http://newamericamedia.org/2011/05/anger-grows-in-south-korea-over-us-dumping-of-agent-orange.php
New America Media, Commentary, Peter Schurmann and Jin Kim, Posted: May 26, 2011
In 2006, a film about U.S. military scientists dumping chemicals into Seoul’s waterways took South Korea by storm. Based on actual events, “The Host” broke box office records across the country, a slapstick horror about an over-sized monster that emerges from the depths of the Han River to terrorize the city.
Powerless to stand in the way of their more powerful partner, South Koreans resorted to comedy then, laughing at the toxic creature of American making. But with revelations emerging last week that United
States Forces in Korea (USFK) buried large amounts of hazardous chemicals, including the defoliant Agent Orange, Koreans’ sense of humor and trust may be wearing thin.
“As a former soldier with the South Korean army, I understand the need to maintain American forces in the country,” says Dong Hwan Kim, who still serves with the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) reserves. A native of Bucheon, a satellite city 20 km outside of Seoul and home to Camp Mercer, where U.S. forces are said to have buried the chemicals, Kim say she now feels “a sense of betrayal” and wonders if he will ever again be able to trust Seoul’s most important ally.
Washington has maintained some 30,000 soldiers in South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War, primarily as defense against North Korea.
Reuters news service noted yesterday that Seoul had launched a second investigation into the allegations surrounding USFK activities at Camp Mercer, near the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. The move came after South Korean media uncovered statements made a
decade ago by a former U.S. soldier on the American website for former U.S. service members, Korean War Project, that “every imaginable chemical” had been buried at the camp between 1963 and 1964.
Last week, three American ex-servicemen admitted to burying Agent Orange at Camp Carroll near the city of Daegu, 300 km southeast of Seoul, leading to a joint USFK-Korea investigation.
On Monday, USFK confirmed that Agent Orange, widely used during the Vietnam War and later to clear foliage around the DMZ dividing the two Korea's, was buried at the camp but that it was later removed. Soil samples taken years later revealed trace amounts of dioxin, a key ingredient in
Agent Orange, USFK officials said.
READ MORE: http://newamericamedia.org/2011/05/anger-grows-in-south-korea-over-us-dumping-of-agent-orange.php
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Environmental Illness in U.S. Kids Cost $76.6 Billion in One Year
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-schmich-0529-20110529,0,1779709.column
NEW YORK, New York, May 4, 2011 (ENS) - It cost a "staggering" $76.6 billion to cover the health expenses of American children who were sick because of exposure to toxic chemicals and air pollutants in 2008, according to new research by senior scientists at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
Published in the May issue of the journal "Health Affairs," three new studies by Mount Sinai scientists reveal the economic impact of toxic chemicals and air pollutants in the environment, and propose new legislation to require testing of new chemicals as well as those already on the market.
In one of the studies, Leonardo Trasande, MD, associate professor of preventive medicine and pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and his team calculated the annual cost for direct medical care and the indirect costs, such as parents' lost work days, and lost economic productivity caring for their children, of these diseases in children.
"Our findings show that, despite previous efforts to curb their use, toxic chemicals have a major impact on health care costs and childhood morbidity," said Dr. Trasande.
Lead poisoning still costs the most at $50.9 billion a year, while autism is a distant second at $7.9 billion.
Intellectual disabilities cost $5.4 billion a year, exposure to mercury pollution costs $5.1 billion, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder costs $5 billion, asthma costs $2.2 billion, and childhood cancer costs $95 million.
"New policy mandates are necessary to reduce the burden of disease associated with environmental toxins," said Dr. Trasande. "The prevalence of chronic childhood conditions and costs associated with them may continue to rise if this issue is not addressed."
He advised reducing lead-based paint hazards and curbing mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.
"Given evidence that current ambient air quality standards remain insufficiently protective for children, ongoing efforts are needed to reduce outdoor air pollutant emissions and their consequences for children's breathing," he states in the study.
Obesity in children is also a result of toxic exposure, Dr. Trasande finds. "Emerging evidence, for example, is beginning to support the notion that endocrine-disrupting chemicals may contribute to the development of childhood obesity," he states. "Such chemicals are found in the environment, food, or consumer products and interfere with metabolism or normal hormone control or reproduction."
READ MORE: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2011/2011-05-04-02.html
NEW YORK, New York, May 4, 2011 (ENS) - It cost a "staggering" $76.6 billion to cover the health expenses of American children who were sick because of exposure to toxic chemicals and air pollutants in 2008, according to new research by senior scientists at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
Published in the May issue of the journal "Health Affairs," three new studies by Mount Sinai scientists reveal the economic impact of toxic chemicals and air pollutants in the environment, and propose new legislation to require testing of new chemicals as well as those already on the market.
In one of the studies, Leonardo Trasande, MD, associate professor of preventive medicine and pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and his team calculated the annual cost for direct medical care and the indirect costs, such as parents' lost work days, and lost economic productivity caring for their children, of these diseases in children.
"Our findings show that, despite previous efforts to curb their use, toxic chemicals have a major impact on health care costs and childhood morbidity," said Dr. Trasande.
Lead poisoning still costs the most at $50.9 billion a year, while autism is a distant second at $7.9 billion.
Intellectual disabilities cost $5.4 billion a year, exposure to mercury pollution costs $5.1 billion, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder costs $5 billion, asthma costs $2.2 billion, and childhood cancer costs $95 million.
"New policy mandates are necessary to reduce the burden of disease associated with environmental toxins," said Dr. Trasande. "The prevalence of chronic childhood conditions and costs associated with them may continue to rise if this issue is not addressed."
He advised reducing lead-based paint hazards and curbing mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.
"Given evidence that current ambient air quality standards remain insufficiently protective for children, ongoing efforts are needed to reduce outdoor air pollutant emissions and their consequences for children's breathing," he states in the study.
Obesity in children is also a result of toxic exposure, Dr. Trasande finds. "Emerging evidence, for example, is beginning to support the notion that endocrine-disrupting chemicals may contribute to the development of childhood obesity," he states. "Such chemicals are found in the environment, food, or consumer products and interfere with metabolism or normal hormone control or reproduction."
READ MORE: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2011/2011-05-04-02.html
Birth Defect Research for Children
I attended the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIESH) council meeting on Thursday. One of the presentations was on the Strategic Planning Process. The Visionary Ideas have now been converted to PDF files which may be accessed at this link http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/od/strategicplan/index.cfm The Children’s Center concept is in the first section Affected/Susceptible Populations. The ideas are in alphabetical order. Our concept had 115 comments and as I understand it 767 votes at the time of the close of voting.
The next phase will be a meeting in July of 200 participants. Half of these will be scientists. They may discuss the ideas that were submitted on the web or they may add other ideas to the mix.
If you follow down the page on the Strategic Planning Process you will see the opportunities for public comments at various stages in the process. In the final stages, all ideas will be considered and discussed.
I think that the Children’s Center has a chance of being included if there are scientists at NIESH who feel this concept would fit within the framework of the work they are doing. Some of the presentations like the one on Epigenetics/Epigenomics at the recent meeting suggested possibilities particularly in the area of looking for definable markers that would be consistent in all the affected childen of Vietnam veterans.
Thank you again for all you did to support Children’s Center idea. I am on monthly conference calls with members of NIESH so I will let you know anything else I hear about the process.
With best regards,
Betty
Betty Mekdeci
Executive Director
Birth Defect Research for Children
http://www.birthdefects.org
976 Lake Baldwin Lane, Suite 104
Orlando FL 32814
407-895-0802
USFK to interview ex-employee in Agent Orange probe
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/05/113_87851.html
The U.S. military in South Korea said Saturday it will interview one of its former civilian employees who claims he witnessed the burial of toxic chemical Agent Orange inside a U.S. army camp in the South in the 1970s.
South Korea and the U.S. are jointly investigating claims by retired U.S. soldiers that they had helped dump large amounts of the toxic chemical in 1978 inside Camp Carroll in Chilgok, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
In another claim that could support the allegations, Koo Ja-young, a former South Korean contract worker living in Washington, told Yonhap News Agency earlier this week that he had witnessed the burial of Agent Orange at that time.
Koo, who worked for the U.S. military in South Korea for 33 years since the late 1960s, claimed that other harmful chemicals were also buried at Camp Carroll in 1972. He pinpointed the bachelor officers' quarters and installation fire department as the burial sites.
In Seoul, Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson, commander of the Eighth U.S. Army who heads the U.S. investigation into the case, said his team plans to "ask him (Koo) to help pinpoint the exact location and provide details about the incident he described to the media."
"If his allegations prove to be a credible risk to health, this location will be included in the search area," he said in a statement. "Our primary concern is the health and safety of the people on the post and in the adjacent communities. If we find anything harmful to human health, we will fix it."
However, the statement gave few details including when the interview would be held. Officials at the Eighth Army's public relations team were not immediately available for comments.
Agent Orange, a defoliant widely used in the Vietnam War, is suspected of causing serious health problems, including cancer and genetic damage, among some people, as well as birth defects in their children. The defoliant was contaminated by dioxin, a highly toxic substance.
Early this week, USFK said a 1992 study showed a "large amount" of pesticides, herbicides and solvents were buried at Camp Carroll in 1978, but were removed and taken to an unknown site during the following two years.
The USFK also said its review of records found "trace amounts" of dioxin in a 2004 test at the site, but the findings do not "directly" indicate that Agent Orange was buried there.
Despite a U.S. pledge for a swift investigation, impatience and frustration are growing among residents in Chilgok amid slow progress in the probe. Chilgok, a rural town, has some 30,000 residents.
Park Hyung-joo, a 48-year-old resident, said, "As a farmer near the U.S. military base, I feel nervous about the existence of the cancer-causing material." Park referred to the U.S. military's announcement that a tiny amount of dioxin was found.
"Because the cancer-causing material was found inside the U.S. military base, is there a possibility that the material may have leaked to the outside?" Park asked.
An independent probe commissioned by Chilgok County also found traces of dioxin in some groundwater near Camp Carroll this week. But no clear links were found that the dioxin is related to the U.S. military base. As a precautionary measure, the county suspended the use of some groundwater.
Environmental contamination has become a major source of concern for South Koreans after the U.S. military returned some of its bases in the South. Some 28,500 American service members are currently stationed in the country, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. (Yonhap)
The U.S. military in South Korea said Saturday it will interview one of its former civilian employees who claims he witnessed the burial of toxic chemical Agent Orange inside a U.S. army camp in the South in the 1970s.
South Korea and the U.S. are jointly investigating claims by retired U.S. soldiers that they had helped dump large amounts of the toxic chemical in 1978 inside Camp Carroll in Chilgok, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
In another claim that could support the allegations, Koo Ja-young, a former South Korean contract worker living in Washington, told Yonhap News Agency earlier this week that he had witnessed the burial of Agent Orange at that time.
Koo, who worked for the U.S. military in South Korea for 33 years since the late 1960s, claimed that other harmful chemicals were also buried at Camp Carroll in 1972. He pinpointed the bachelor officers' quarters and installation fire department as the burial sites.
In Seoul, Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson, commander of the Eighth U.S. Army who heads the U.S. investigation into the case, said his team plans to "ask him (Koo) to help pinpoint the exact location and provide details about the incident he described to the media."
