Air Force study further supports Agent Orange, diabetes link
March 28, 2000
Web posted at: 7:56 p.m. EST (0056 GMT)
From Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A study to be released Wednesday by the U.S. Air Force provides more data supporting a possible link between exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange and adult onset diabetes, according to Pentagon sources.
The findings are the latest from an ongoing study of Air Force veterans that began in 1982, comparing the health of 1,000 Air Force personnel who worked with Agent Orange with a control group of about 1,300 veterans who were not exposed.
"Operation Ranch Hand" was the Pentagon code name for the spraying of herbicides in Southeast Asia between 1962 and 1971. The Air Force dispensed about 19 million gallons of herbicide, 11 million of which was Agent Orange, in Southeast Asia.
Findings from the Air Force study were last reported in 1997, when the possible link with adult onset diabetes was first noted. Pentagon sources say the latest data will further support that link.
Agent Orange contains cancer-causing dioxins, but the study to date has found "no consistent or meaningful relation" between dioxin exposure and cancer in the veterans.
The U.S. military used Agent Orange to remove vegetation cover used by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese for concealment and later to kill off crops to deny them food.