A Study of more than 13.000 Vietman veterans who served between 1962 and 1971 found that prostate cancer occurs twice as often in those who were exposed to the toxin Agent Orange compared to those who were not exposed to the herbicide.
Also, exposed individuals developed earlier and more aggresive forms of cancer.
The findings, published in the Sept. 15, 2008 issue of the journal Cancer, are the first to reliably link the herbicide with prostate cancer.
Agent Orangewas one of several defoliants containing dioxin tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD) used in Vietnam. It is estimated that more than 80 million liters of the chemicals were sprayed between 1962 and 1971, contaminating not only ground but U.S. soldiers and Vietnamese citizens. Thirty years after the U.S. military left Vietnam the country still has 150.000 children with birth defects believed to be a result of their parents’ exposure to Agent Orange. In US veterans a dozen diseases, from multiple myeloma to prostate cancer to Type 2 diabetes are acknowledged as AO-induced as well as spina bifida and other defects in their offspring.
©Siegfried Schwarz
