Abstract
Veterans who believed that Agent Orange was responsible for their diseases went to the Veterans Administration (VA) asking for care and compensation. In responding, the VA went by the book. Since there was no listing in the book for “Agent Orange diseases, ” the VA offered the veterans the same medical care available to other veterans, no more and no less, and refused compensation, saying that there was no link between exposures to Agent Orange and disease. Rebuffed by the VA, the veterans did exactly what other citizens do with complaints about executive branch agencies—they took them to Congress.
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References
Wilcox, F. A. Waiting for an Army to Die (Random House: New York, 1983). Also see Chapter 3.
Office of Technology Assessment, United States Congress. Technologies for Determining Cancer Risks from the Environment (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1981). Reprinted as Cancer Risk: Assessing and Reducing the Dangers in Our Society (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1982). This report describes and discusses much of the available data about cancer in the United States. It also provides a reasonably complete bibliography for cancer statistics through 1980.
Wilcox, 1983. 1 p. 24.
The annual incidence of testicular cancer among men 20 through 24, 25 through 29, and 30 through 34 is 6.4, 9.1, and 8.1 cases per 100, 000, respectively (Young, J. L., C. L. Percy, A. J. Asire, et al. Cancer incidence and mortality in the United States, 1973–1977. National Cancer Institute Monograph No. 57. National Cancer Institute: Bethesda, Maryland, 1981. pp. 74–75). The exact age distribution of the men who served in Vietnam is not known, but since the average age of the serviceman there was 19.2 years, 2, 000, 000 is probably an underestimate of how many were in Vietnam before or during their 20th year. Assuming the number was 2, 000, 000, we can estimate the number of expected testicular cancers in those Vietnam veterans: As 2, 000, 000 men age from 20 to 24, we would expect 6.4 cases per 100, 000 men per year and since there are 20 times that number of men, there would be 128 cases per year. The annual rate is multiplied by 5 years to produce a total of 640 cases in the five-year span between 20 and 24. The comparable calculation for the 25- to 29- and for the 30- to 34-year-old groups yields answers of 910 and 810. Adding these numbers, we arrive at a total of 2360 expected cases of testicular cancer in veterans who served in Vietnam before their 20th birthday. To this total we would have to add smaller numbers that would be expected in the population of men who were older than 20 when they served there.
USAF School of Aerospace Medicine. Project Ranch Hand II: An Epidemiologic Investigation of Health Effects in Air Force Personnel Following Exposure to Herbicides. Baseline Mortality Study Results (Brooks Air Force Base, Texas: United States Air Force, 30 June 1983).
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Ibid.
Commonwealth Institute of Health, University of Sydney. Australian Veterans Health Studies. The Mortality Report. Parts I, II, and III (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1984).
See chapter 13.
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Hajdu, S. I. Classification and pathological diagnosis of soft tissue sarcomas. In: Public Health Risks of the Dioxins, ed. W. W. Lowrance (Los Altos, California: William Kaufman, 1984). pp. 173–186.
See Chapter 13.
Ibid.
USAF School of Aerospace Medicine. Project Ranch Hand II: An Epidemiologic Investigation of Health Effects in Air Force Personnel Following Exposure to Herbicides. Baseline Morbidity Study Results (United States Air Force: Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, 24 February 1984).
“The Truth about Agent Orange.”New York Times. Aug. 13, 1984. p. A22.
Interview with Judge Jack Weinstein, Feb. 25, 1985.
Ibid.
“Judge Tentatively Approves Pact on Agent Orange.” New York Times, Sept. 26, 1984. p. B3.
“Agent Orange Payments Plan Limits the Number of Awards.” New York Times, Feb. 28, 1985. p. B1.
United States’ memorandum in opposition to defendants’ motion for summary judgment based on the government contract defense. Filed in “Agent Orange” Product Liability Litigation. 8/31/84.
McCarty, F., President of Vietnam Veterans Agent Orange Victims. Letter to the editor. New York Times. May 7, 1985.
“The Truth about Agent Orange.” New York Times, Aug. 13, 1984. p. A22.
“Orangemail: Why It Got Paid.” New York Times, Mar. 8, 1985. p. A34.
“Agent Orange Settlement?” Washington Post, Mar. 4, 1985. p. A10.
“No Bonanza for Lawyers.” Washington Post, Jan. 15, 1985. p. A10.
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© 1986 Michael Gough
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Gough, M. (1986). What We Know about Agent Orange and Veterans’ Health. In: Dioxin, Agent Orange. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6130-3_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6130-3_4
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