"If his allegations prove to be a credible risk to health, this location will be included in the search area," he said in a statement. "Our primary concern is the health and safety of the people on the post and in the adjacent communities. If we find anything harmful to human health, we will fix it."
However, the statement gave few details including when the interview would be held. Officials at the Eighth Army's public relations team were not immediately available for comments.
Agent Orange, a defoliant widely used in the Vietnam War, is suspected of causing serious health problems, including cancer and genetic damage, among some people, as well as birth defects in their children. The defoliant was contaminated by dioxin, a highly toxic substance.
Early this week, USFK said a 1992 study showed a "large amount" of pesticides, herbicides and solvents were buried at Camp Carroll in 1978, but were removed and taken to an unknown site during the following two years.
The USFK also said its review of records found "trace amounts" of dioxin in a 2004 test at the site, but the findings do not "directly" indicate that Agent Orange was buried there.
Despite a U.S. pledge for a swift investigation, impatience and frustration are growing among residents in Chilgok amid slow progress in the probe. Chilgok, a rural town, has some 30,000 residents.
Park Hyung-joo, a 48-year-old resident, said, "As a farmer near the U.S. military base, I feel nervous about the existence of the cancer-causing material." Park referred to the U.S. military's announcement that a tiny amount of dioxin was found.
"Because the cancer-causing material was found inside the U.S. military base, is there a possibility that the material may have leaked to the outside?" Park asked.
An independent probe commissioned by Chilgok County also found traces of dioxin in some groundwater near Camp Carroll this week. But no clear links were found that the dioxin is related to the U.S. military base. As a precautionary measure, the county suspended the use of some groundwater.
Environmental contamination has become a major source of concern for South Koreans after the U.S. military returned some of its bases in the South. Some 28,500 American service members are currently stationed in the country, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. (Yonhap)
U.S. Army sprayed defoliant over DMZ in 1955: ex-soldier
http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110530000804
Military forms joint team to investigate Camp Mercer site
A former South Korean soldier testified for the first time Monday that from its aircraft, the U.S. military sprayed a defoliant over the Demilitarized Zone in 1955 ― more than a decade earlier than news media recently reported.
News reports have said that the U.S. military had sprayed Agent Orange south of the buffer zone dividing the two Koreas from 1968-69 to more easily detect North Korean infiltrations into the South.
Public displeasure has been mounting after former U.S. troops said they buried defoliants and other chemicals at some of the U.S. military installations in Korea, including Camp Carroll in Waegwan, North Gyeongsang Province.
“It was in 1955 when I was working at the 15th Army Division (in Cheolwon, Gangwon Province) ― one year after I joined the military. The U.S. military mobilized its choppers and other aircraft and sprayed defoliant three to four times a month over the DMZ,” Eum Do-nam, 77, told reporters.
READ MORE: http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110530000804
Thursday, May 26, 2011
I was exposed to Agent Orange
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2011/05/137_87590.html
By Nam Sang-so
With a group of surveyors and soil engineers I participated with the initial topographic survey, soil investigation and establishment of the metes and bounds for a future U.S. Army logistics base in Oegwan, north of Daegu, in 1959.
A tract of gentle hill land of apple and pear orchards was ideally located off Route No. 1 and the Oegwan Railroad Station overlooking sleepy farming villages. There were hundreds of earth mound graves. Deep blue water was flowing silently in the west on the Nakdong River.
A year later, I supervised, under a contract with the U.S. Army Engineers District Far East, the construction of roads, utilities systems, and warehouses at the same site now mysteriously named after Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s fairyland of Alice in Wonderland, Camp Carroll. I’d never heard of a spy-like name like Agent Orange then.
In October 1965 I, as a civilian, arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) for the performance of architectural/engineering services for the Office in Charge of Construction (OICC) of the United States Navy. Supervising some 40 Koreans, Filipinos, and Vietnamese surveyors I visited the Mekong Delta, Qui Nhon and Nah Trang Bases, Bien Hoa and Ankhe Air Bases, Long Binh, Bin Thy, Tuy Hoa and Chulai for hydrographic, topographic and triangulation surveys and field airbase designs. I met heavily-armored Korean army soldiers in their camouflage fatigues, lots of green shrubs stuck on their helmets on the routes in remote Vietnamese farming villages. My throat choked. I was reunited with my cousin, too, who was a major of a Korean army detachment in Vietnam.
READ MORE: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2011/05/137_87590.html
By Nam Sang-so
With a group of surveyors and soil engineers I participated with the initial topographic survey, soil investigation and establishment of the metes and bounds for a future U.S. Army logistics base in Oegwan, north of Daegu, in 1959.
A tract of gentle hill land of apple and pear orchards was ideally located off Route No. 1 and the Oegwan Railroad Station overlooking sleepy farming villages. There were hundreds of earth mound graves. Deep blue water was flowing silently in the west on the Nakdong River.
A year later, I supervised, under a contract with the U.S. Army Engineers District Far East, the construction of roads, utilities systems, and warehouses at the same site now mysteriously named after Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s fairyland of Alice in Wonderland, Camp Carroll. I’d never heard of a spy-like name like Agent Orange then.
In October 1965 I, as a civilian, arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) for the performance of architectural/engineering services for the Office in Charge of Construction (OICC) of the United States Navy. Supervising some 40 Koreans, Filipinos, and Vietnamese surveyors I visited the Mekong Delta, Qui Nhon and Nah Trang Bases, Bien Hoa and Ankhe Air Bases, Long Binh, Bin Thy, Tuy Hoa and Chulai for hydrographic, topographic and triangulation surveys and field airbase designs. I met heavily-armored Korean army soldiers in their camouflage fatigues, lots of green shrubs stuck on their helmets on the routes in remote Vietnamese farming villages. My throat choked. I was reunited with my cousin, too, who was a major of a Korean army detachment in Vietnam.
READ MORE: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2011/05/137_87590.html
Report Finds Data Lacking on Exposure to Defoliant
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/21/us/21orange.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
By JAMES DAO
Published: May 20, 2011
An independent panel of experts has concluded that there is not enough data available to determine whether sailors who served on deep-water ships during the Vietnam War were exposed to Agent Orange, the defoliant that has been linked to cancer and other serious diseases.
That conclusion, part of a 112-page report released Friday by the Institute of Medicine, makes it highly unlikely that the Department of Veterans Affairs will establish rules that would make it easier for so-called blue-water sailors to receive benefits for diseases linked to Agent Orange.
A spokesman for Eric K. Shinseki, the secretary of veterans affairs, who requested the study, said the department was still reviewing the report and had no comment on Friday.
But advocates for expanding benefits for Navy veterans said they would continue pushing for legislation that would make it as easy for deep-water sailors to receive health care and disability payments for Agent Orange exposure as it is for infantrymen.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York who has sponsored legislation for the blue-water veterans, said the new report did not disprove the possibility that deep-sea sailors were sickened by Agent Orange during Vietnam. She said that as many as 800,000 service members might have been exposed to Agent Orange, even though they did not set foot in Vietnam.
“This report does not invalidate the claims of thousands of blue-water Navy veterans who are still suffering from the same illnesses as those who served ashore in Vietnam,” the senator said in a statement.
READ MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/21/us/21orange.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
By JAMES DAO
Published: May 20, 2011
An independent panel of experts has concluded that there is not enough data available to determine whether sailors who served on deep-water ships during the Vietnam War were exposed to Agent Orange, the defoliant that has been linked to cancer and other serious diseases.
That conclusion, part of a 112-page report released Friday by the Institute of Medicine, makes it highly unlikely that the Department of Veterans Affairs will establish rules that would make it easier for so-called blue-water sailors to receive benefits for diseases linked to Agent Orange.
A spokesman for Eric K. Shinseki, the secretary of veterans affairs, who requested the study, said the department was still reviewing the report and had no comment on Friday.
But advocates for expanding benefits for Navy veterans said they would continue pushing for legislation that would make it as easy for deep-water sailors to receive health care and disability payments for Agent Orange exposure as it is for infantrymen.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York who has sponsored legislation for the blue-water veterans, said the new report did not disprove the possibility that deep-sea sailors were sickened by Agent Orange during Vietnam. She said that as many as 800,000 service members might have been exposed to Agent Orange, even though they did not set foot in Vietnam.
“This report does not invalidate the claims of thousands of blue-water Navy veterans who are still suffering from the same illnesses as those who served ashore in Vietnam,” the senator said in a statement.
READ MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/21/us/21orange.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Agent Orange Claim By Ariz. Vet Sparks Protest
http://www.kpho.com/news/27986387/detail.html
PHOENIX -- A CBS 5 News report on a U.S. military toxic secret has provoked protesters outside a South Korea military base to demand some answers.
The U.S. military opened an investigation into the dumping of Agent Orange after an exclusive CBS 5 investigation revealed veterans buried the dangerous chemicals on a U.S. Army base.
"I couldn't live with what I had done," said veteran Steve House.
The soldiers confessed to digging a hole the size of a city block and burying an entire truckload of agent orange on a military base in South Korea three decades ago.
VIDEO: http://www.kpho.com/local-video/index.html?grabnetworks_video_id=4705235
Protesters are now camped outside Camp Carroll military base near Daegu, South Korea.
The group has grown to about 50 protesters and they say their numbers will continue to increase.
The Korean citizens are demanding answers and holding signs that say, "Dig a hole in your own country and put it there."
Korean sources said public pressure could prompt officials to start digging on the site.
The U.S. Forces based in Korea said they are taking the allegations seriously.
The military has started reviewing water samples taken in the area from the last decade. And we're told they have started to collect additional water samples for review.
The Korean Government and US military said they will work together to determine if there is a hazard and share their findings.
PHOENIX -- A CBS 5 News report on a U.S. military toxic secret has provoked protesters outside a South Korea military base to demand some answers.
The U.S. military opened an investigation into the dumping of Agent Orange after an exclusive CBS 5 investigation revealed veterans buried the dangerous chemicals on a U.S. Army base.
"I couldn't live with what I had done," said veteran Steve House.
The soldiers confessed to digging a hole the size of a city block and burying an entire truckload of agent orange on a military base in South Korea three decades ago.
VIDEO: http://www.kpho.com/local-video/index.html?grabnetworks_video_id=4705235
Protesters are now camped outside Camp Carroll military base near Daegu, South Korea.
The group has grown to about 50 protesters and they say their numbers will continue to increase.
The Korean citizens are demanding answers and holding signs that say, "Dig a hole in your own country and put it there."
Korean sources said public pressure could prompt officials to start digging on the site.
The U.S. Forces based in Korea said they are taking the allegations seriously.
The military has started reviewing water samples taken in the area from the last decade. And we're told they have started to collect additional water samples for review.
The Korean Government and US military said they will work together to determine if there is a hazard and share their findings.
Did chemicals at Fort Detrick contaminate water, soil?
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/05/did-chemicals-at-fort-detrick-contaminate-water-soil--61121.html
For years, Rosemary Gruden was worried whether the water from her well and the soil in her garden are safe. She feared they were contaminated by chemical runoff. She considered moving. “I really don't want to pull up roots and move,” she said.
The Grudens live one mile from Fort Detrick. ABC7 has been investigating alleged spraying of the chemical known as Agent Orange at the Fort.
