather broad term, since it allows a very wide application.

It's also interesting that the IOM website has the full article available for on line reading.

The print is smaller and of lower resolution than previous versions, making it difficult to get a fully legible sharp copy.

The key page (562) from the IOM report has the following information. (Verbatum)

"Limited or Suggestive Evidence of an Association

Epidemiologic 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. b 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

Early-onset transient peripheral neuropathy

Parkinson’s disease (category change from Update 2006)

Porphyria cutanea tarda

Hypertension

Ischemic heart disease (category change from Update 2006)

Type 2 diabetes (mellitus)

Spina bifida in offspring of exposed people"

(End of Extract)

Just come out @yahoo news(07/24/09). Please share w/ fellow VN vets.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090724/ap_on_...ns_agent_orange

Edited July 24, 2009 by Chuck75