Can it get any better for Vietnam Vets? Study finds link between Agent Orange, bone cancer precursor.

2015-09-04T09:11:25-04:00

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

Study finds link between Agent Orange, bone cancer precursor

Response by SGT Scott Bell made Sep 4 at 2015 9:14 AM

2015-09-04T09:14:04-04:00

I Hope so

Response by SGT Ben Keen made Sep 4 at 2015 9:14 AM

2015-09-04T09:14:40-04:00

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.

Response by PO3 Steven Sherrill made Sep 4 at 2015 9:42 AM

2015-09-04T09:42:33-04:00

SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. It is another example of deploying a weapon without fully understanding the lasting effects of that action. I am sure that inhaling the fumes from burning napalm didn't do the Vietnam Vets any favors either.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Sep 4 at 2015 9:46 AM

2015-09-04T09:46:11-04:00

Arrggghhh, Sure this is neat, new, cool, we'll use it. Years and Years later guess who gets to pay the piper, Not them. Veterans that had use their neat new stuff.

Response by Sgt David G Duchesneau made Sep 4 at 2015 10:27 AM

2015-09-04T10:27:12-04:00

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!

Response by LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow made Sep 4 at 2015 10:53 AM

2015-09-04T10:53:30-04:00

Not at all surprising, given all the other cancers that Dioxins, the main chemical in AO and other Agent Color defoliants, causes...

Response by MAJ Jim Woods made Sep 4 at 2015 11:44 AM

2015-09-04T11:44:15-04:00

I was in II Corps from 67-70 as an Infantryman. I have tried twice to get Agent Orange added but get "NO JOY". They have me at 40% (for wounds and PTSD) and I guess that's where I'll stay till I go to the RP in the sky... I no longer dwell on it but instead "Embrace The Suck"!

Response by LTC John Wilson made Sep 10 at 2015 2:34 PM

2015-09-10T14:34:12-04:00

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.

Response by SSgt Hal Longworth made Sep 10 at 2015 9:45 PM

2015-09-10T21:45:26-04:00

AGENT ORANGE. Wow, what a hot topic and rightfully so; still going strong and still killing us.

First of all, I read most all the comments. I would like to make one observation as far as the VA is concerned. There are basically two divisions of this bureaucratic cluster f**k. The medical side (the caregivers) and the administrative side. The real problem, as I see it, is the administrative side. It's a huge, top heavy bureaucracy that feeds itself. They are the ones that determine who gets treatment, who gets claims approved and who does not. There are people making decisions on our medical claims that have no medical training or knowledge! I know one Vietnam Veteran whose agent orange related claim was denied because there was no "proof" that he served in Vietnam. The asshole that denied the claim apparently didn't know the meaning of VSN (Vietnam Service Medal) on his DD-214! (To my knowledge, the only way that one could earn that medal is by serving in Vietnam.)

A few years ago, 60 Minutes did a segment on the VA titled, "Delay, Deny, Hope You Die." That is the Admin side of the VA. They want to discourage us; they want us to go away and not get the care and compensation that we deserve. Do they hope we die?

I am a former employee of the VA. I worked the Medical side; I worked in psyc. I loved my patients and what I did. I battled every day to do the job they hired me to do. It was WTF? Really? Again, the Admin. Anyway, I just want everyone to know that there are many excellent caregivers in the VA. It's not their fault that you are forgotten on some list or that you are denied treatment. Please don't blame the caregivers; they are bound by those assholes behind desks making "rules."

One possible solution is to dissolve as much of the bureaucracy as possible. One possibility is to contract the claims processing out to a private company.

Response by SSgt Ray Stone made Feb 11 at 2018 5:00 PM

2018-02-11T17:00:34-05:00

An uncle of mines died a few years ago from the affect of Agent Orange and another uncle that's currently fighting it. Why is the gov't so stubborn

Response by CPT Wayne Price made Jan 27 at 2020 2:46 AM

2020-01-27T02:46:26-05:00

All connected illnesses deserve care.

Response by SSG Gordon Holmes made Aug 11 at 2025 2:38 PM

2025-08-11T14:38:08-04:00

I have MGUS, testing because of body wide neuropathy let to the blood test. One doctor stated he thought I had multiple myeloma but later stated I didn't. Scared the heck out of me. Still no prognosis on what's causing my condition. I was exposed at both Ft. Sherman and Ft. Ord and probably other bases the Army sprayed with Agent Orange.

Response by SGT Ruben Lozada made Aug 11 at 2025 5:13 PM

2025-08-11T17:13:42-04:00

Good afternoon SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S.. Excellent post. Thanks for sharing this Specialist. :->

Response by LTC Matthew Schlosser made Aug 11 at 2025 10:18 PM

2025-08-11T22:18:29-04:00

My old man dodged the draft...by volunteering. Then his flight over the Pacific was diverted around a large storm, causing it to arrive in Japan after the last connecting flight to Vietnam, so they put him on a flight to Korea. He was chemical, so you bet your ass he would have been mixing up large batches of agent orange if he'd been in Vietnam!

Response by SSgt Richard Kensinger made Nov 2 at 2025 10:56 AM

2025-11-02T10:56:14-05:00

AO is lethal and adverse impacts all core organ systems. I met a scientist who helped develop AO and she recently died of cancer
rich