“I don't think it's safe for people who work there. I really don't,” she said.
Gruden’s father, Charles, was a Detrick test lab worker for 30 years. He died of colon cancer. Her husband, Joe, was an employee at the Fort for 15 years. He suffers from blood cancer.
“Frederick has a very high cancer rate and it always has,” Gruden said. “Lots of people have had cancer. Five of my neighbors, close neighbors. And now my husband.”
ABC7 took dozens of water and soil samples at private homes, creeks and ponds in Frederick as well as near the Fort Detrick fence. Testing at Schneider Labs in Richmond showed any trace of Agent Orange and other chemicals were 'BQL' -- below quantitation level. In other words, no traces were measureable.
“I'm very relieved and very happy to know the water is clear,” said Julie Nichols, whose husband died from colon cancer last June.
Nichols and Gruden say they're pleased at the test results. But Nichols is also skeptical. “Why would you pass out water if you didn't think something was wrong with the water,” she wondered.
Some residents said just because the samples tested by ABC7 came up clean, that doesn't mean chemicals weren't present years ago.
”It takes us years to really find out the damage that's been done over the years,” said Janet Norries, the wife of a cancer patient.
Experts point out that Fort Detrick is an EPA superfund site with industrial solvents, Agent Orange wastes and radioactive materials buried deep underground, possibly leaking into waterways.
“A military base is like a chemical plant. And Detrick is even more interesting because they did experiments on things that were weapons,” said Dr. Tom Burke of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
“We're still not out of the woods. The cancer is still there,” said Gruden. She says she still wants to know what's causing all these cancer cases.
The National Academy of Sciences launched an investigation this week and hopes to have results by the fall.
MORE: http://wj.la/kI1VOs
For years, Rosemary Gruden was worried whether the water from her well and the soil in her garden are safe. She feared they were contaminated by chemical runoff. She considered moving. “I really don't want to pull up roots and move,” she said.
The Grudens live one mile from Fort Detrick. ABC7 has been investigating alleged spraying of the chemical known as Agent Orange at the Fort.
“I don't think it's safe for people who work there. I really don't,” she said.
Gruden’s father, Charles, was a Detrick test lab worker for 30 years. He died of colon cancer. Her husband, Joe, was an employee at the Fort for 15 years. He suffers from blood cancer.
“Frederick has a very high cancer rate and it always has,” Gruden said. “Lots of people have had cancer. Five of my neighbors, close neighbors. And now my husband.”
ABC7 took dozens of water and soil samples at private homes, creeks and ponds in Frederick as well as near the Fort Detrick fence. Testing at Schneider Labs in Richmond showed any trace of Agent Orange and other chemicals were 'BQL' -- below quantitation level. In other words, no traces were measureable.
“I'm very relieved and very happy to know the water is clear,” said Julie Nichols, whose husband died from colon cancer last June.
Nichols and Gruden say they're pleased at the test results. But Nichols is also skeptical. “Why would you pass out water if you didn't think something was wrong with the water,” she wondered.
Some residents said just because the samples tested by ABC7 came up clean, that doesn't mean chemicals weren't present years ago.
”It takes us years to really find out the damage that's been done over the years,” said Janet Norries, the wife of a cancer patient.
Experts point out that Fort Detrick is an EPA superfund site with industrial solvents, Agent Orange wastes and radioactive materials buried deep underground, possibly leaking into waterways.
“A military base is like a chemical plant. And Detrick is even more interesting because they did experiments on things that were weapons,” said Dr. Tom Burke of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
“We're still not out of the woods. The cancer is still there,” said Gruden. She says she still wants to know what's causing all these cancer cases.
The National Academy of Sciences launched an investigation this week and hopes to have results by the fall.
MORE: http://wj.la/kI1VOs
Book Nook
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13026
Authors:
Committee on Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure; Institute of Medicine
Description:
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has established that Vietnam veterans are automatically eligible for disability benefits should they develop any diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure, however, veterans who served on deep sea vessels in Vietnam are not included. ...
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Da Nang Agent-Orange/Dioxin Technical Documents Obtained
U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor
Original, daily reporting of little-known U.S. government-funded foreign aid projects and overseas business subsidies.
http://www.tradeaidmonitor.com/2011/05/da-nang-agent-orangedioxin-technical-documents-obtained.html
The following documents (http://www.tradeaidmonitor.com/2011/04/usaid-reaches-out-to-contractors-for-agent-orange-cleanup-in-vietnam.html) detailing the U.S. government’s Agent Orange/dioxin contamination-cleanup at Da Nang Airport in Vietnam have been obtained by U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is overseeing the project, had not publicly made available this information, which federal entities typically upload to government procurement databases. The agency claimed the documents were too large and subsequently limited distribution to potential vendors interested in submitting bids.
As the Monitor previously reported, USAID official are meeting in Vietnam this Wednesday (May 25) with companies interested in submitting bids on the environmental remediation program.
While the documents obtained are not necessarily new or revelatory, until now they have been kept out of the public domain, with distribution largley limited to vendors who submitted requests to USAID for CDs containing the data . The following is a summary of and link to each document, all of which are being stored—and will remain available—via the Monitor network.
READ MORE: http://www.tradeaidmonitor.com/2011/05/da-nang-agent-orangedioxin-technical-documents-obtained.html
Monday, May 23, 2011
Faces of Agent Orange
http://vva.org/Committees/AgentOrange/index.html#FAO
Amy King-Applewhite
Sheila Clement
Robert Cummings
Arthur Dekoff
Mike Demske
Msgt LeRoy Foster
The Hansens
The Holybees
Gary Jones
Sharity Keith-Reichard
James May
Linda May
Betty Mekdeci
The Morrises
Sharon Perry
The Petroskys
The Snyders
Dana Dupuis Theriot
Tommy Thornton
Dennis Whalen
Jim Whitworth
The Worthingtons
Health Survey of Personnel at Camp Le Jeune
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune/background.html
ATSDR Health Survey of Pre ATSDR Health Survey of Pre -
1986 Personnel at Camp Le Jeune
During June--December 2011, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry will conduct a health survey of persons who resided or worked at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina before 1986 and might have been exposed to contaminated drinking water. The purpose of the survey is to learn more about participants' health. Health surveys also will be mailed to a comparison group of former active duty marines, sailors, and civilian employees, sampled from those who lived or worked at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California.
Eligible participants who were formerly at Camp Lejeune include 1) former active duty marines and sailors who were stationed at Camp Lejeune any time during June 1975--December 1985, 2) civilian employees who worked at Camp Lejeune any time during December 1972--December 1985, 3) families who took part in the 1999--2002 ATSDR telephone survey of childhood cancers and birth defects, and 4) persons who registered with the Camp Lejeune notification registry.
Participants will receive a paper copy of the health survey and instructions for completing and mailing. A web-based version of the survey also will be available for those who prefer to answer online. Health-care providers are asked to share information regarding the Camp Lejeune survey with their patients who lived or worked at the base before to 1986 and to encourage those receiving a health survey for either Camp Lejeune or Camp Pendleton to fill it out and return it or complete it online. Additional information is available at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune.
Background
U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina was established in 1942. In 1982, the Marine Corps discovered specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the drinking water provided by two of the eight water treatment plants on base.
Future Epidemiological Studies at USMC Base Camp Lejeune
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune/background.html
ATSDR Health Survey of Pre ATSDR Health Survey of Pre -
1986 Personnel at Camp Le Jeune
During June--December 2011, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry will conduct a health survey of persons who resided or worked at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina before 1986 and might have been exposed to contaminated drinking water. The purpose of the survey is to learn more about participants' health. Health surveys also will be mailed to a comparison group of former active duty marines, sailors, and civilian employees, sampled from those who lived or worked at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California.
Eligible participants who were formerly at Camp Lejeune include 1) former active duty marines and sailors who were stationed at Camp Lejeune any time during June 1975--December 1985, 2) civilian employees who worked at Camp Lejeune any time during December 1972--December 1985, 3) families who took part in the 1999--2002 ATSDR telephone survey of childhood cancers and birth defects, and 4) persons who registered with the Camp Lejeune notification registry.
Participants will receive a paper copy of the health survey and instructions for completing and mailing. A web-based version of the survey also will be available for those who prefer to answer online. Health-care providers are asked to share information regarding the Camp Lejeune survey with their patients who lived or worked at the base before to 1986 and to encourage those receiving a health survey for either Camp Lejeune or Camp Pendleton to fill it out and return it or complete it online. Additional information is available at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune.
Background
U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina was established in 1942. In 1982, the Marine Corps discovered specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the drinking water provided by two of the eight water treatment plants on base.
Future Epidemiological Studies at USMC Base Camp Lejeune
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune/background.html
Agent Orange: Blue Water Veterans
http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/bluewaterveterans.asp
Exposure to Agent Orange
Blue Water Veterans must have actually stepped foot on the land of Vietnam or served on its inland waterways anytime between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975 to be presumed to have been exposed to herbicides when claiming service-connection for diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure.
Some offshore vessels docked to the shore of Vietnam, operated in Vietnam's close coastal waters and sent smaller vessels ashore, or conducted operations on the inland waterways of Vietnam between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975. Evidence confirmed through military records must show that the Veteran was aboard one of these ships.
Blue Water Veterans who did not set foot in Vietnam or serve aboard ships that operated on the inland waterways of Vietnam anytime between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975 must show on a factual basis that they were exposed to herbicides during military service in order to receive disability compensation for diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure.
Exception: Blue Water Veterans claiming non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as a disability may be granted service-connection without showing inland waterway service or that they set foot in Vietnam. This is because VA also recognizes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as associated with service in Vietnam or the waters offshore of Vietnam during the Vietnam Era.
READ MORE: http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/bluewaterveterans.asp
Exposure to Agent Orange
Blue Water Veterans must have actually stepped foot on the land of Vietnam or served on its inland waterways anytime between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975 to be presumed to have been exposed to herbicides when claiming service-connection for diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure.
Some offshore vessels docked to the shore of Vietnam, operated in Vietnam's close coastal waters and sent smaller vessels ashore, or conducted operations on the inland waterways of Vietnam between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975. Evidence confirmed through military records must show that the Veteran was aboard one of these ships.
Blue Water Veterans who did not set foot in Vietnam or serve aboard ships that operated on the inland waterways of Vietnam anytime between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975 must show on a factual basis that they were exposed to herbicides during military service in order to receive disability compensation for diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure.
Exception: Blue Water Veterans claiming non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as a disability may be granted service-connection without showing inland waterway service or that they set foot in Vietnam. This is because VA also recognizes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as associated with service in Vietnam or the waters offshore of Vietnam during the Vietnam Era.
READ MORE: http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/bluewaterveterans.asp
Former Lejeune residents laud reintroduction of water contamination healthcare bill
http://www.jdnews.com/news/-91228--.html
Veterans of Camp Lejeune and their families are buzzing about the reintroduction of a bill that would create a presumptive link between contaminated drinking water on the base between the 1950s and 1980s and a number of diseases that have plagued former residents. The bill, introduced by Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., would allow Camp Lejeune veterans and family members to receive health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Called the Janey Ensminger Act in honor of a 9-year-old girl who died of childhood leukemia believed to be linked to exposure to the tainted water, the bill was first introduced last year but never emerged from the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
Onslow County resident Jerry Ensminger, Janey’s father and an outspoken advocate for fellow Lejeune residents affected by the contaminated water, said he believes the bill’s prospects are much better this year.
