http://www.wlos.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/Reality-Check-The-Agent-Orange-Effect-234323.shtml#.VlM08r_LpQI
BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. -- For many Vietnam veterans,
the war still isn't over 45 years later because of lingering effects
from Agent Orange.
Agent Orange was a mixture of herbicides used to kill jungle overgrowth to reveal their enemies' hiding places.
Veterans, their children, and even grandchildren are living with the sad consequences and many without compensation.
Ted Minnick, 69, of Black Mountain was raised in the Air Force and then laced up his own boots.
"When
I went to Vietnam, I had been married two years and had a
three-month-old daughter and served in Vietnam from July '69 to July
'70," Minnick said.
With more than 39 years under his military
belt, including more than seven years on active duty, Minnick has
stories for days about the Army but not many of them have happy endings
because of Agent Orange.
"It could have been anywhere. It's an
aerosol spray and it goes all over. It kind of looked like a real thin
maple syrup. I mean it was that color and that consistency," Minnick
said. "There were over 300 pounds of dioxin sprayed over Vietnam in a
short period of time."
Veterans and their families still can't
escape Agent Orange even though the war is long over because of the
health problems caused by it.
MORE
Monday, November 23, 2015
Friday, November 20, 2015
Upcoming Agent Orange Town Hall Meetings
http://www.vva.org/calendar.html
November 21, 2015
Portland, Oregon
Contact :Gary McAdams
January 23, 2016
Breese, Illinois
Maurice Zurleine
February 13, 2016
Mesa, Arizona
Contact: Michael Marks
Elizabeth Town, Kentucky
Contact: David Cowherd
270-312-0463
herd437@gmail.com
Kansas City, Missouri
Contact: Randy Barnett
816-561-8387
tdaaw@yahoo.com
Interview a Vietnam Veteran With ProPublica and StoryCorps
https://www.propublica.org/getinvolved/item/interview-a-vietnam-veteran-with-propublica-and-storycorps
This summer, ProPublica and our partners at The Virginian-Pilot asked Vietnam-era veterans to help us investigate the generational impact of Agent Orange exposure by sharing their stories with us. More than 3,400 people have done so, including nearly 600 spouses, sons and daughters of veterans. Many of these relatives are concerned that their veteran's health problems — and sometimes their own — may be tied to wartime exposure to the toxic chemicals.
Mary said she believes her husband Robert's health issues — which include Parkinson's disease – are connected to Agent Orange. Robert served as an Army nurse in 1967 and 1968 in Da Nang, Vietnam.
"Robert worked in evacuation hospitals on the front lines," Mary wrote. "He met and helped evacuate the wounded from the medical helicopters, removed their contaminated clothing and prepared them for surgical procedures."
Tamara suspects her father Stanley's heart and neurological issues are tied to his service in the Army's 25th Infantry Division, which also operated in Da Nang.
"My father explains about being completely covered in Agent Orange during his tour in Vietnam," Tamara wrote. "He was in constant contact with the ground and foliage. He suffers from severe [pulmonary disease] and is oxygen dependent due to breathing Agent Orange and living IN IT!"
Four decades after the fall of Saigon, these families and many other Vietnam veterans are struggling with health problems they say are related to Agent Orange.
MORE
This summer, ProPublica and our partners at The Virginian-Pilot asked Vietnam-era veterans to help us investigate the generational impact of Agent Orange exposure by sharing their stories with us. More than 3,400 people have done so, including nearly 600 spouses, sons and daughters of veterans. Many of these relatives are concerned that their veteran's health problems — and sometimes their own — may be tied to wartime exposure to the toxic chemicals.
Mary said she believes her husband Robert's health issues — which include Parkinson's disease – are connected to Agent Orange. Robert served as an Army nurse in 1967 and 1968 in Da Nang, Vietnam.
"Robert worked in evacuation hospitals on the front lines," Mary wrote. "He met and helped evacuate the wounded from the medical helicopters, removed their contaminated clothing and prepared them for surgical procedures."
Tamara suspects her father Stanley's heart and neurological issues are tied to his service in the Army's 25th Infantry Division, which also operated in Da Nang.
"My father explains about being completely covered in Agent Orange during his tour in Vietnam," Tamara wrote. "He was in constant contact with the ground and foliage. He suffers from severe [pulmonary disease] and is oxygen dependent due to breathing Agent Orange and living IN IT!"
Four decades after the fall of Saigon, these families and many other Vietnam veterans are struggling with health problems they say are related to Agent Orange.
