Posted on Sep 4, 2015
Can it get any better for Vietnam Vets? Study finds link between Agent Orange, bone cancer precursor.
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Servicemembers exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War are at higher risk of developing the precursor stage of a bone marrow cancer, according to a study published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology.
The study provides the first scientific evidence for a link between the precursor stage of multiple myeloma — a cancer of white blood plasma cells that accumulate in bone marrow — and veterans exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange, according to the study’s 12 authors, who are associated with medical centers across the U.S. The precursor, called monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, or MGUS, is not in and of itself a problem.
“MGUS is not a cancer,” said Dr. Nikhil Munshi, who specializes in multiple myeloma at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “A very large majority of patients with MGUS remain MGUS all through their lives with no real consequence.”
MGUS virtually always precedes multiple myeloma, but the mechanisms that trigger its onset are not fully understood, said Munshi, who was not involved in the study but wrote an editorial published in the same issue of JAMA Oncology.
Previous studies have linked other insecticides, herbicides and fungicides to higher risks of MGUS and multiple myeloma.
Agent Orange was used during Operation Ranch Hand in Southeast Asia to clear jungle foliage from 1962 to 1971. It was usually sprayed via aircraft. Since then, Agent Orange has been linked to a host of health problems and diseases in many servicemembers.
The Veterans Administration maintains a list of “presumptive diseases” assumed to be related to military service that automatically qualify them for VA benefits. The Institute of Medicine has identified seven cancers with a positive association to Agent Orange, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma — all of which have been accepted by the VA as presumptive diseases.
Multiple myeloma is a VA presumptive disease, but it has been classified as having “limited or suggestive evidence” of a link to Vietnam War veterans’ exposure to herbicides, the authors of the JAMA study wrote.
The study looked at specimens from two groups of Air Force veterans that had been collected and stored in 2002 by the Air Force Health Study. A group of 479 veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange during Operation Ranch Hand were compared with a second group of the same size that had similar duties in Southeast Asia from 1962 to 1971 but were not involved with the herbicide.
The Air Force Health Study had sampled servicemembers in the two groups in 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2002 for exposure to Agent Orange and to 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, or TCDD, which is an unintended contaminant of the herbicide considered the culprit for so many of its adverse effects.
The researchers found that the prevalence of MGUS in Ranch Hand veterans was twice as high as in the comparison group, with 34 of the 479 Ranch Hand veterans having MGUS compared with 15 out of 479 in the control group.
That translated to a 2.4-fold increased risk of MGUS for Ranch Hand veterans over their counterparts when adjusting for factors such as age, race and other physical traits. “That’s an important number,” Munshi said. Researchers also found significantly higher levels of TCDD in the Ranch Hand veterans who had developed MGUS, he said.
Because all cases of multiple myeloma originate from MGUS, the study has provided the first scientific evidence for a direct link between Agent Orange and multiple myeloma, he said.
http://www.stripes.com/news/study-finds-link-between-agent-orange-bone-cancer-precursor-1.366150
The study provides the first scientific evidence for a link between the precursor stage of multiple myeloma — a cancer of white blood plasma cells that accumulate in bone marrow — and veterans exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange, according to the study’s 12 authors, who are associated with medical centers across the U.S. The precursor, called monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, or MGUS, is not in and of itself a problem.
“MGUS is not a cancer,” said Dr. Nikhil Munshi, who specializes in multiple myeloma at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “A very large majority of patients with MGUS remain MGUS all through their lives with no real consequence.”
MGUS virtually always precedes multiple myeloma, but the mechanisms that trigger its onset are not fully understood, said Munshi, who was not involved in the study but wrote an editorial published in the same issue of JAMA Oncology.
Previous studies have linked other insecticides, herbicides and fungicides to higher risks of MGUS and multiple myeloma.
Agent Orange was used during Operation Ranch Hand in Southeast Asia to clear jungle foliage from 1962 to 1971. It was usually sprayed via aircraft. Since then, Agent Orange has been linked to a host of health problems and diseases in many servicemembers.
