Air Force Aircraft Returned from Vietnam Identified as Postwar Source of
Agent Orange Contamination
New evidence published in Environmental Research shows personnel exposed to meaningful levels of Dioxin, contrary to current position held by Air Force and VA
· BY JOSH HICKS
·
·
February 26 at 6:00 am
The
C-123 transport planes that sprayed Agent Orange during the Vietnam War may
have sickened service members who worked with the aircraft after the conflict,
according to a new study.
The report,
published last week in the scientific journal “Environmental Research,”
supports claims that exposure to the toxic defoliant after the war is
greater than previously believed.
TCDD-contaminated C-123 Aircraft, Tucson AZ |
Columbia
University health-policy professor Jeanne Mager Stellman, who authored the
study, said the findings conflict with U.S. Air Force and Department of
Veterans Affairs conclusions and policies.
“Aircraft
occupants would have been exposed to airborne dioxin-contaminated dust as well
as come into direct skin contact, and our models show that the level of
exposure is likely to have exceeded several available exposure guidelines,”
Stellman said.
The
VA has said that any postwar contamination on C-123s was not high enough to be
linked to disease. But some lawmakers think the agency may be wrong.
Sen.
Richard Burr (N.C.), the top Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs
Committee, and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) have asked the VA’s inspector general
to review whether the department is inappropriately denying disability benefits
to veterans who claim they were sickened by postwar Agent Orange contamination.
“This is further evidence VA is out of step
with the prevailing science — the facts speak for themselves,” Burr said of the
report in a statement on Monday.
The VA said it will continue to review new scientific
information on the issue as it becomes available and that it has
asked the Institute of Medicine to study possible health complications among
post-Vietnam C-123 crews.
“VA
does not presume by regulation that these veterans were exposed to Agent
Orange,” the agency said in a statement. “VA does presume exposure to Agent Orange
for veterans who served in Vietnam because of the lack of exposure information
that is available. We encourage anyone who believes they were exposed to
Agent Orange to file a disability compensation claim or visit a VA health care
facility.”
C-123s
sprayed Agent Orange in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971 as part of Operation Ranch
Hand, and about 1,500 Air National Guard and Reserve crew members flew the
planes on cargo missions until 1982.
The
study used U.S. Army algorithms and data from surface-wipe samples from
aircraft used in Operation Ranch Hand to estimate “dioxin body burden,”
comparing the results with available guidelines and standards.
“These
models suggest that the potential for dioxin exposure to personnel working in
the aircraft post-Vietnam is greater than previously believed and that
inhalation, ingestion, and skin absorbtion were likely to have occurred during
during post-Vietnam use of the aircraft by aircrew and maintenance staff,” a
summary of the report said.
Merkley
said in a statement on Monday that he hopes the study “prompts the VA to
finally reverse their position and make sure all veterans suffering from Agent
Orange exposure get the treatment and compensation they need and deserve.”
The
VA in July reversed its
denial of benefits for Paul Bailey, a retired Air Force
lieutenant [colonel] and postwar C-123 crew member who is sick with cancer. Advocates of
the decision have described the move as the first of its kind for veterans
seeking compensation for post-Vietnam exposure to the defoliant.
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