“This is the second time around, and we’re working Republican support for it, making it what it should be in the first place: a bipartisan issue,” he said. “None of us had any political affiliations when we served in the military. Our affiliation was to serve this country.”
When the bill was introduced last year, only four of its 39 sponsors were Republicans.
This year, so far, three of the act’s 17 sponsors are Republican, including North Carolina Rep. Walter Jones, who cosponsored the bill last year as well.
Marine veteran Joe Glowacki, of Southampton, N.J., said he hopes the bill’s passage will make it easier for others to receive a 100-percent disabled rating from the VA as he did. Glowacki, 69, received correspondence from the Marine Corps in 2009 notifying former residents about potential risks connected with the water.
Having lived aboard Lejeune from 1959 to 1962, Glowacki performed a cursory health self-assessment, including a breast self-exam. He was shocked to discover a lump that would prove to be male breast cancer, requiring a mastectomy and over a year of agonizing procedures due to complications in recovery. To date, Glowacki is one of 70 former Lejeune residents to be diagnosed with male breast cancer.
READ MORE: http://www.jdnews.com/news/-91228--.html
Veterans of Camp Lejeune and their families are buzzing about the reintroduction of a bill that would create a presumptive link between contaminated drinking water on the base between the 1950s and 1980s and a number of diseases that have plagued former residents. The bill, introduced by Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., would allow Camp Lejeune veterans and family members to receive health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Called the Janey Ensminger Act in honor of a 9-year-old girl who died of childhood leukemia believed to be linked to exposure to the tainted water, the bill was first introduced last year but never emerged from the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
Onslow County resident Jerry Ensminger, Janey’s father and an outspoken advocate for fellow Lejeune residents affected by the contaminated water, said he believes the bill’s prospects are much better this year.
“This is the second time around, and we’re working Republican support for it, making it what it should be in the first place: a bipartisan issue,” he said. “None of us had any political affiliations when we served in the military. Our affiliation was to serve this country.”
When the bill was introduced last year, only four of its 39 sponsors were Republicans.
This year, so far, three of the act’s 17 sponsors are Republican, including North Carolina Rep. Walter Jones, who cosponsored the bill last year as well.
Marine veteran Joe Glowacki, of Southampton, N.J., said he hopes the bill’s passage will make it easier for others to receive a 100-percent disabled rating from the VA as he did. Glowacki, 69, received correspondence from the Marine Corps in 2009 notifying former residents about potential risks connected with the water.
Having lived aboard Lejeune from 1959 to 1962, Glowacki performed a cursory health self-assessment, including a breast self-exam. He was shocked to discover a lump that would prove to be male breast cancer, requiring a mastectomy and over a year of agonizing procedures due to complications in recovery. To date, Glowacki is one of 70 former Lejeune residents to be diagnosed with male breast cancer.
READ MORE: http://www.jdnews.com/news/-91228--.html
Paul Sutton Research
http://guamagentorange.info/paul_sutton_research
These documents were retrieved from US government sources, research facilities, state government agencies and commissions, via FOIA requests to various sources and from individuals (veterans and citizens alike) for a clearer, accurate and more complete understanding of herbicide exposure in Southeast Asia and many other areas throughout the world and its consequences.
There is a large section on the “current” Blue Water Navy stand-off between the US Department of Veterans Affairs and those Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps personnel directly affected during the execution of the Vietnam War “offshore” (more commonly referred to as “Yankee Station”) in the South China Sea.
There are also numerous documents, studies and ancillary material relating to herbicide exposures in other regions (Guam, Thailand, Okinawa, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Panama, Canada, and throughout the United States) where we have documented usage and storage of herbicides.
We are continuing to work our way through additional, un-cataloged material we have accessed, particularly the Alvin Young Container List, which encompasses well over 1,500 documents related to both early experimentation (pre-Vietnam) and the US Air Force Ranch Hand Project. As those un-cataloged materials are researched and labeled, they will be uploaded on this site for research retrieval.
Should you have specific questions about this information, please feel free to contact me or the site webmaster. I will respond as time permits and in the order in which requests are made.
Paul Sutton
Ssgtusmc6169@yahoo.com
These documents were retrieved from US government sources, research facilities, state government agencies and commissions, via FOIA requests to various sources and from individuals (veterans and citizens alike) for a clearer, accurate and more complete understanding of herbicide exposure in Southeast Asia and many other areas throughout the world and its consequences.
There is a large section on the “current” Blue Water Navy stand-off between the US Department of Veterans Affairs and those Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps personnel directly affected during the execution of the Vietnam War “offshore” (more commonly referred to as “Yankee Station”) in the South China Sea.
There are also numerous documents, studies and ancillary material relating to herbicide exposures in other regions (Guam, Thailand, Okinawa, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Panama, Canada, and throughout the United States) where we have documented usage and storage of herbicides.
We are continuing to work our way through additional, un-cataloged material we have accessed, particularly the Alvin Young Container List, which encompasses well over 1,500 documents related to both early experimentation (pre-Vietnam) and the US Air Force Ranch Hand Project. As those un-cataloged materials are researched and labeled, they will be uploaded on this site for research retrieval.
Should you have specific questions about this information, please feel free to contact me or the site webmaster. I will respond as time permits and in the order in which requests are made.
Paul Sutton
Ssgtusmc6169@yahoo.com
Thursday, May 19, 2011
US Army Probes Report of Agent Orange Dumping in Korea
http://www.ncrumors.com/?p=5886
VOA News on May 19
The U.S. Army says it is looking into a report that drums of the Vietnam War-era toxic defoliant Agent Orange were buried 33 years ago at an American military facility in South Korea.
A U.S. Army spokesman told VOA on Thursday that the Army is reviewing historical records to try to verify the report. It also is consulting environmental experts to learn how the dangerous material should be handled.
South Korea's Environment Ministry said Thursday it will ask U.S. officials to determine whether the chemical was dumped in 1978 at Camp Carroll, near Daegu, in the southeastern part of the country.
Reports of the dumping first appeared last week on a TV station (KPHO) in Phoenix, in the U.S. state of Arizona.
Three U.S. Army veterans told the station they had been ordered to dig a ditch, nearly the length of a city block, to bury about 250 bright yellow or orange drums, each believed to contain 208 liters of the defoliant. They said the chemical was seeping through the barrels and gave off a "sickly sweet" smell.
The three men say they have developed health problems which they believe are linked to their exposure to the chemical.
Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Buczkowski said the Army takes any possibility of health or environmental hazards "very seriously."
The U.S. military used Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to get rid of dense jungle brush. Since then, the chemical has been linked to increased cancer rates and birth defects.
The U.S. Defense Department acknowledged in 1999 that Agent Orange and two other defoliants were sprayed in the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) during the late 1960s. U.S. officials say the surplus defoliant was incinerated and buried at sea.
See AOZ Saturday, May 14, 2011
Military Secret Exposed - Valley Veteran Says He Was Just Following Orders
http://agentorangezone.blogspot.com/2011/05/military-secret-exposed-valley-veteran.html
VOA News on May 19
The U.S. Army says it is looking into a report that drums of the Vietnam War-era toxic defoliant Agent Orange were buried 33 years ago at an American military facility in South Korea.
A U.S. Army spokesman told VOA on Thursday that the Army is reviewing historical records to try to verify the report. It also is consulting environmental experts to learn how the dangerous material should be handled.
South Korea's Environment Ministry said Thursday it will ask U.S. officials to determine whether the chemical was dumped in 1978 at Camp Carroll, near Daegu, in the southeastern part of the country.
Reports of the dumping first appeared last week on a TV station (KPHO) in Phoenix, in the U.S. state of Arizona.
Three U.S. Army veterans told the station they had been ordered to dig a ditch, nearly the length of a city block, to bury about 250 bright yellow or orange drums, each believed to contain 208 liters of the defoliant. They said the chemical was seeping through the barrels and gave off a "sickly sweet" smell.
The three men say they have developed health problems which they believe are linked to their exposure to the chemical.
Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Buczkowski said the Army takes any possibility of health or environmental hazards "very seriously."
The U.S. military used Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to get rid of dense jungle brush. Since then, the chemical has been linked to increased cancer rates and birth defects.
The U.S. Defense Department acknowledged in 1999 that Agent Orange and two other defoliants were sprayed in the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) during the late 1960s. U.S. officials say the surplus defoliant was incinerated and buried at sea.
See AOZ Saturday, May 14, 2011
Military Secret Exposed - Valley Veteran Says He Was Just Following Orders
http://agentorangezone.blogspot.com/2011/05/military-secret-exposed-valley-veteran.html
C-123K: Agent Orange Crew Exposure 1973-1981!
http://www.c123kcancer.blogspot.com/
Post-Vietnam C-123K Provider crews and maintenance teams WERE exposed to Agent Orange, and many of us are developing cancers. We're gathering & sharing vital information. Send documents. Send photos of us in the plane. Please tell others who flew with us, and I need names from Rickenbacker and Pittsburgh 123 crews!
Wes Carter, retired MSC
There is a large community of us who flew and maintained the C-123K Provider in the years following the return of the aircraft from Vietnam until its retirement in 1981. Some of us flew as primary aircrew, aeromedical evacuation crew or ACMs, but the point is...many of us have cancer!
Patches - Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson AFB
Turns out the Air Force concluded in 1993 (perhaps even earlier) that many of the Providers were too contaminated for resale as surplus, even after extensive cleaning and replacement of interior components, and the passing of nearly a quarter century!
READ MORE: http://www.c123kcancer.blogspot.com/
Investigation started into alleged Agent Orange spraying at Fort Detrick
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/05/investigation-started-into-alleged-agent-orange-spraying-at-fort-detrick-60831.html
The National Research Foundation is investigating allegations the Army tested Agent Orange decades ago at Fort Detrick. The Maryland Department of Health has already begun its own investigation.
Residents in the Frederick area surrounding the Fort have been searching for answers why so many neighbors are dying from cancer. Fort Detrick officials rarely speak in public about the issue and repeatedly turned down requests for more information from the public and the press.
The Garrison’s top commander told the National Academy of Sciences.
“Our concern is to continue to communicate openly with the Frederick community. We are here because we care,” said Col. Judith Robinson, Fort Detrick commander.
Witnesses at the time told ABC7 the Army minimized the testing of Agent Orange and other toxic chemicals.
“All the work that was done outdoors was done in these little tents,” said Robert Craig, a Fort Detrick historian. “It was done with handheld sprayers … These guys aren’t even wearing masks.”
When Jennifer Peppe-Hahn tried to ask about warnings from Dow Chemical to Detrick in the 60s, she was cut off and told the public wasn’t allowed to ask questions, she said.
Peppe-Hahn grew up near Fort Detrick and has battled both Hodgkins and breast cancer from when she was 13 years old.
“There seems to be an inordinate amount of younger people developing cancer in the area. There was another young man who would have graduated in my class who had leukemia the same time I had Hodgkins and he died,” Peppe-Hahn said.
