Agent Orange study on Aust. veterans

Press, 2 April 1980, Page 11

Agent Orange study on Aust. veterans

NZPA Sydney A study* into the effects of herbicides and other chemicals, including Agent Orange, will be made on Vietnam war veterans in Australia. It will entail interviews with 41,000 veterans and their families and 20,000 other servicemen and cost the Australian Government more than $2 million. - The study, which has been announced by the Veterans’ Affairs Minister (Mr Evan Andermimn) comes after weeks of mounting pressure and concern in .Australia about the possible effects of herbicides on ' servicemen during the Vietnam War. It will be done by the Commonwealth Institute of Health at Sydney University and is expected to take two years. Researchers will also gather information on an estimated 100,000 children to determine incidences of genetic defects.

Three groups of servicemen will be studied:— — Those who served in Vietnam and were exposed to herbicides and other chemicals of significance; — Those who were in Vietnam but were not judged to be exposed-to herbicides but perhaps exposed to other environmental hazards; and — A matched but comparable group of Australian veterans who did not go to Vietnam and have not been exposed to the herbicides and other chemicals used there. ''' Mr Andermann told Parliament that the groups would be compared to see whether there were differences in defined illnesses in the veterans; differences in the incidence of certain genetic defects in their offspring compared with the control group; and differences in the incidence of birth defects in their offspring and

the incidence of abortion in their wives'. The Australians served in Vietnam from the early 1960 s until the end of 1972, mainly in Ehuoc Tuy province. Alongside them for part of that period were the New Zealand units stationed there. Information from the United States Defence Department has revealed that 203,000 gallons of Agent Orange — a mixture of the herbicides 2,4,5,-T and 2,4-D — were sprayed in the province, and in peak concentrations in late 1967 and early 1968 when New Zealand’s troop commitment was building up to its highest level. But a Veterans’ Affairs Department spokesman said yesterday that the Australian study would not involve the New Zealanders and the institute would not seek information on any health defects suffered by New Zealand veterans or their families.