IOM Report Provides Impetus for Veterans' Health Treatments

October 14, 2009 -- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced this week that it will add Parkinson's disease, ischemic heart disease, and hairy-cell leukemia to its list of illnesses presumed to be service-connected, allowing veterans to receive disability compensation and health care. The VA's decision was reportedly influenced by the IOM's findings.

In late July, the Institute of Medicine released Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2008, part of a series of biennial reports on the topic. The report found limited suggestive evidence that veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War have an increased risk of developing ischemic heart disease and Parkinson's disease. The report also found sufficient evidence to relate herbicide exposure to hairy cell leukemia.

Agent Orange and other herbicides were widely used during the Vietnam War to defoliate the jungle and reveal enemy camps. Several of these defoliants were contaminated by a form of dioxin -- a known cancer-causing agent. The VA estimates that between January 1965 and April 1970, 2.6 million military personnel who served in Vietnam were potentially exposed to Agent Orange.

• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Agent Orange Web page