IOM Identifies Link with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia,
Principi Extends Benefits

On January 23, 2003, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) officially released the fifth comprehensive report in a series entitled Veterans and Agent Orange.

The latest report findings are similar to the earlier documents with one major change. Update 2002 concludes that there is "sufficient evidence of an association" between herbicides used in Vietnam and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi has accepted this assessment, and ordered the development of regulations that would add CLL to the list of illnesses presumptively recognized for service connection among Vietnam veterans. VA will be able to begin paying compensation benefits once the regulations are finalized later this year.

To read this report on the USVI Website, CLICK HERE
To read this report on the VA Website, CLICK HERE (in Word)

Reviewed Data Changes Agent Orange Finding, dated February 27, 2002

WASHINGTON -- An Institute of Medicine review of the scientific data looking at the connection between Vietnam veterans' exposure to Agent Orange and a rare form of childhood leukemia in veterans' offspring has failed to produce evidence supporting a link.

"Right now, the scientific evidence doesn’t support a connection between this disease in the children of Vietnam veterans and Agent Orange exposure," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. "If future studies reach the legal threshold, I will support creating benefits for these children of Vietnam veterans."

Last April, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a report that found "limited / suggestive" evidence of a connection between a parent’s exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War and children who contract acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). The report prompted Principi to call for legislation that would provide federal benefits to children with AML who had a parent who served in Vietnam.

Last year's IOM review relied heavily upon the work of Australian researchers who examined AML among the families of Australians who served in Vietnam. Less than a month after the original IOM report, the Australian researchers discovered errors in their own work and corrected their findings.

Subsequently, Principi asked IOM to reevaluate the medical evidence linking Agent Orange exposure to AML, in light of the revised Australian study. The results of the second IOM review were released today. IOM found there is "inadequate or insufficient evidence to determine if an association exists between exposure to the herbicides used in Vietnam . . . and AML."

Second IOM Report on Agent Orange
(Updated 1996)

Re: acute and subacute transient peripheral neuropathy,
prostate cancer, and conditions deemed as not service connected

Periodically human diseases related to herbicide exposure (i.e. Agent Orange) are added to the list of service-connected conditions covered by Veteran Affairs (VA). Veterans who qualify are then eligible for medical care and compensation under law. This is largely due to past and present studies of scientific literature produced worldwide, conducted by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) under contract with the VA. The following comes from the Agent Orange Review, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1997 Nov:

Second IOM Report (Update 1996):

After careful review of the IOM report, Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 1996, releaed March 14, 1996, Secretary Brown concluded that acute and subacute transient peripheral neuropathy (if manifested within one year of exposure to an herbicide in Vietnam and resolved within two years of onset) and prostate cancer should be added to the list of conditions presumed to be service connected based on exposure to herbicides which contained dioxin.

He also concluded that an appropriate legislation remedy should be enacted on behalf of Vietnam veterans' children who have spinal bifida. On May 28, 1996, President Clinton and Secretary Brown announced these decisions at the White House.

The regulations regarding acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy and prostate cancer were published in the Federal Register as proposed rules in August 8, 1996 and in final in November 7, 1996.

On August 8, 1996, VA published a notice in the Federal Register that Secretary Brown determiend that a presumption of service connection based on exposure to herbicides used in Vietnam is not warranted for the following conditions: hepatobiliary cancers, nasal/nasopharyngeal cancer, bone cancer, female reproductive cancers, breast cancer, renal cancer, testicular cancer, leukemia, abnormal sperm parameters and infertility, cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders, motor/coordination dysfunction, chronic peripheral nervous system disorders, metabolic and digestive disorders, immune system disorders, circulatory disorders, respiratory disorders (other than certain respiratory cancers), skin cancer, gastrointestinal tumors, bladder cancer, brain tumors, and any other condition for which the Secretary has not specifically determined a presumption of service connection is warranted.

As noted above, on July 25, 1996, Secretary Brown sent draft legislation to Congress that would provide for health care, vocational training, and a monthly allowance (similar to disability compensation) for Vietnam veterans' children who have spinal bifida. The legislation was introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives on July 31, 1996. In September 1996, Congress approved a similar version of the legislation with an effective date of October 1, 1997, as part of the VA Fiscal Year 1997 appropriations bill. It became Public Law 104-204 on September 26, 1996, when it was signed by President Clinton.

Source: Agent Orange Review, Vol. 14, No. 1, November 1997