MORE
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
The Agent Orange Review: A government newsletter devoted to its own war crimes
http://www.evil.news/2015-11-13-the-agent-orange-review-a-government-newsletter-devoted-to-its-own-war-crimes.html
The United States Government Printing Office (USGPO) is the largest publisher in the world. It publishes almost everything the federal government does – with the exception of “classified” information, which isn’t published immediately, but is declassified and published after about a 30-year delay.
Although USGPO may seem like a triumph of free speech, the fact is, hardly any Americans take advantage of it – or even know about it.
The United States Veterans Administration, for instance, has been publishing a newsletter called Agent Orange Review
since 1982. America must be the only country where the government
publishes a newsletter devoted to its own crimes! Unfortunately,
probably only a tiny fraction of US veterans who were exposed to Agent
Orange are even aware of the Agent Orange Review.
From issues of this newsletter, it’s possible to determine how the VA’s Agent Orange policy evolved. All the issues are archived online here.
Here’s an excerpt from the first issue, published in 1982:
Q. Will the VA treat Vietnam veterans who have health problems that they believe may have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange? A. Under Public Law 97-72, approved on November 3, 1981, the VA can treat eligible veterans for certain disabilities that may have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange. Guidelines have been issued to all VA medical centers in order to implement this legislation. Individual veterans should contact the nearest VA medical center to determine their eligibility.
Q. Has any evidence been found that medical problems were actually caused by exposure to Agent Orange? A. At present, the best available scientific evidence fails to indicate that exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides used in Vietnam has caused any long-term health problems for veterans or their children. One effect sometimes observed after dioxin exposure is a skin disorder, called chloracne, which in appearance resembles some common forms of acne. While some of the people exposed to dioxin in industrial accidents developed chloracne almost immediately, this reaction has not been firmly established among Vietnam veterans.
Translation: As of 1982, the government was willing to admit that Agent Orange “may have” poisoned US troops, but still denied that there was evidence to prove it.
MORE
The United States Government Printing Office (USGPO) is the largest publisher in the world. It publishes almost everything the federal government does – with the exception of “classified” information, which isn’t published immediately, but is declassified and published after about a 30-year delay.
Although USGPO may seem like a triumph of free speech, the fact is, hardly any Americans take advantage of it – or even know about it.
From issues of this newsletter, it’s possible to determine how the VA’s Agent Orange policy evolved. All the issues are archived online here.
Here’s an excerpt from the first issue, published in 1982:
Q. Will the VA treat Vietnam veterans who have health problems that they believe may have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange? A. Under Public Law 97-72, approved on November 3, 1981, the VA can treat eligible veterans for certain disabilities that may have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange. Guidelines have been issued to all VA medical centers in order to implement this legislation. Individual veterans should contact the nearest VA medical center to determine their eligibility.
Q. Has any evidence been found that medical problems were actually caused by exposure to Agent Orange? A. At present, the best available scientific evidence fails to indicate that exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides used in Vietnam has caused any long-term health problems for veterans or their children. One effect sometimes observed after dioxin exposure is a skin disorder, called chloracne, which in appearance resembles some common forms of acne. While some of the people exposed to dioxin in industrial accidents developed chloracne almost immediately, this reaction has not been firmly established among Vietnam veterans.
Translation: As of 1982, the government was willing to admit that Agent Orange “may have” poisoned US troops, but still denied that there was evidence to prove it.
MORE
Japanese tech could rid Vietnam of war's toxic legacy
http://asia.nikkei.com/Tech-Science/Tech/Japanese-tech-could-rid-Vietnam-of-war-s-toxic-legacy
HANOI -- Expectations are growing that Japanese technology will help erase one of the darkest legacies of the Vietnam War -- the lingering presence of Agent Orange.
Although 40 years have passed since the end of the war, areas of Vietnam remain highly contaminated with the chemical defoliant used by the U.S. military in its herbicidal warfare program.
Japanese construction company Shimizu
brought contaminated soil from Vietnam to Japan in late October to
begin experiments in purifying it. The Vietnamese government is paying
close attention to the outcome, as Shimizu's technology proved effective
in purifying soil polluted from the nuclear disaster at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi power plant in March 2011.
Lingering danger
During the war, the U.S. military had an airfield in Bien Hoa in the southern Vietnamese province of Dong Nai, located about an hour's drive from Ho Chi Minh City. The airfield, which is currently used by the Vietnamese Air Force, is "the most dioxin-contaminated place in the world," according to Vietnamese daily Bao Thanh Nien.
