Wider Orange study urged

Press, 19 May 1981, Page 9

Wider Orange study urged

NZPA-Reuter Washington A panel of Government scientists has recommended a broader study of whether Agent Orange or anything else in Vietnam’s environment harmed American soldiers’ health. The United States Government wanted to identify which military units entered areas that were doused by the herbicide. But the scientists, in a report to the White House, said Defence Department records were so incomplete that experts had been unable to establish the amount of exposure by any particular group of soldiers.

“The panel is of the opinion that design of a scientifically valid herbicide Orange study of ground troops may not be possible,” said the panel chairman, John Moore. He suggested that the broader study look at the health effects of .all the herbicides, insecticides, drugs and poisonous fungi that soldiers may have encountered | in Vietnam. | “Veterans still want ■ answers on whether Agent Orange caused illnesses,” said Lewis Milford, director of the National Veterans Law Centre. Agent Orange contains the

contaminant dioxin, one of the most deadly poisons in existence. Twelve million gallons of the herbicide were used in Vietnam to destroy crops and reveal Communist troops’ jungle hiding places. Thousands of returned veterans have complained of disabling and life-threatening illnesses which they attribute to exposure to Agent Orange. Some 45,000 veterans have taken Agent Orange examinations. The Veterans Administration says it has no evidence pointing to the defoliant as the cause of any ailment suffered by Vietnam veterans. ■