Advocates for cancer victims have faced some resistance from the community, where many depend for the Fort for livelihood.
“We're not trying to kill Fort Detrick. We're trying to prevent future contamination that would kill human beings,” said Rachel Pisani of the Kristen Renee Foundation. “There's no amount of money that I could put on a human life. And that's what I would say - livelihood is not worth death.”
MORE: http://wj.la/kC1fiv
The National Research Foundation is investigating allegations the Army tested Agent Orange decades ago at Fort Detrick. The Maryland Department of Health has already begun its own investigation.
Residents in the Frederick area surrounding the Fort have been searching for answers why so many neighbors are dying from cancer. Fort Detrick officials rarely speak in public about the issue and repeatedly turned down requests for more information from the public and the press.
The Garrison’s top commander told the National Academy of Sciences.
“Our concern is to continue to communicate openly with the Frederick community. We are here because we care,” said Col. Judith Robinson, Fort Detrick commander.
Witnesses at the time told ABC7 the Army minimized the testing of Agent Orange and other toxic chemicals.
“All the work that was done outdoors was done in these little tents,” said Robert Craig, a Fort Detrick historian. “It was done with handheld sprayers … These guys aren’t even wearing masks.”
When Jennifer Peppe-Hahn tried to ask about warnings from Dow Chemical to Detrick in the 60s, she was cut off and told the public wasn’t allowed to ask questions, she said.
Peppe-Hahn grew up near Fort Detrick and has battled both Hodgkins and breast cancer from when she was 13 years old.
“There seems to be an inordinate amount of younger people developing cancer in the area. There was another young man who would have graduated in my class who had leukemia the same time I had Hodgkins and he died,” Peppe-Hahn said.
Advocates for cancer victims have faced some resistance from the community, where many depend for the Fort for livelihood.
“We're not trying to kill Fort Detrick. We're trying to prevent future contamination that would kill human beings,” said Rachel Pisani of the Kristen Renee Foundation. “There's no amount of money that I could put on a human life. And that's what I would say - livelihood is not worth death.”
MORE: http://wj.la/kC1fiv
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Exploding Watermelons - Agent Orange Again?
This short history of Agent Orange is provided by our friend Paul Sutton. The "exploding watermelon" article illustrates and reflects the early history of Agent Orange. Thanks to Paul
Agent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. A 50:50 mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D, it was manufactured for the U.S. Department of Defense primarily by Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical.
The 2,4,5-T used to produce Agent Orange was later discovered to be contaminated with 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin, an extremely toxic dioxin compound. It was given its name from the color of the orange-striped 55 US gallon barrels in which it was shipped, and was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides". In 1943 plant biologist Dr. Arthur Galston began studying the compound triiodobenzoic acid as a plant growth hormone, in an attempt to adapt soybeans to a short growing season. The intent was to accelerate the plant’s growth cycle, allowing the sprayed specimen to grow to seedling to mature plant in less than one-half its normal life cycle.
Galston found that excessive usage of the compound caused catastrophic defoliation — a finding later used by his colleague Ian Sussex to develop the family of herbicides used in Operation Ranch Hand. Galston was especially concerned about the compound's side effects to humans and the environment. In 1943, the U.S. Department of the Army contracted the University of Chicago to study the effects of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T on cereal grains (including rice) and broadleaf crops.
From these studies arose the concept of using aerial applications of herbicides to destroy enemy crops to disrupt their food supply. In early 1945, the U.S. army ran tests of various 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T mixtures which ultimately became Operation Farm Gate in Vietnam in 1961, which evolved into Operation Ranch Hand that lasted until January 1971.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/05/17/international/i030801D13.DTL#i
BEIJING, China (AP) --
Watermelons have been bursting by the score in eastern China after farmers gave them overdoses of growth chemicals during wet weather, creating what state media called fields of "land mines."
About 20 farmers around Danyang city in Jiangsu province were affected, losing up to 115 acres (45 hectares) of melon, China Central Television said in an investigative report.
Prices over the past year prompted many farmers to jump into the watermelon market. All of those with exploding melons apparently were first-time users of the growth accelerator forchlorfenuron, though it has been widely available for some time, CCTV said in the report broadcast Monday night.
Chinese regulations don't forbid the drug, and it is allowed in the U.S. on kiwi fruit and grapes. But the report underscores how farmers in China are abusing both legal and illegal chemicals, with many farms misusing pesticides and fertilizers.
Wang Liangju, a professor with College of Horticulture at Nanjing Agricultural University who has been to Danyang since the problems began to occur, said that forchlorfenuron is safe and effective when used properly.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/05/17/international/i030801D13.DTL#ixzz1MjSBLG1C
Agent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. A 50:50 mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D, it was manufactured for the U.S. Department of Defense primarily by Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical.
The 2,4,5-T used to produce Agent Orange was later discovered to be contaminated with 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin, an extremely toxic dioxin compound. It was given its name from the color of the orange-striped 55 US gallon barrels in which it was shipped, and was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides". In 1943 plant biologist Dr. Arthur Galston began studying the compound triiodobenzoic acid as a plant growth hormone, in an attempt to adapt soybeans to a short growing season. The intent was to accelerate the plant’s growth cycle, allowing the sprayed specimen to grow to seedling to mature plant in less than one-half its normal life cycle.
Galston found that excessive usage of the compound caused catastrophic defoliation — a finding later used by his colleague Ian Sussex to develop the family of herbicides used in Operation Ranch Hand. Galston was especially concerned about the compound's side effects to humans and the environment. In 1943, the U.S. Department of the Army contracted the University of Chicago to study the effects of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T on cereal grains (including rice) and broadleaf crops.
From these studies arose the concept of using aerial applications of herbicides to destroy enemy crops to disrupt their food supply. In early 1945, the U.S. army ran tests of various 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T mixtures which ultimately became Operation Farm Gate in Vietnam in 1961, which evolved into Operation Ranch Hand that lasted until January 1971.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/05/17/international/i030801D13.DTL#i
BEIJING, China (AP) --
Watermelons have been bursting by the score in eastern China after farmers gave them overdoses of growth chemicals during wet weather, creating what state media called fields of "land mines."
About 20 farmers around Danyang city in Jiangsu province were affected, losing up to 115 acres (45 hectares) of melon, China Central Television said in an investigative report.
Prices over the past year prompted many farmers to jump into the watermelon market. All of those with exploding melons apparently were first-time users of the growth accelerator forchlorfenuron, though it has been widely available for some time, CCTV said in the report broadcast Monday night.
Chinese regulations don't forbid the drug, and it is allowed in the U.S. on kiwi fruit and grapes. But the report underscores how farmers in China are abusing both legal and illegal chemicals, with many farms misusing pesticides and fertilizers.
Wang Liangju, a professor with College of Horticulture at Nanjing Agricultural University who has been to Danyang since the problems began to occur, said that forchlorfenuron is safe and effective when used properly.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/05/17/international/i030801D13.DTL#ixzz1MjSBLG1C
Panama Orange
http://vets4politics.blogspot.com/2008/08/agent-orange-in-panama.html
The Dallas Morning News recently reported that the U.S. military conducted secret tests of Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides in Panama in the 1960s and '70s, potentially exposing civilians and soldiers to highly dangerous chemicals. According to eyewitness accounts and documents, hundreds of barrels of Agent Orange were shipped to Panama during the Vietnam War to be tested in simulated tropical battlefield conditions of Southeast Asia. The chemical was a mixture of the herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T and also contained dioxin generated during formulation of 2,4,5-T. While the two herbicides break down in the environment rather quickly, dioxin is a highly persistent compound that remains in the environment for decades and can cause cancer, birth defects and other health and developmental problems.
The U.S. Southern Command, the operational authority in Panama, said it was not aware of any tests using Agent Orange that had taken place there. However, the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department acknowledged that use of Agent Orange or similar herbicides contributed to the deaths of at least three U.S. servicemen stationed in Panama in the 1960s and '70s. In testimony at a Veterans Affairs hearing regarding one of these cases, a former operations officer for herbicide research at the Army biological research and development laboratories in Maryland stated that "several hundred drums" of Agent Orange were shipped to Panama in the late 1960s.
READ MORE: http://vets4politics.blogspot.com/2008/08/agent-orange-in-panama.html
http://www.gmasw.com/
http://www.gmasw.com/ao_out.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/agentorange/defoliants.html
http://www.motherjones.com/news/mustreads/1999/08/081699.html
http://bluewaternavy.org/general/panama1.htm
http://www.panna.org/resources/gpc/gpc_199908.09.2.19.dv.html
The Dallas Morning News recently reported that the U.S. military conducted secret tests of Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides in Panama in the 1960s and '70s, potentially exposing civilians and soldiers to highly dangerous chemicals. According to eyewitness accounts and documents, hundreds of barrels of Agent Orange were shipped to Panama during the Vietnam War to be tested in simulated tropical battlefield conditions of Southeast Asia. The chemical was a mixture of the herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T and also contained dioxin generated during formulation of 2,4,5-T. While the two herbicides break down in the environment rather quickly, dioxin is a highly persistent compound that remains in the environment for decades and can cause cancer, birth defects and other health and developmental problems.
The U.S. Southern Command, the operational authority in Panama, said it was not aware of any tests using Agent Orange that had taken place there. However, the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department acknowledged that use of Agent Orange or similar herbicides contributed to the deaths of at least three U.S. servicemen stationed in Panama in the 1960s and '70s. In testimony at a Veterans Affairs hearing regarding one of these cases, a former operations officer for herbicide research at the Army biological research and development laboratories in Maryland stated that "several hundred drums" of Agent Orange were shipped to Panama in the late 1960s.
READ MORE: http://vets4politics.blogspot.com/2008/08/agent-orange-in-panama.html
http://www.gmasw.com/
http://www.gmasw.com/ao_out.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/agentorange/defoliants.html
http://www.motherjones.com/news/mustreads/1999/08/081699.html
http://bluewaternavy.org/general/panama1.htm
http://www.panna.org/resources/gpc/gpc_199908.09.2.19.dv.html
Rising prostate cancer rate seen in U.S. servicemen
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_112076.html
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The rate of prostate cancer among active-duty U.S. Air Force members has been several times higher in recent years than it was 20 years ago, a new study finds.
Researchers believe that the trend is not a sign of any increase in servicemen's actual risk of the cancer. Instead, they think that wider use of prostate cancer screening may be catching some early cancers that once went undetected.
That would match the pattern seen among U.S. men generally. After PSA blood tests came into use for prostate cancer screening in the mid-1990s, the number of men diagnosed with the cancer rose.
However, PSA screening is controversial. Because prostate cancer is often slow-growing and may never progress far enough to threaten a man's life, finding and treating early tumors can do more harm than good for some. Treatment side effects include impotence and incontinence.
It's estimated that such "low risk" tumors account for 40 to 50 percent of prostate cancers diagnosed among U.S. men.
In the new study, researchers found that between 2005 and 2008, the rate of prostate cancer among white active-duty Air Force servicemen was three times higher than it was between 1991 and 1994.
Among African Americans, the rate rose 11-fold, according to findings published in the Journal of Urology.
The absolute numbers were still low. Among white men in recent years, the rate was about 26 cases per 100,000 servicemen per year; among black men, the rate was 39 per 100,000.