U.S. military planes that sprayed chemical defoliants containing dioxins and other toxic substances were washed at the airfield after returning from their missions. The location has remained highly contaminated, possibly because the water used to wash the planes penetrated deep into the soil, carrying contaminants with it.
Areas around the former U.S. air bases in Da Nang and Phu Cat, in the central and southern parts of Vietnam, respectively, are highly contaminated for similar reasons. Along with Bien Hoa, they are known as the "three hot spots."
MORE
HANOI -- Expectations are growing that Japanese technology will help erase one of the darkest legacies of the Vietnam War -- the lingering presence of Agent Orange.
Although 40 years have passed since the end of the war, areas of Vietnam remain highly contaminated with the chemical defoliant used by the U.S. military in its herbicidal warfare program.
Lingering danger
During the war, the U.S. military had an airfield in Bien Hoa in the southern Vietnamese province of Dong Nai, located about an hour's drive from Ho Chi Minh City. The airfield, which is currently used by the Vietnamese Air Force, is "the most dioxin-contaminated place in the world," according to Vietnamese daily Bao Thanh Nien.
U.S. military planes that sprayed chemical defoliants containing dioxins and other toxic substances were washed at the airfield after returning from their missions. The location has remained highly contaminated, possibly because the water used to wash the planes penetrated deep into the soil, carrying contaminants with it.
Areas around the former U.S. air bases in Da Nang and Phu Cat, in the central and southern parts of Vietnam, respectively, are highly contaminated for similar reasons. Along with Bien Hoa, they are known as the "three hot spots."
MORE
Agent Orange links
Agent Orange Links
*Submitted by George Claxton
Clinics in Mother and Child Health
Parabens and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Ligands Cross-Talk in Breast Cancer Cells
Effects of glutathione on the in vivo metabolism and oxidative stress of arsenic in mice.
Sperm Aneuploidy in Faroese Men with Lifetime Exposure to Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethyle
Arsenic Exposure and Glucose Intolerance/Insulin Resistance in Estrogen-Deficient Female Mice
Prepubertal Serum Concentrations of Organochlorine Pesticides and Age at Sexual Maturity in Russian Boys
Cigarette smoke as a trigger for the dioxin receptor-mediated signaling pathway.
Associations
between DNA methylation in DNA damage response-related genes and
cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome index in diesel engine
exhaust-exposed
workers.
Oxidative DNA damage enhances the carcinogenic potential of in vitro chronic arsenic exposures.
Exposure to coplanar PCBs induces endothelial cell inflammation through epigenetic regulation of NF-κB subunit p65.
Early life exposure to PCB126 results in delayed mortality and growth impairment in the zebrafish larvae
Low level arsenic contaminated water consumption and birth outcomes in Romania-An exploratory study.
Dioxins and cytogenetic status of villagers after 40 years of agent Orange application in Vietnam.
A Study of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-
Association between Dioxin and Diabetes Mellitus in an Endemic Area of Exposure in Taiwan: A Population-Based Study.
Multigenerational and transgenerational effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals: A role for altered epigenetic regulation?
Current
approaches in sample preparation for trace analysis of selected
endocrine disrupting compounds. focus on polychlorinated biphenyls,
alkylphenols
and parabens.
Dioxin contamination of bird eggs from different Vietnam provinces
Persistent organic pollutants and male reproductive health.
Tumor necrosis factor-α inhibits effects of aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligands on cell death in human lymphocytes
The expression of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in reproductive and neuroendocrine tissues during the estrous cycle in the pig.
Effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-
Exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like substances a major public health concern
Telomere measurement in individuals occupationally exposed to pesticide mixtures in tobacco fields
Maternal Transfer of Bisphenol A During Nursing Causes Sperm Impairment in Male Offspring.
Endocrine-disrupting compounds and mammary gland development: early exposure and later life consequences.
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals pose global health threat, experts say
Contribution of breast milk and formula to arsenic exposure during the first year of life in a US prospective cohort.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Monday, November 9, 2015
Fort Detrick investigating remnants of Agent Orange, radioactivity on post
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/environment/fort-detrick-investigating-remnants-of-agent-orange-radioactivity-on-post/article_5e01f924-3b01-5092-b302-a76fda3e0eb8.html
Fort Detrick is investigating
locations scattered through its main post for remnants of Agent Orange
and radioactive waste in addition to ongoing toxin testing near Area B.
Joseph
Gortva, manager of the Fort Detrick Environmental Restoration Program,
presented the information to the Restoration Advisory Board on Wednesday
evening as part of his division’s planned activities for fiscal 2016.
