Appendix A
Information Gathering
LITERATURE SEARCHES
The primary charge to this committee was to analyze the scientific and medical literature published on the health effects of herbicides used in Vietnam. Appendix A of the 1994 report contains a complete description of the methods used to perform literature searches, including a discussion of databases and keywords. Because this report focuses on reviewing literature published since the completion of Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 1996, databases were searched for articles published between 1995 and 1997. Indexing and critiquing of all other epidemiologic studies was performed by the committee with the support of Institute of Medicine staff.
ORAL AND WRITTEN TESTIMONY PRESENTED TO THE COMMITTEE
Public meetings were held on June 19, 1997, in Washington, D.C., and on October 20, 1997, in Irvine, California, to solicit scientific information on the health effects of exposure to dioxin and other chemical compounds in the herbicides used in Vietnam during the Vietnam era. In order to reach a broad range of interested individuals, notices of the meeting were sent to members of veterans' organizations, Congress, government agencies, academic institutions, environmental groups, chemical companies, the pulp and paper industry, medical research associations, and other groups, as well as to those who attended the previous committees' public meetings in September 1992 and April 1995. At the 1997
public meetings, which were attended by approximately 50 people, 17 individuals presented oral testimony. Written testimony was also received and was accorded the same weight as the oral testimony.
Oral Testimony Presented at the Public Meetings
Gerald Bender, Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, St. Paul
Turner Camp, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Washington, DC
George Clark, Xenobiotic Detection Systems, Durham, NC
Le Cao Dai, Hanoi University Medical School, Hanoi, Vietnam
Michael Eckstein, Vietnam Veterans of America, Stanhope, NJ; also representing the New Jersey Agent Orange Commission
Julio Gonzales, Vietnam Veterans of America, Chicago
Thomas Joyce, Vietnam Veterans of America, Friedens, PA
Jenny LeFevre, Shady Side, MD
Betty Mekdeci, Association of Birth Defect Children, Orlando, FL
Charles Outlaw, Bloomfield, CT
Arnold Schecter, State University of New York at Binghamton
Linda Schwartz, Pawcatuck, CT
Garold Schwartzenberger, Silverado, CA
John Patrick Sherlock, Levittown, PA
Michael Sovick, The Oklahoma Agent Orange Foundation, Norman; also presented on behalf of the Desert Storm Justice Foundation, Oklahoma City
Charles Stone, Stone and Associates, Silver Spring, MD
Kelli Willard West, Vietnam Veterans of America, Washington, DC
Written Testimony Presented To the Committee
Turner Camp, Veterans of Foreign Wars Medical Consultant, Washington, DC
Topic: Strengths and weaknesses of Ranch Hands studies, particularly as they relate to diabetes and spina bifida.
Richard Clapp, Boston University, Boston, MA
Topic: Provided the committee with a document for its review.
William Dean, Vietnam Veteran, Apple Valley, MN
Topic: Personal account of health problems, including multiple bilateral fibromatosis tumors (MBF), which he believes to be related to his exposure to Agent Orange. Mr. Dean also provided the results of his research on exposures that may be related to MBF and requested that the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) compensate Vietnam veterans for benign soft-tissue tumors, including Dupuytrens contractures.
Patrick Dockery, Baltimore, MD
Topic: Research regarding the health effects of exposure to trace contaminants of the herbicides used in Vietnam and the synergistic impact of multiple exposures.
Albert Donnay, Baltimore, MD
Topic: Evidence of relationship between Agent Orange or dioxin exposure and porphyrin disorders, specifically porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT).
Pedro Gamboa, Puerto Real, Puerto Rico
Topic: Provided the committee with a document for its review.
Julio Gonzales, Vietnam Veterans of America, Chicago, IL
Topic: Provided the committee with documents for its review.
Rockne Harmon, Vietnam Veteran, Alameda, CA
Topic: Personal account of the health problems of his child, which he believes to be related to exposure to Agent Orange. Mr. Harmon is also requesting that the committee more closely examine the issue of health effects in the children of Vietnam veterans.
Harold Jackson, Vietnam Veteran, Houston, TX
Topic: Personal account of health problems, including peripheral neuropathy and autoimmune disease, that he believes to be related to Agent Orange exposure.
Ross Jones, Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX
Topic: Provided the committee with a document for its review.
George Losoncy, Vietnam Veteran, Temple, PA
Topic: Personal account of health problems, including alopecia, which he feels are related to exposure to Agent Orange. Mr. Losoncy is also requesting that the committee look closely at the relationship between exposure to Agent Orange and autoimmune disease and hair loss.
John Martignetti, Vietnam Veteran, Bethlehem, NH
Topic: Personal account of health problems, including chloracne and multiple sclerosis, which he believes to be related to Agent Orange exposure.
Betty Mekdeci, Association of Birth Defect Children, Orlando, FL
Topic: Results of research into incidence rates of conditions in children of Vietnam veterans compared to children of non-veterans.
Gerald Pierce, Vietnam Veteran, Sierra Vista, AZ
Topic: Mr. Pierce wrote to express his frustration with the federal government's handling of the Agent Orange issue.
Garold Schwartzenberger, Silverado, CA
Topic: Results of personal research on genetic mutations and Agent Orange.
Claire Simon, Wife of Vietnam Veteran, Newport News, VA
Topic: Personal account of Vietnam veteran Robert Simon's health problems and eventual death from cardiac failure, which she believes are related to exposure to Agent Orange.
Carol Solberg, Wife of Vietnam Veteran, Grand Forks, MN
Topic: Personal account of her husband's chondrosarcoma and their son's primary immune deficiency, both of which she believes are related to her husband's exposure to Agent Orange. She also provided information on soft-tissue sarcomas.
Hope Tinoco, Wife of Vietnam Veteran, Olathe, KS
Topic: Personal account of Vietnam veteran John Tinoco's health problems, including autoimmune disease and peripheral neuropathy, as well as the health problems of their son, both of which she believes to be related to exposure to Agent Orange.
Kelli Willard West, Vietnam Veterans of America, Washington, DC
Topic: Provided the committee with documents for its review and praised the credibility the committee's work has provided to the DVA's benefits programs.
Shelia Winsett, Friend of Vietnam Veteran, Jasper, AL
Topic: Personal account of Vietnam veteran Gary Jacks' health problems and eventual death from cardiac failure, which she believes to be related to exposure to Agent Orange.
E. R. Zumwalt, Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Arlington, VA
Topic: Provided the committee with several published reports for its review, and called the committee's attention to the Environmental Protection Agency's draft reassessment of dioxin. Admiral Zumwalt also expressed his belief in the importance of beginning research in Vietnam on the effects of Agent Orange.