But both of those rates were higher than what was seen during the same period among U.S. men in general in the same 35 to 64 age range. Most of the cancers in servicemen --62 percent -- were low risk, which is also higher than the U.S. norm.
The difference is probably because Air Force members are more likely to be screened for prostate cancer, according to researcher Dr. Marc Goldhagen, of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine in San Antonio.
READ MORE: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_112076.html
Agent Orange Linked to Kidney Cancer
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/05/15/agent-orange-linked-kidney-cancer/
Vietnam veterans exposed to ‘extremely toxic’ herbicide may be at risk
SATURDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) — There appears to be a link between Agent Orange and kidney cancer in U.S. veterans exposed to the herbicide in Vietnam, a new study suggests.
Researchers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Shreveport, La. examined the records of 297 patients diagnosed with kidney cancer between 1987 and 2009. Thirteen of the patients, aged 39 to 63 when they were diagnosed, said they had been exposed to Agent Orange.
Documented exposure to the herbicide and pathology reports were available for 10 of the patients. The researchers reviewed these patients’ age at diagnosis, tumor size, side of lesion, pathology and survival.
Nine of the 10 patients had clear-cell cancers, which typically have worse outcomes than papillary tumors, which appeared in one patient. One patient had both clear-cell and papillary cancers.
Read Full Article at USAnews.com
Vietnam veterans exposed to ‘extremely toxic’ herbicide may be at risk
SATURDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) — There appears to be a link between Agent Orange and kidney cancer in U.S. veterans exposed to the herbicide in Vietnam, a new study suggests.
Researchers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Shreveport, La. examined the records of 297 patients diagnosed with kidney cancer between 1987 and 2009. Thirteen of the patients, aged 39 to 63 when they were diagnosed, said they had been exposed to Agent Orange.
Documented exposure to the herbicide and pathology reports were available for 10 of the patients. The researchers reviewed these patients’ age at diagnosis, tumor size, side of lesion, pathology and survival.
Nine of the 10 patients had clear-cell cancers, which typically have worse outcomes than papillary tumors, which appeared in one patient. One patient had both clear-cell and papillary cancers.
Read Full Article at USAnews.com
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Military Secret Exposed - Valley Veteran Says He Was Just Following Orders
http://www.kpho.com/news/27892124/detail.html
POSTED: 7:46 pm MST May 13, 2011
UPDATED: 10:21 pm MST May 13, 2011
PHOENIX -- It's a secret the military does not want you to know -- something so dangerous that a Valley man says it's slowly killing him and could be poisoning countless others. "Yeah, it haunts me," said veteran Steve House. "We basically buried our garbage in their back yard."
The year was 1978. Spc. Steve House was stationed at Camp Carroll in South Korea. He worked as a heavy equipment operator, and one day, says he got orders to dig a ditch - nearly the length of a city block. "They just told us it was going to be used for disposal," said House.
But it was what House buried that he's never been able to forget. "Fifty-five gallon drums with bright yellow, some of them bright orange, writing on them," said House. "And some of the cans said Province of Vietnam, Compound Orange."
Compound Orange, also known as Agent Orange, is a toxic herbicide that was used to wipe out the jungles during the Vietnam War. The military also admitted using it years later around demilitarized zones in Korea. The government says the leftover Agent Orange was incinerated at sea.
House claims that's not the whole truth. But 30 years later, it's one man's word. Unless other soldiers remember the same thing. "I can tell them what we did with it," said Robert Travis, who served side-by-side with House and now lives in West Virginia. "There were approximately 250 drums, all OD green," said Travis. "On the barrels it said 'chemicals type Agent Orange.' It had a stripe around the barrel dated 1967 for the Republic of Vietnam."
Travis said he remembers hand-wheeling each barrel out of the warehouse. "This stuff was just seeping through the barrels," he said. "There was a smell; I couldn't even describe it, just sickly sweet."
And shortly after, Travis said he developed a red rash all over his body. His health has since deteriorated. "I have arthritis in my neck and back," he said. "My wrists and feet, I don't know how many times they just snap because they're weak."
Dr. Nanette Auriemma decides which soldiers qualify for the National Agent Orange registry. "There's no way to specifically diagnose a patient (who) has been exposed to Agent Orange," said Auriemma, who works for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Clinics. "
READ MORE: http://www.kpho.com/news/27892124/detail.html
Copyright 2011 by KPHO.com. All rights reserved
POSTED: 7:46 pm MST May 13, 2011
UPDATED: 10:21 pm MST May 13, 2011
PHOENIX -- It's a secret the military does not want you to know -- something so dangerous that a Valley man says it's slowly killing him and could be poisoning countless others. "Yeah, it haunts me," said veteran Steve House. "We basically buried our garbage in their back yard."
The year was 1978. Spc. Steve House was stationed at Camp Carroll in South Korea. He worked as a heavy equipment operator, and one day, says he got orders to dig a ditch - nearly the length of a city block. "They just told us it was going to be used for disposal," said House.
But it was what House buried that he's never been able to forget. "Fifty-five gallon drums with bright yellow, some of them bright orange, writing on them," said House. "And some of the cans said Province of Vietnam, Compound Orange."
Compound Orange, also known as Agent Orange, is a toxic herbicide that was used to wipe out the jungles during the Vietnam War. The military also admitted using it years later around demilitarized zones in Korea. The government says the leftover Agent Orange was incinerated at sea.
House claims that's not the whole truth. But 30 years later, it's one man's word. Unless other soldiers remember the same thing. "I can tell them what we did with it," said Robert Travis, who served side-by-side with House and now lives in West Virginia. "There were approximately 250 drums, all OD green," said Travis. "On the barrels it said 'chemicals type Agent Orange.' It had a stripe around the barrel dated 1967 for the Republic of Vietnam."
Travis said he remembers hand-wheeling each barrel out of the warehouse. "This stuff was just seeping through the barrels," he said. "There was a smell; I couldn't even describe it, just sickly sweet."
And shortly after, Travis said he developed a red rash all over his body. His health has since deteriorated. "I have arthritis in my neck and back," he said. "My wrists and feet, I don't know how many times they just snap because they're weak."
Dr. Nanette Auriemma decides which soldiers qualify for the National Agent Orange registry. "There's no way to specifically diagnose a patient (who) has been exposed to Agent Orange," said Auriemma, who works for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Clinics. "
READ MORE: http://www.kpho.com/news/27892124/detail.html
Copyright 2011 by KPHO.com. All rights reserved
Vietnam veterans exposed to 'extremely toxic' herbicide may be at risk
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/cancer/articles/2011/05/14/agent-orange-linked-to-kidney-cancer-study
Posted: May 14, 2011
SATURDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- There appears to be a link between Agent Orange and kidney cancer in U.S. veterans exposed to the herbicide in Vietnam, a new study suggests.
Researchers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Shreveport, La. examined the records of 297 patients diagnosed with kidney cancer between 1987 and 2009. Thirteen of the patients, aged 39 to 63 when they were diagnosed, said they had been exposed to Agent Orange.
Documented exposure to the herbicide and pathology reports were available for 10 of the patients. The researchers reviewed these patients' age at diagnosis, tumor size, side of lesion, pathology and survival.
Nine of the 10 patients had clear-cell cancers, which typically have worse outcomes than papillary tumors, which appeared in one patient. One patient had both clear-cell and papillary cancers.
During the average follow-up of 54 months, four patients developed metastatic cancer and one patient died from his cancer.
The findings were presented Saturday during a special news conference at the American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Research presented at meetings should be viewed as preliminary because it has not been subjected to the peer review that typically accompanies publication in a medical journal.
"We know that the chemicals in Agent Orange were extremely toxic, and are known to cause cancer," press conference moderator Dr. Anthony Y. Smith said in an AUA news release. "These data indicate that we may need to better determine whether exposure to these chemicals should be considered a risk factor for kidney cancer."
Copyright © 2011 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/cancer/articles/2011/05/14/agent-orange-linked-to-kidney-cancer-study
Posted: May 14, 2011
SATURDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- There appears to be a link between Agent Orange and kidney cancer in U.S. veterans exposed to the herbicide in Vietnam, a new study suggests.
Researchers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Shreveport, La. examined the records of 297 patients diagnosed with kidney cancer between 1987 and 2009. Thirteen of the patients, aged 39 to 63 when they were diagnosed, said they had been exposed to Agent Orange.
Documented exposure to the herbicide and pathology reports were available for 10 of the patients. The researchers reviewed these patients' age at diagnosis, tumor size, side of lesion, pathology and survival.
Nine of the 10 patients had clear-cell cancers, which typically have worse outcomes than papillary tumors, which appeared in one patient. One patient had both clear-cell and papillary cancers.
During the average follow-up of 54 months, four patients developed metastatic cancer and one patient died from his cancer.
The findings were presented Saturday during a special news conference at the American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Research presented at meetings should be viewed as preliminary because it has not been subjected to the peer review that typically accompanies publication in a medical journal.
"We know that the chemicals in Agent Orange were extremely toxic, and are known to cause cancer," press conference moderator Dr. Anthony Y. Smith said in an AUA news release. "These data indicate that we may need to better determine whether exposure to these chemicals should be considered a risk factor for kidney cancer."
Copyright © 2011 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/cancer/articles/2011/05/14/agent-orange-linked-to-kidney-cancer-study
Soil Samples Show High Levels of Arsenic in Fort Detrick Area
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/maryland/soil-samples-show-high-levels-of-arsenic-in-fort-detrick-area-050911#ixzz1MLj5QZpI
FREDERICK, Md. - Even families in Frederick not touched by cancer say they are suspicious of the government and what goes on at Fort Detrick.
Others who live near the fort and have suffered from cancer or watched loved ones die painful deaths express pure anger. And now there's another suspect coming to light: arsenic.
Arsenic was used in the production of herbicides, including the Vietnam-era defoliant Agent Orange, which the government admits were tested and buried at a 400-acre section of Fort Detrick known as Area B.
"All along this road, you find every single house has been touched by cancer," says Rachel Kelley-Pisani of the Kristen Renee Foundation.
Kelly-Pisani is on a crusade to get the federal government to acknowledge a cancer-cluster around Fort Detrick - and to clean it up.
She and her organization hired an environmental firm to collect soil samples around Area B. The results, Kelly-Pisani says show dangerously high levels of arsenic.
"Arsenic has been proven to cause liver cancer, kidney cancer, skin cancer among others," Kelly-Pisani says. "And what we have found along this road and two other roads that are surrounding Area B are those exact types of cancers."
The arsenic findings have not been formally presented to Fort Detrick officials, the Frederick County Health Department or Maryland's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Online:
kristenrenee.org/
www.fightingforfrederick.org/
Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/maryland/soil-samples-show-high-levels-of-arsenic-in-fort-detrick-area-050911#ixzz1MLj5QZpI
FREDERICK, Md. - Even families in Frederick not touched by cancer say they are suspicious of the government and what goes on at Fort Detrick.
Others who live near the fort and have suffered from cancer or watched loved ones die painful deaths express pure anger. And now there's another suspect coming to light: arsenic.
Arsenic was used in the production of herbicides, including the Vietnam-era defoliant Agent Orange, which the government admits were tested and buried at a 400-acre section of Fort Detrick known as Area B.