The board serves as a forum to keep the community, government agencies
and Fort Detrick officials informed of all cleanup activities on post.
MORE
The Army’s current investigation into
herbicide-related toxins and radioactivity started with a review of
archival records pertaining to the post’s history of biological warfare
research and possible releases of waste into the environment. The review was completed in 2014.
The
Army is now working with contractors to look at sites on the main post
and on Rosemont Avenue where Agent Orange and other herbicides were
stored or used, and 18 sites on post where radioactive materials were
used.
The 18 sites are mainly concentrated
near buildings along Miller Drive, Chandler Street and Sultan Street on
post, around the National Cancer Institute’s office buildings.
There
is a “low likelihood” of finding residual herbicides or radioactive
byproducts, according to Gortva, but the Army’s contractors will perform
soil and gamma ray testing to confirm that.
The
Army is also looking at 11 former incinerator locations on the main
post that may have deposited metals and left-behind petroleum products,
among other chemicals, in soil and groundwater. Those sites are also
near NCI property on the post.
Two Senior VA Officials Plead The Fifth Amendment At Hearing
http://dailycaller.com/2015/11/02/breaking-two-senior-va-officials-plead-the-fifth-amendment-at-hearing-to-avoid-incrimination/
Two senior officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs have pleaded the Fifth Amendment in front of a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing on relocation bonus corruption.
Philadelphia and Wilmington VA regional offices director Diana Rubens and St. Paul VA regional office director Kimberly Graves pleaded the Fifth and refused to answer any of the numerous questions put forward by HVAC chairman GOP Rep. Jeff Miller.
“Sir, I’ve been advised by counsel not to answer that question to protect my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” Rubens repeated multiple times.
The five employees from the VA involved in the incident appeared Monday evening before HVAC under subpoena. The subpoena to appear — the first ever issued in the committee’s history — was deemed necessary because the VA did not allow the witnesses to show up to the first hearing on the subject.
MORE
Two senior officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs have pleaded the Fifth Amendment in front of a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing on relocation bonus corruption.
Philadelphia and Wilmington VA regional offices director Diana Rubens and St. Paul VA regional office director Kimberly Graves pleaded the Fifth and refused to answer any of the numerous questions put forward by HVAC chairman GOP Rep. Jeff Miller.
“Sir, I’ve been advised by counsel not to answer that question to protect my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” Rubens repeated multiple times.
The five employees from the VA involved in the incident appeared Monday evening before HVAC under subpoena. The subpoena to appear — the first ever issued in the committee’s history — was deemed necessary because the VA did not allow the witnesses to show up to the first hearing on the subject.
MORE
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
CALL IN DAY ON THE HILL
NOVEMBER 4, 2015
Call 202-224-3121, give the operator your state and ZIP Code and you will be connected with your elected representatives office. Ask to speak with the Legislative Aide for Veterans Affairs.
Be clear that you are calling as a constituent, asking for their support of H.R. 1769 and S. 901, the Toxic Exposure Research Act of 2015.
Do it for your children and their children.
Transgenerational epigenetic programming via sperm microRNA recapitulates effects of paternal stress
http://www.pnas.org/content/112/44/13699.abstract
Studies examining paternal exposure to diverse environmental stimuli propose that epigenetic marks in germ cells, including small noncoding RNAs such as microRNA (miR), transmit experience-dependent information from parent to offspring. However, these nongenetic mechanisms of transgenerational inheritance are poorly understood, specifically how these germ-cell marks may act postfertilization to enact long-term changes in offspring behavior or physiology. In this study, through zygote microinjection of nine specific sperm miRs previously identified in our paternal stress mouse model, we demonstrate that sperm miRs function to reduce maternal mRNA stores in early zygotes, ultimately reprogramming gene expression in the offspring hypothalamus and recapitulating the offspring stress dysregulation phenotype.
MORE
Studies examining paternal exposure to diverse environmental stimuli propose that epigenetic marks in germ cells, including small noncoding RNAs such as microRNA (miR), transmit experience-dependent information from parent to offspring. However, these nongenetic mechanisms of transgenerational inheritance are poorly understood, specifically how these germ-cell marks may act postfertilization to enact long-term changes in offspring behavior or physiology. In this study, through zygote microinjection of nine specific sperm miRs previously identified in our paternal stress mouse model, we demonstrate that sperm miRs function to reduce maternal mRNA stores in early zygotes, ultimately reprogramming gene expression in the offspring hypothalamus and recapitulating the offspring stress dysregulation phenotype.
MORE
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