The Veterans Administration maintains a list of “presumptive diseases” assumed to be related to military service that automatically qualify them for VA benefits. The Institute of Medicine has identified seven cancers with a positive association to Agent Orange, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma — all of which have been accepted by the VA as presumptive diseases.
Multiple myeloma is a VA presumptive disease, but it has been classified as having “limited or suggestive evidence” of a link to Vietnam War veterans’ exposure to herbicides, the authors of the JAMA study wrote.
The study looked at specimens from two groups of Air Force veterans that had been collected and stored in 2002 by the Air Force Health Study. A group of 479 veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange during Operation Ranch Hand were compared with a second group of the same size that had similar duties in Southeast Asia from 1962 to 1971 but were not involved with the herbicide.
The Air Force Health Study had sampled servicemembers in the two groups in 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2002 for exposure to Agent Orange and to 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, or TCDD, which is an unintended contaminant of the herbicide considered the culprit for so many of its adverse effects.
The researchers found that the prevalence of MGUS in Ranch Hand veterans was twice as high as in the comparison group, with 34 of the 479 Ranch Hand veterans having MGUS compared with 15 out of 479 in the control group.
That translated to a 2.4-fold increased risk of MGUS for Ranch Hand veterans over their counterparts when adjusting for factors such as age, race and other physical traits. “That’s an important number,” Munshi said. Researchers also found significantly higher levels of TCDD in the Ranch Hand veterans who had developed MGUS, he said.
Because all cases of multiple myeloma originate from MGUS, the study has provided the first scientific evidence for a direct link between Agent Orange and multiple myeloma, he said.
http://www.stripes.com/news/study-finds-link-between-agent-orange-bone-cancer-precursor-1.366150
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Vietnam War
Agent Orange
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 11
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What else is new. That fu-king Agent Orange is like the gift that keeps on giving. I was diagnosed with having the effects of Agent Orange and it just keeps coming and drinking the fu-king ground water sure as hell didn't help any. And how about digging fox holes and laying in those bastards? What a freaking mess! Wait and see, more shit will be popping up from spraying that shit! No amount of money can replace good health!
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Sgt David G Duchesneau
The only thing those damn tablets did was make you piss green! What a joke! And they told us that we had nothing to worry about? Right! WTF-Over!
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LCpl John Filiatrault
I have a friend who was on a plane crew and loaded and unloaded the stuff. But when he started having problems tgey denied he was ever over there even tho he has mail postmarked from Vietnam. Those vets are getting a raw deal for doing their job and following orders. Things need to change. They got treated bad enough when they came home.
Semper-Fi brothers and thanx everybody for your service.
Semper-Fi brothers and thanx everybody for your service.
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SGT Patricia Keefe Miyaji
DAVID, PRECISELY MY FEELINGS ON IT, EVERY TIME I GO TO MY RHEUMY, SHE FINDS A LOVELY NEW AILMENT FROM AGENT ORANGE AND I SUFFER FROM MY TIME AT FT. MCCLELLAN, BREAST CANCER IS A BIG ONE FROM THERE, LOL, KUI. WHAT IS NEXT?
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This is why I think its very important that Post 9/11 Veterans learn from our brothers and sisters-in-arms that served in Vietnam and register now for things like the Burn Pit Registry and whatnot. There is a lot of unknowns behind not only Agent Orange but what we burned in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's sad to say but I'm sure we will hear more news like this as those men and women that served in Vietnam develop more and more issues as a result of their service.
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They keep sending many off to war and do some dumb shit and then say "It is okay, it doesn't harm you any." That is their way of saying screw yourself, you are on your own. Unfortunately, many vets have died before the symptoms of Agent Orange were known and many will die because they never received the proper treatment for the effects of Agent Orange. Thank you my fellow brothers and sisters for being the patriots you were back then, when others ran off to Canada or got an exemption to attend their local college taking general physical fitness as a major.
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SGT Patricia Keefe Miyaji
YES, SO TRUE, IT TAKES YEARS TO GET THE HELP WE REQUIRE AND THEN THEY WORK SOOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOOOOWLY THAT YOU SPEND MOST OF YOUR LIFE IN PAIN, OH, WELL, AS THEY SAY, YOU CHOSE TO SERVE, LOL, KUI.
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