Study Reveals Monsanto's Agent Orange use in Vietnam was 'understated'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2954729.stm
Wednesday, 16 April, 2003, 21:22 GMT 22:22 UK

Agent Orange use 'understated'

By Richard Black
BBC Science correspondent

The United States military used much more Agent Orange and other
defoliant spray during the Vietnam war than previously thought,
scientists say.

Many Vietnamese have been affected by Agent Orange

A new study of US military records also found that the amount of
cancer-causing dioxin chemicals in the spray has been seriously
underestimated.

The report, commissioned by the US Government, is the culmination of a
five-year project by environmental health experts at New York's Columbia
University.

Between 1961 and 1971, the US military sprayed parts of southern Vietnam
with defoliant chemicals - such as Agent Orange - with the aim of
allowing the Americans and their South Vietnamese allies to spot
Vietcong forces moving in the forests.

The Columbia team painstakingly examined operational records of
individual spraying missions in Vietnam, and cross-referenced them with
procurement records showing which kinds of defoliant were used at which
times.

"We think there was at least twice as much dioxin as had been thought
before - and that number is a conservative estimate" - Professor Jeanne
Stellman

They conclude that 100 million litres of Agent Orange were used - rather
than 70m litres as has been estimated previously.

But according to project leader Professor Jeanne Stellman, the most
significant finding concerns dioxins - chemicals known to cause cancer.

"We think there was at least twice as much dioxin as had been thought
before - and that number is a conservative estimate because it seems
very likely that much of the earlier Agent Orange was much more heavily
contaminated with dioxin," Professor Stellman said.

'Millions' affected

Her team has published their work in the scientific journal Nature.

But it also forms part of a report which the US Department of Veterans
Affairs commissioned from the National Academy of Sciences.

It will almost certainly increase pressure within the United States for
a comprehensive medical assessment of veterans exposed to Agent Orange,
but also pressure from within Vietnam for assistance and compensation.

The Columbia team concludes that "millions of Vietnamese were likely to
have been sprayed upon directly".

Previous research has found that some Vietnamese have 200 times the
normal level of dioxin in their bodies.

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