"All along this road, you find every single house has been touched by cancer," says Rachel Kelley-Pisani of the Kristen Renee Foundation.
Kelly-Pisani is on a crusade to get the federal government to acknowledge a cancer-cluster around Fort Detrick - and to clean it up.
She and her organization hired an environmental firm to collect soil samples around Area B. The results, Kelly-Pisani says show dangerously high levels of arsenic.
"Arsenic has been proven to cause liver cancer, kidney cancer, skin cancer among others," Kelly-Pisani says. "And what we have found along this road and two other roads that are surrounding Area B are those exact types of cancers."
The arsenic findings have not been formally presented to Fort Detrick officials, the Frederick County Health Department or Maryland's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Online:
kristenrenee.org/
www.fightingforfrederick.org/
Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/maryland/soil-samples-show-high-levels-of-arsenic-in-fort-detrick-area-050911#ixzz1MLj5QZpI
Monday, May 9, 2011
Agent of influence - The realpolitik case for compensating Vietnam
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1001.cain-kurlantzick.html
By Geoffrey Cain and Joshua Kurlantzick
Anh Nguyen Khanh, a motorbike driver in the mountains outside Da Nang, a city in southern Vietnam, is only fifty-three, but he looks much older. His fourteen-year-old son was born with severe spina bifida and cannot walk; his seventeen-year-old daughter has Down’s syndrome. His wife, shattered by her two children’s hardships, has become so mentally unstable she must be restrained at times. "Life is the hardest thing," says Anh Khanh, who supports his family by transporting vegetables between villages, earning about $100 per month. "This [life] is truly a curse."
As a child during the Vietnam War, Anh Khanh remembers watching as American forces sprayed the area around his home with Agent Orange, a defoliant containing the chemical dioxin and used by U.S. forces to kill plants and expose enemy movement. "I remember seeing the American warplanes dropping some sort of chemical on the jungles," he says. "We thought everything was okay, because they weren’t dropping bombs … It wasn’t until the 1980s, when our generation started having children, that we learned the horrible effects of war would follow us our entire lives." Today, Anh Khanh, like many Vietnamese, is convinced that the remnants of dioxin, a poison, in his village’s soil have destroyed his family, causing his children’s birth defects, which then ruined his wife’s mental health. The local government, he says, has little money to help him, and offers just $15 per month in benefits, only enough to cover a portion of the food and health care costs of one of his two children. "God is watching over us," he says. "That’s our only hope."
During the Vietnam War, the United States sprayed as much as 18 million gallons of Agent Orange on the country, according to a Government Accountability Office study. Decades later, the long-acting toxin continues to exact a terrible toll on the people of Vietnam. While the U.S. insists that there is not enough evidence to link the spraying of the defoliant to any illnesses in Vietnam, the government in Hanoi estimates that as many as 400,000 Vietnamese have died early from ailments related to exposure to dioxin and that 500,000 children have birth defects because of exposure to the chemicals leeching into water and soil.
READ MORE: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1001.cain-kurlantzick.html
By Geoffrey Cain and Joshua Kurlantzick
Anh Nguyen Khanh, a motorbike driver in the mountains outside Da Nang, a city in southern Vietnam, is only fifty-three, but he looks much older. His fourteen-year-old son was born with severe spina bifida and cannot walk; his seventeen-year-old daughter has Down’s syndrome. His wife, shattered by her two children’s hardships, has become so mentally unstable she must be restrained at times. "Life is the hardest thing," says Anh Khanh, who supports his family by transporting vegetables between villages, earning about $100 per month. "This [life] is truly a curse."
As a child during the Vietnam War, Anh Khanh remembers watching as American forces sprayed the area around his home with Agent Orange, a defoliant containing the chemical dioxin and used by U.S. forces to kill plants and expose enemy movement. "I remember seeing the American warplanes dropping some sort of chemical on the jungles," he says. "We thought everything was okay, because they weren’t dropping bombs … It wasn’t until the 1980s, when our generation started having children, that we learned the horrible effects of war would follow us our entire lives." Today, Anh Khanh, like many Vietnamese, is convinced that the remnants of dioxin, a poison, in his village’s soil have destroyed his family, causing his children’s birth defects, which then ruined his wife’s mental health. The local government, he says, has little money to help him, and offers just $15 per month in benefits, only enough to cover a portion of the food and health care costs of one of his two children. "God is watching over us," he says. "That’s our only hope."
During the Vietnam War, the United States sprayed as much as 18 million gallons of Agent Orange on the country, according to a Government Accountability Office study. Decades later, the long-acting toxin continues to exact a terrible toll on the people of Vietnam. While the U.S. insists that there is not enough evidence to link the spraying of the defoliant to any illnesses in Vietnam, the government in Hanoi estimates that as many as 400,000 Vietnamese have died early from ailments related to exposure to dioxin and that 500,000 children have birth defects because of exposure to the chemicals leeching into water and soil.
READ MORE: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1001.cain-kurlantzick.html
from Birth Defect Research for Children
The Children’s Centers idea on the NIESH Strategic Planning Site had 115 comments which can be found by going to this URL http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/od/strategicplan/index.cfm and clicking on Affected/Susceptible Populations. The Children’s Centers idea is the 13th idea presented. I can’t figure out how they established the order since it is not alphabetical and I believe we had the most votes. They aren’t listing the total votes, but I believe we ended up with 767. I am so grateful for the veterans’ overwhelming support for this idea.
I will be attending the NIESH Council meeting in Raleigh next week and one of the presentations will be on the Strategic Planning Process so it will be interesting to hear any comments they have on the public input especially the Centers suggestion.
Thanks for your help with support for the Children’s Center idea.
With best regards,
Betty
Betty Mekdeci
Executive Director
Birth Defect Research for Children
http://www.birthdefects.org
976 Lake Baldwin Lane, Suite 104
Orlando FL 32814
407-895-0802
I will be attending the NIESH Council meeting in Raleigh next week and one of the presentations will be on the Strategic Planning Process so it will be interesting to hear any comments they have on the public input especially the Centers suggestion.
Thanks for your help with support for the Children’s Center idea.
With best regards,
Betty
Betty Mekdeci
Executive Director
Birth Defect Research for Children
http://www.birthdefects.org
976 Lake Baldwin Lane, Suite 104
Orlando FL 32814
407-895-0802
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Faster Dying Through Chemistry - Courtesy Dow Chemical Company
http://www.dow.com/financial/corpgov/leader/board.htm
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
*
Andrew N. Liveris
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
*
John B. Hess
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hess Corporation; Member of the Board of Directors
since 2006
*
Arnold A. Allemang
Member of the Board of Directors since 1996
*
Paul Polman
Chief Executive Officer Unilever PLC and Unilever N.V. Member of the Board of Directors since February 2010
*
Jacqueline K. Barton
Arthur and Marian Hanisch Memorial Professor of
Chemistry California, Institute of Technology
Member of the Board of Directors since 1993
*
Dennis H. Reilley
Former Chairman, Covidien, Ltd.
Member of the Board of Directors since 2007
*
James A. Bell
Executive Vice President, Finance,
Chief Financial Officer, The Boeing Company;
Member of the Board of Directors since 2005
*
James M. Ringler
Chairman, Teradata Corporation;
Member of the Board of Directors since 2001
*
Jeff M. Fettig
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Whirlpool Corporation; Member of the Board of Directors since 2003
*
Ruth G. Shaw
Former Executive Advisor, Duke Energy Corporation; Member of the Board of Directors since 2005
*
Barbara Hackman Franklin
President and Chief Executive Officer, Barbara Franklin Enterprises and Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce; Member of the Board of Directors from 1980 to 1992 and 1993 to date
*
Paul G. Stern
Dow Presiding Director, Chairman, Claris Capital;
Member of the Board of Directors since 1992
*
Jennifer M. Granholm
Fmr Governor of Michigan, Sr Advisor to The Pew Charitable Trusts Clean Energy Program, Distinguished Practitioner of Law & Public Policy at the Univ of California, Berkeley, Member of the Board of Directors since 2011
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
*
Andrew N. Liveris
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
*
John B. Hess
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hess Corporation; Member of the Board of Directors
since 2006
*
Arnold A. Allemang
Member of the Board of Directors since 1996
*
Paul Polman
Chief Executive Officer Unilever PLC and Unilever N.V. Member of the Board of Directors since February 2010
*
Jacqueline K. Barton
Arthur and Marian Hanisch Memorial Professor of
Chemistry California, Institute of Technology
Member of the Board of Directors since 1993
*
Dennis H. Reilley
Former Chairman, Covidien, Ltd.
Member of the Board of Directors since 2007
*
James A. Bell
Executive Vice President, Finance,
Chief Financial Officer, The Boeing Company;
Member of the Board of Directors since 2005
*
James M. Ringler
Chairman, Teradata Corporation;
Member of the Board of Directors since 2001
*
Jeff M. Fettig
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Whirlpool Corporation; Member of the Board of Directors since 2003
*
Ruth G. Shaw
Former Executive Advisor, Duke Energy Corporation; Member of the Board of Directors since 2005
*
Barbara Hackman Franklin
President and Chief Executive Officer, Barbara Franklin Enterprises and Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce; Member of the Board of Directors from 1980 to 1992 and 1993 to date
*
Paul G. Stern
Dow Presiding Director, Chairman, Claris Capital;
Member of the Board of Directors since 1992
*
Jennifer M. Granholm
Fmr Governor of Michigan, Sr Advisor to The Pew Charitable Trusts Clean Energy Program, Distinguished Practitioner of Law & Public Policy at the Univ of California, Berkeley, Member of the Board of Directors since 2011
Vietnam vets urged to sign up on Agent Orange Registry
http://www.radioiowa.com/2011/05/06/vietnam-vets-urged-to-sign-up-on-agent-orange-registry/
by Radio Iowa Contributor on May 6, 2011
in Health & Medicine,Military
Vietnam War veterans in Iowa who may be suffering from decades-ago exposure to certain dangerous chemicals are encouraged to sign up on the Agent Orange Registry at their county V-A office. Dan Gannon, with the Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs, says the registry brings an extensive health screening — at no cost.
Gannon says you’ll be checked for at least 18 different cancers and diseases. Agent Orange was an herbicide and defoliant used in the jungles of Vietnam to remove dense plant growth and deprive enemy soldiers of cover. The chemicals were applied up to 13 times higher than the legal USDA limit. He says the mixture contained toxins later proven to cause birth defects in children and other maladies that develop over time.
Gannon calls Agent Orange “one of the most serious carcinogens man ever made” and says recent studies show links to diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, various types of soft cells cancers and respiratory diseases. Gannon, who was a Marine platoon leader in Vietnam from 1969-1970, says he was diagnosed with cancer in 2003 after his employer required a physical exam. He says Vietnam vets don’t need to file a claim to have a thorough exam.
“You sign on the dotted line to go serve your country and give your life and they at least owe you to take care of you,” Gannon says. “Vietnam vets need to go in and get the help they deserve. If you had boots on the ground in Vietnam, anything that has to do with the Agent Orange diseases or illnesses, it’s considered presumptive,” and you may be entitled to compensation.
