Fw: Researchers Fear Loss of Agent Orange Health Data

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From: " ilena rose " <ilena@...>

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Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 12:37 PM

Subject: Researchers Fear Loss of Agent Orange Health Data

~~~ thanks Margo. ~~~

http://neurology.medscape.com/reuters/prof/2001/04/04.06/20010405prof002.htm

l

Researchers Fear Loss of Agent Orange Health Data

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WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) Apr 05 - The military's 23-year study of the

health effects of the herbicide Agent Orange is soon to end, leaving

researchers and some key members of Congress worried that huge volumes of

valuable data and samples from the study will be destroyed.

Investigators in charge of the $160 million Ranch Hand Study, named for

the Vietnam-era Air Force unit whose members complained of illnesses after

handling Agent Orange, say that an invaluable cache of medical research

could be lost when the study officially closes in 2006. Federal funding is

due to be cut off then, rendering storage of biologic samples and records

from the study's 2300 participants impossible.

" Unless we get direction otherwise, the whole thing will be destroyed in

2006, " said Dr. E. Michalek, an Air Force toxicologist who heads the

Ranch Hand Study.

Researchers have compiled some 8 million documents, in addition to blood

and tissue samples, medical records, and background information on

military personnel who were exposed to Agent Orange in the field, Dr.

Michalek said in an interview. " We are sitting on a mountain of data that

will be lost. "

Data from the study helped to establish a link between exposure to Agent

Orange in Asia and an increased risk of spina bifida in children of those

personnel. As a result, the government several years ago agreed to

compensate Vietnam veterans who had children with the birth defect.

The study also generated much of the information leading to the

government's decision, soon to be made official, to pay compensation to

many veterans who might have developed diabetes because of exposure to

Agent Orange and other compounds containing dioxin.

But any future claims by veterans about illnesses possibly connected to

dioxin & $151; including cognitive deficits and heart disease ã could go

unanswered if the Ranch Hand Study's scientific assets are discarded, Dr.

Michalek said. " It took 20 years of careful work to get to the point where

we could answer those questions quickly " by running tests on blood samples

or checking study records, he noted.

Democrats on the House Veteran's Affairs Committee are concerned about how

to coordinate ongoing storage of study samples and records and about how

to obtain appropriate consent from study participants to store their blood

and tissue for possible later use, according to Ellen McCarthy, the

Democratic staff director on the committee's benefits panel.

Committee ranking member Rep. Lane (D-Ill.) " has the position that

this data accumulation should not be just destroyed. This is not something

you can wait until the last minute on, " she said.

Ranch Hand investigators are still looking at dioxin's possible role in

causing neurologic deficits and cardiovascular problems in Vietnam

veterans. Data collection in the study is scheduled to end in 2002.