Veterans and Agent Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam

Abstract

In February 1992, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences signed an agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) to review and summarize the strength of the scientific evidence concerning the association between herbicide exposure during Vietnam service and each disease or condition suspected to be associated with such exposure. The IOM was also asked to make recommendations concerning the need, if any, for additional scientific studies to resolve areas of continuing scientific uncertainty and to comment on four particular programs mandated in Public Law 102-4.This report is a scientific investigation of the potential health effects of exposure to the herbicides that were used in Vietnam and to dioxin, an unintentional contaminant of some of those herbicides. The second theme in this report relates to the use of herbicides in Vietnam, the effects of exposure on Vietnam veterans, and the direction of future research efforts toward learning more than is currently known about these issues. [Adapted from Preface]