NEWS FROM….

CONGRESSMAN LANE EVANS

RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS

    U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Washington, DC – When Congressman Lane Evans (D-IL) called findings in the Ranch Hand report released two weeks ago by the Air Force on links between exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam and diabetes "very significant," wheels began to turn at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Today Evans, the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, announced that VA Secretary Togo D. West, Jr. has sent a letter to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, asking that the Ranch Hand report be included in IOM’s "expedited review" now being conducted for VA.

"Veterans have long suspected a connection between Agent Orange and diabetes," Evans said. "The Air Force’s Ranch Hand study has found particularly strong evidence to support this association. This could mean a great deal to many Vietnam veterans. I commend Secretary West for taking swift action."

Evans has been one of the most persistent Members of Congress in gaining health care and compensation for Vietnam veterans with problems related to the toxic defoliant. Ranch Hand, a long-term study conducted by the Air Force to examine possible consequences of human exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides containing the contaminant dioxin, was begun in 1982.

"Dr. Joel Michalek, head of the Ranch Hand study, briefed me at the end of March," Evans said. "It has taken a long time, but we have received some very significant findings." It is important for diabetic Vietnam veterans to know that there is already a process in place, created by Congress, which allows the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide for a presumption of service-connection when there is a positive association between illness and exposure to herbicides in Vietnam. Evans said, "this additional evidence from the Ranch Hand Study appears at least as strong as the evidence IOM has previously seen which associated other medical conditions with herbicide exposure."

Last year, VA requested that the IOM conduct an expedited review of scientific literature on diabetes. This review was scheduled to be completed in May, but the VA letter to IOM, written by Dr. Frances M. Murphy, Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Health Policy and Management, called for a delay.

"We understand that the additional time required for the IOM to review the Ranch Hand Study based upon this request will have an impact on the release date for the fourth Agent Orange Update," Murphy wrote. She noted that VA assumed Update 2000, scheduled for December 2000 publication, "will be delayed by a period of time no greater than the additional time required to complete the combined and expedited review of the Ranch Hand Study."

Evans had stated two weeks ago that the Ranch Hand report should be considered in the upcoming IOM determination. A conclusion that evidence of an association between Agent Orange and diabetes is either "sufficient" or "limited/suggested" in nature would require VA to decide whether to compensate diabetic Vietnam veterans on a presumptive basis. Congressionally-mandated studies conducted by IOM have confirmed associations between exposure to herbicides and several diseases. Evans, an original sponsor of the legislation creating these studies, notes that the dangers related to Agent Orange led the Air Force to stop spraying in 1971, after studies linked the defoliant to birth defects in lab animals.

Evans served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam era, and has led the struggle for health care and compensation of Vietnam veterans affected by Agent Orange. Due to Evans’ persistent pressure, Congress enacted the Agent Orange Act of 1991, which gave the Department of Veterans Affairs authority to provide service-connected disability compensation to veterans based on the results of research.

Last year, Evans asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to look into the usefulness of the Ranch Hand study. Ranch Hand is the source of early and ongoing research into the connection between veterans' health and exposure to dioxin and other herbicides found in the Agent Orange defoliant. Some 18 million gallons of Agent Orange were sprayed in Vietnam beginning in 1962 to destroy jungle hiding places and enemy crops.

Evans noted other important results of his GAO report. GAO reported the Air Force had not produced reports and publications on Ranch Hand study findings in a timely manner. Most results were not shared with veterans until seven years after the study began. After a great deal of prodding by Congressman Evans and veterans, the Air Force has begun to routinely publish reports and information as required by its scientific protocol. Dr. Michalek told Evans the SAIC consulting organization has been contracted to release all of Ranch Hand’s reports and data on CD-ROM beginning this month.

• Air Force scientists have not been communicating some of the inherent limitations of epidemiological studies like Ranch Hand. GAO said the Ranch Hand study cannot be used to "rule out" connections between Agent Orange exposure and veterans’ health problems. Dr. Michalek took care to address that problem in the recent report, and commented that despite its small group, "the study has good statistical power for diabetes," because the dose response between dioxin and diabetes is so clear.

• "The Ranch Hand study has provided useful information, such as providing a basis for compensating veterans’ children with spina bifida born after the war," Evans said. "It may now provide a foundation for compensating veterans with diabetes."

Evans noted agreement from Dr. Michalek on the importance of further dioxin research being conducted in Vietnam. "I have contended for years," Evans said, "that Vietnam is a laboratory for studying the effects of Agent Orange. The United States sprayed areas in the south heavily, but had no reason to spray the north. We need to pursue work that has been done in Vietnam."

Ranch Hand has required a massive commitment of resources, Evans noted. "First and foremost are the invaluable contributions made by scores of Vietnam veterans who have participated in Ranch Hand. Not least of this was giving the study participants five thorough physical examinations. They have donated countless hours to participate in clinical evaluations and medical follow up. In addition, America’s taxpayers have literally invested $140 million dollars in the Ranch Hand study. Now we have learned something important that will help America’s veterans, as well as other people whose lives have been affected by dioxin. I commend VA and look forward to seeing the next IOM report as soon as possible."

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