Learn more at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website: www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/registry.asp”
by Radio Iowa Contributor on May 6, 2011
in Health & Medicine,Military
Vietnam War veterans in Iowa who may be suffering from decades-ago exposure to certain dangerous chemicals are encouraged to sign up on the Agent Orange Registry at their county V-A office. Dan Gannon, with the Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs, says the registry brings an extensive health screening — at no cost.
Gannon says you’ll be checked for at least 18 different cancers and diseases. Agent Orange was an herbicide and defoliant used in the jungles of Vietnam to remove dense plant growth and deprive enemy soldiers of cover. The chemicals were applied up to 13 times higher than the legal USDA limit. He says the mixture contained toxins later proven to cause birth defects in children and other maladies that develop over time.
Gannon calls Agent Orange “one of the most serious carcinogens man ever made” and says recent studies show links to diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, various types of soft cells cancers and respiratory diseases. Gannon, who was a Marine platoon leader in Vietnam from 1969-1970, says he was diagnosed with cancer in 2003 after his employer required a physical exam. He says Vietnam vets don’t need to file a claim to have a thorough exam.
“You sign on the dotted line to go serve your country and give your life and they at least owe you to take care of you,” Gannon says. “Vietnam vets need to go in and get the help they deserve. If you had boots on the ground in Vietnam, anything that has to do with the Agent Orange diseases or illnesses, it’s considered presumptive,” and you may be entitled to compensation.
Learn more at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website: www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/registry.asp”
Senate limits state environmental protections
http://michiganmessenger.com/48798/senate-limits-state-environmental-protections
State could not be stricter than feds
The Michigan Senate has passed a bill that would block state agencies from making environmental rules that are stricter than federal requirements, prompting concerns from environmental advocacy groups.
According to an analysis by the Senate Fiscal Agency:
Senate Bill 272 would do the following:
– Prohibit an agency from promulgating a rule more stringent than the applicable Federal standard unless specifically authorized by statute.
– Require an agency to adopt Federal rules and standards if it adopted rules to implement a federally delegated program.
– Specify that a guideline, operational memorandum, bulletin, interpretative statement, or form with instructions would be advisory only and could not be given the force and effect of law.
– Prohibit a rule from exceeding the rule-making delegation in its authorizing statute.
– Require an agency to consider exempting small business from a rule under certain
circumstances and expand the methods by which an agency must reduce the economic impact of a rule on small business.
– Revise a provision pertaining to a challenge to the validity or applicability of a rule.
– Allow a court to award up to 10 times the cost of any permit fees plus actual and reasonable costs for witness and attorney fees if the court determined a rule-processing violation had occurred.
The new law could benefit Dow Chemical, which is responsible for dioxin contamination in the city of Midland, the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and Saginaw Bay.
READ MORE: http://michiganmessenger.com/48798/senate-limits-state-environmental-protections
State could not be stricter than feds
The Michigan Senate has passed a bill that would block state agencies from making environmental rules that are stricter than federal requirements, prompting concerns from environmental advocacy groups.
According to an analysis by the Senate Fiscal Agency:
Senate Bill 272 would do the following:
– Prohibit an agency from promulgating a rule more stringent than the applicable Federal standard unless specifically authorized by statute.
– Require an agency to adopt Federal rules and standards if it adopted rules to implement a federally delegated program.
– Specify that a guideline, operational memorandum, bulletin, interpretative statement, or form with instructions would be advisory only and could not be given the force and effect of law.
– Prohibit a rule from exceeding the rule-making delegation in its authorizing statute.
– Require an agency to consider exempting small business from a rule under certain
circumstances and expand the methods by which an agency must reduce the economic impact of a rule on small business.
– Revise a provision pertaining to a challenge to the validity or applicability of a rule.
– Allow a court to award up to 10 times the cost of any permit fees plus actual and reasonable costs for witness and attorney fees if the court determined a rule-processing violation had occurred.
The new law could benefit Dow Chemical, which is responsible for dioxin contamination in the city of Midland, the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and Saginaw Bay.
READ MORE: http://michiganmessenger.com/48798/senate-limits-state-environmental-protections
Congress to EPA: Finalize Dioxin Study Once and For All! - Newsletter from CHEJ
http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Environment/Congress_to_EPA_0505110923.html
A few weeks ago, Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) and 72 members of Congress sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson urging the EPA to finalize their long-delayed study on dioxin once and for all. Read all about it in Rep. Markey’s press release. EPA’s study on dioxin has been delayed for over 20 years due to intense lobbying by dioxin-spewing chemical corporations such as Dow Chemical. The new Congressional letter to EPA expresses concern that “EPA has missed this self imposed deadline to finalize and release the report by the end of 2010”and concludes by requesting EPA’s “detailed timeline for finalizing and releasing the Dioxin Reassessment once the SAB [Science Advisory Board] review is complete.”
When EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced the EPA’s Science Planfor finalizing the Dioxin Reassessment two years ago, EPA Administrator Jackson pledged to finalize it by the end of 2010. Unfortunately EPA has missed that self-imposed deadline yet again.
CHEJ thanks and applauds Rep. Markey (D-MA) and the 72 other members of Congress for writing to EPA Administrator Jackson on this critical public health and environmental justice issue. We can only hope EPA will do the right thing and finalize this study once and for all.
A few weeks ago, Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) and 72 members of Congress sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson urging the EPA to finalize their long-delayed study on dioxin once and for all. Read all about it in Rep. Markey’s press release. EPA’s study on dioxin has been delayed for over 20 years due to intense lobbying by dioxin-spewing chemical corporations such as Dow Chemical. The new Congressional letter to EPA expresses concern that “EPA has missed this self imposed deadline to finalize and release the report by the end of 2010”and concludes by requesting EPA’s “detailed timeline for finalizing and releasing the Dioxin Reassessment once the SAB [Science Advisory Board] review is complete.”
When EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced the EPA’s Science Planfor finalizing the Dioxin Reassessment two years ago, EPA Administrator Jackson pledged to finalize it by the end of 2010. Unfortunately EPA has missed that self-imposed deadline yet again.
CHEJ thanks and applauds Rep. Markey (D-MA) and the 72 other members of Congress for writing to EPA Administrator Jackson on this critical public health and environmental justice issue. We can only hope EPA will do the right thing and finalize this study once and for all.
More evidence for dioxin victims’ lawsuit against US
http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/More-evidence-for-dioxin-victims-lawsuit-against-US/20115/126285.vov
(VOV) - The Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) has collected more evidence for the victims’ lawsuit against the US, said VAVA Vice President Tran Xuan Thu in a recent interview granted to VOV.
Defence ministry cleans up dioxin areas
Vietnam’s three dioxin-affected airports to be detoxified
VOV: Does VAVA intend to pursue the lawsuit against American chemical companies or struggle for justice in another direction as the lawsuit has lasted seven years without achieving final results?
Mr Thu: Despite the passage of time, the association will continue to seek justice by legal means. We know there remains a lot to be done. First we are urging the US House of Representatives to compensate both American and Vietnamese victims of AO/dioxin. Then we request the US Congress and Administration to give compensations or subsidies for the victims.
The verdict by the US Supreme Court in New York takes effect only in this state. Even though the court rejected the lawsuit lodged by the Vietnamese victims, Vietnam can still sue in another state of the US.
Preparations are being made for the final stage. The lawsuit is expected to come to the fore again in late 2011 or early 2012.
VOV: US courts rejected much of the evidence provided by Vietnam in previous lawsuits. What is new evidence to give them?
Mr Thu: We have gathered a wide range of new evidence for the lawsuit.
There is no doubt that the US wants to shirk its legal responsibility and keep the lawsuit in a state of deadlock. The final results depend on not only the defendants but also the US government’s sense of responsibility.
VOV: Dioxin-related diseases recognized by the US are all found in Vietnam. Are they considered as part of the convincing evidence for VAVA’s legal proceedings?
READ MORE: http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/More-evidence-for-dioxin-victims-lawsuit-against-US/20115/126285.vov
(VOV) - The Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) has collected more evidence for the victims’ lawsuit against the US, said VAVA Vice President Tran Xuan Thu in a recent interview granted to VOV.
Defence ministry cleans up dioxin areas
Vietnam’s three dioxin-affected airports to be detoxified
VOV: Does VAVA intend to pursue the lawsuit against American chemical companies or struggle for justice in another direction as the lawsuit has lasted seven years without achieving final results?
Mr Thu: Despite the passage of time, the association will continue to seek justice by legal means. We know there remains a lot to be done. First we are urging the US House of Representatives to compensate both American and Vietnamese victims of AO/dioxin. Then we request the US Congress and Administration to give compensations or subsidies for the victims.
The verdict by the US Supreme Court in New York takes effect only in this state. Even though the court rejected the lawsuit lodged by the Vietnamese victims, Vietnam can still sue in another state of the US.
Preparations are being made for the final stage. The lawsuit is expected to come to the fore again in late 2011 or early 2012.
VOV: US courts rejected much of the evidence provided by Vietnam in previous lawsuits. What is new evidence to give them?
Mr Thu: We have gathered a wide range of new evidence for the lawsuit.
There is no doubt that the US wants to shirk its legal responsibility and keep the lawsuit in a state of deadlock. The final results depend on not only the defendants but also the US government’s sense of responsibility.
VOV: Dioxin-related diseases recognized by the US are all found in Vietnam. Are they considered as part of the convincing evidence for VAVA’s legal proceedings?
READ MORE: http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/More-evidence-for-dioxin-victims-lawsuit-against-US/20115/126285.vov
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Perinatal Exposures to Low Doses of Dioxin Can Permanently Impair Human Semen Quality
http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.1002134
Betty Mekdeci
Executive Director
Birth Defect Research for Children
http://www.birthdefects.org
976 Lake Baldwin Lane, Suite 104
Orlando FL 32814
407-895-0802
from Australia
I write to make you aware of a study into the health of children of Vietnam veterans being conducted by the Australian Government, the Qualitative component is due for public release within the next few weeks and the Quantitative component is due for release in November!
Department of Veterans Affairs (Aust) link; http://www.dva.gov.au/health_and_wellbeing/research/FamilyStudyProgram/vietnam_vets_familiy_study/Pages/index.aspx
More info about this Study is available on our web site below!
Kind regards,
David
David Matheson
President
Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Study Inc (COVVHS)
www.covvhs.org.au
Department of Veterans Affairs (Aust) link; http://www.dva.gov.au/health_and_wellbeing/research/FamilyStudyProgram/vietnam_vets_familiy_study/Pages/index.aspx
More info about this Study is available on our web site below!
Kind regards,
David
David Matheson
President
Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Study Inc (COVVHS)
www.covvhs.org.au
Children's Centers to Study Prenatal Effects of Dioxins - 767 votes in favor (top vote-getter!!)
The children of Vietnam veterans are the largest living laboratory for studying the possible adverse reproductive outcomes of their parent(s)' exposures to dioxins. Data collection on thousands of cases of children reported by their parents to the National Birth Defect Registry suggests a pattern of adverse outcomes that includes increases in learning, attention, immune and endocrine disorders. Creating a NIEHS center(s) to study these reproductive outcomes could contribute to a valuable database of knowledge on the reproductive effects of dioxins that would be applicable to exposures in the civilian environment.