Health Care Happenings

The New York Times reported today that under rules to be proposed this week the Department of Veterans Affairs plans to add Parkinson’s disease, ischemic heart disease and hairy-cell leukemia to the growing list of illnesses presumed to have been caused by Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant used widely in Vietnam.

These illnesses will be added to the list of more than a dozen conditions the VA already recognizes as being presumptively linked to Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam, including Hodgkin’s disease, prostate cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

According to the Times article, the most common of the three illnesses, ischemic heart disease, restricts blood flow to the heart, causing irregular heartbeats and deterioration of the heart muscle.

Parkinson’s disease is associated with a loss of cells that secrete dopamine, a brain chemical essential for normal movement. Patients develop tremors, rigid posture, impaired balance and an inability to initiate movement.

Hairy-cell leukemia, a rarer condition, is a slow-growing cancer in which the bone marrow produces too many infection-fighting cells, lymphocytes, that crowd out healthy white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets.

The Institute of Medicine released a report in July that found “limited or suggestive evidence” of an association between exposure to herbicides and an increased chance of Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease in Vietnam veterans. The report also found “sufficient evidence,” a stronger category, of an association between herbicides and hairy-cell leukemia.

The report, written by a 14-member panel appointed by the institute, was based on a review of scientific literature. The institute is required by Congress to monitor the health effects of herbicides used in Vietnam and produce updates every two years.

Some doctors and researchers say the expansion of Agent Orange benefits has been based on weak or inconclusive science, given the lack of studies on Vietnam veterans. Those skeptics argue that diseases like prostate cancer or Type-2 diabetes are just as likely the result of aging, lifestyle or genetic predisposition as exposure to Agent Orange.