Question
A report was sent to capital hill on 28 March 2000 signed by the Air Force Surgeon General, Lt. Gen. Paul K. Carlton Jr. stating "the strongest evidence to date has been obtained linking Agent Orange with development of adult onset diabetes."
The study of 1000 Air Force Veterans who participated in the aerial spraying known as "Ranch Hand" found there were 47 percent more diabetes cases amongst those who had exposure to the herbicide.
The Air Force study began in 1982, comparing the health records of veterans involved in Ranch Hand with the records of servicemen the same age, race, and military occupation who had no contact with agent orange. Initial findings of a study released in 1992 suggested, but did not confirm, a link between exposure and development of diabetes.
[This message has been edited by newyorktwo (edited March 30, 2000).]
Answer
I also read this in the local paper.
It doesn't surprise me at all. What does surprise me is that it is just coming to light NOW!
Way back in the beginning of my nursing career, I cared for a fellow who was about 7 years my senior. He was about 32-35. He LOOKED 70! It seems that his job in the military was working in an area where unused barrels of Agent Orange were stored. According to him those barrels were bulging, leaking, damaged, etc. But he was assured by his higher ups that the leakage posed no problems to human life. HAH!
This man had more multi-system illnesses going on than anything I had seen before or since. He was barely hanging on to life and really didn't care to continue trying any longer.
At that time, the military was just beginning to admit that Agent Orange might be causing some long term health concerns for those exposed. DUH!
It amazes the hell out of me that the government can have an agency like the Food and Drug Administration that requires extensive and expensive testing and regulation of anything consumed by the general populace, but the military can totally bypass this option because they use their personnel as guinea pigs!
In the military's mind, when you sign up, you become federal property and they have the right to do anything with your body they want to. And BOY do they!
Most veterans do not have a clue as to what they have been exposed to in the course of their military career. And years down the road, when they develop health problems, the military denies any wrongdoing until there are so many related cases being reported that they can no longer sweep it under the rug. As in the case of Agent Orange and more recently the Desert Storm vets and their health problems.
The fact that Diabetes and it's link with Agent Orange is just now coming to light surprises me. Five bucks says they have known it for a long time and just let it out now because some other entity was about to do it for them.
This is one sore spot for me.
I did some time working at a VA hospital in Baltimore as an agency nurse (Temporary help).
The condition of that facility, the ancient equipment, the treatment of the patients, was appaling! Most treatment and procedures were executed by medical students (not interns, not residents, but 1st and 2nd year students, who were being supervised by the interns and residents!
It wasn't long before I realized that I couldn't change the system (Let me tell you I tried, though). I was dealing with the government for pete's sake!
So I started working within it. When I saw an unsupervised med student trying to start an IV (For the very first time!) I stepped in and did the teaching. Then I went and found the resident or intern who had allowed this and demanded they be this students next practice dummy. They would get very nervous, and try to refuse or divert me, but I would do it in front of physicians. They had no choice. And when that needle went in flawlessly, I smiled and said, "Aren't you glad someone took the time to TEACH him/her?"
Trust me when I tell you that when I was on duty, there was very little unsupervised anything going on there!
My point in all of this is just to bring to light that these veterans were still being treated as gov't. property and used as guinea pigs. And if a link from a medical condition is tracked back to time served in the military and is determined to be the result of a military inflicted 'whatever' it will be buried for as long as possible.
C'mon NY2, you and I both know that this link between Diabetes and Agent Orange did NOT take this long to come to light.
Now, let me get down off this soap box before I get a nosebleed from the altitude.
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Keeping you safe, healthy, and on the road.
Nurse Red
Visit us at www.Truck.net/abmsVisit us at
Answer
Well said, nurse red. I can remember being drenched in the stuff. We would use it to spray on minefields to keep the weeds down. The battalion chemical officer used to tell us how harmless this stuff was and every time a new bunch of troops came in he would pour a bit of agent orange into some fruit juice and drink it down! I wonder where he is now.