1 15 1 https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/files/original/da311e083120bf0d68f221e9d26a2b1f.pdf c6b3941f1411f9224758dafd2066384d PDF Text Text Item ID Number °1878 Author Corporate Author Report/Article TitlB Statement on Herbicides and Chemicals and Vietnam Veterans Made by The minister for Veterans' Affairs, The Hon. A. E. Adermann, M. P. in the House of Representatives, 31 March 1980. Journal/Book Title Year 000 ° Month/Day Color Number of Images 10 DBSOrlpton NOtBS Includes cover letter from the Australian embassy to Colonel George D. Lathrop, Chief, Epidemiological Division, School of Air Force Medicine, Brooks AFB, Texas. Wednesday, July 18, 2001 Pago 1878 of 1908 �/••*• .-11.. - Of, -'// -.//// ';/> / / • -./(f/rf///'/' !\ />L.UI MAP1.C [IUILD!\'CS F UHZ'-R STRI'I'T PillLLir AC �EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA WASHINGTON. D. C. Sir Nicholas Parkinson May 9, 1980 Colonel George D. Lathrop Chief, Epidemiological Division School of Air Force Medicine Brooks Air Force Base TEXAS 78235 AUS TRALIAN_INVESTIGATION_INTO THE* EFFECTS" OF ""AGENTTORANGE|T I would like to thank you personally, as well as on behalf of the Australian Government, for the assistance which you and your staff so willingly extended to Commissioner Medbury when he visited Washington recently. Commissioner Medbury has now completed his report to the Australian authorities and the Australian Government:, has decided that it will conduct a major study in an attempt to achieve a satisfactory scientific resolution of the questions which have been raised concerning the effects of "agent orange" on servicemen. You may bo interested in the nature and scope of this study and I am attaching a statement, made by our Minister for Veterans' Affairs to Parliament, which sets out those details. Please do not hestitate to let me know if there are further ways in which this Embassy can assist your enquiries. f r ' j , •. - ? /, * �STATEMENT ON HERBICIDES AND CHEMICALS AND VIETNAM VETERANS MADE BY THIS MINISTER FOR VETERANS' AFFAIRS, THE HON. A.E. ADERMANN, M.P. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 31 MARCH 1980 �Mr S p e a k e r , d u r i n g l.ho l a s t few m o n t h s , t h e r e has been ip.:.1! oar> I.;rj c o n c e r n !v M e m b e r s of t h i s House, by the m e d i a and by i n . J i v i r t u a l v'c-ri.orari; 1 . and t h e i r r e p r e s e n t a t i v e o r g a n i s a t i o n s t h a t con I-oc;. \ / j t h h e r b i c i d e s and other chemicals in Vietnam r^ay have h.ul on i!iip<\ct on tlio h e a l t h of. v e t e r a n s such as to cause long-terra d i n a b i 1. i ti en . T h e r e is also i n c r e a s i n g concern t h a t contact w i t h the::o c'.v;-::,.i.c.\l.'.;, s p r a y e d for v a r i o u s reasons r a n g i n g f r o m do To.] i at t o n to disease c o n t r o l , may also have caused m a l f o r m a t i o n s in c h i l d r e n born a f t e r the period of the v e t e r a n s ' service in Vietnam . Mr Speaker, the Government has been acutely aware of that concern. Since the m a t t e r f i r s t came to notice we have moved w i t h o u t h e s i t a t i o n and w i t h all speed to attempt to resolve the issues t h a t have a r i s e n . In my statement to the House on 21 February of this y e a r , 1 set out in v e r y comprehensive terms the n a t u r e of the d i s a b i l i t i e s fJLom which some v e t e r a n s had reported they w e r e s u f f e r i n g , the m a n n e r in w h i c h out: g e n e r o u s R e p a t r i a t i o n system - w h i c h has been developed, t r i e d and proven over many years - was able to assist and, in a d d i t i o n , l mentioned the i n i t i a t i v e s we had t a k e n , w i t h o u t d e l a y , in s e e k i n g to f i n d a responsible r e s o l u t i o n of the problems r a i s e d by the v e t e r a n s . One of the d i f f i c u l t i e s w i t h which we are faced arid w h i c h we s h a r e w i t h the U n i t e d States a u t h o r i t i e s , Mr Speaker, is to establish s c i e n t i f i c a l l y t h a t the symptoms and medical problems being e x p e r i e n c e d by veterans and t h e i r f a m i l i e s are due to exposure of the v e t e r a n to h e r b i c i d e s , of which Agent Orange is the most n o t o r i o u s , d u r i n g the v e t e r a n s ' service in V i e t n a m . I hasten to a d d , Mr Speaker, t h a t i n s o f a r as the d i s a b i l i t i e s of the v e t e r a n himself are concerned, our R e p a t r i a t i o n system does not r e q u i r e t h a t cause be proven - it enough t h a t a r e l a t i o n s h i p , a l i n k , be f o u n d between his d i s a b i l i t y and his service for us to accept his d i s a b i l i t y as s e r v i c e - r e l a t e d and to a d m i t the v e t e r a n to the pension an-J t r e a t m e n t b e n e f i t s t h a t would then f l o w . is �2. Bu!; i.'c rvsnnot , cvcr.i g i v e n the g e n e r o s i t y of our R e p a t r i a t i o n r y n l - i . :i, :!cac;y.: '.vitiioi.it. q u e s t i o n t h a t e x p o s u r e to h e r b i c i d e s in V i O v . n . » : r ; nv,i3L i n e v i t a b l y be the cause of the delayed long-term heal t'.i pro hie.:?,:: -which a r e the? s u b j e c t of c u r r e n t c l a i m s . It was bo cause of. the real need to resolve this question of whether or not exposure to herbicides would result in health problems, that the Government acted immediately the possibility was brought to notice, in a positive way. / We arranged that a Repatriation Commissioner should visit the United States of America to study at first hand the various endeavours that are being made in that country to resolve like problems. Mr Speaker, the problems may be alike but the magnitudes differ enormously. We had about 41,000 servicemen in Vietnam, the United States had two and a half million; but that wide difference- is no more than a statistical fact - our concern is as deep as we believe to be that of the United States authorities . We also asked the scientific body most appropriate to the task, the Commonwealth Institute of Health (formerly known as the School of: Public Health and Tropical Medicine) at the University of Sydney to inform the Government whether it was possible to establish, as a matter of scientific fact, whether exposure to herbicides in Vietnam could have an influence on the health of veterans or produce an unusual incidence of abnormalities at birth of veteran's children. My statement to the House on 21 February set out the nature of the study suggested by the Institute and explained that its feasibility had to be tested, as the data necessary to guarantee a valid result are both comprehensive and could be difficult to obtai n. Mr Speaker, subject to the availability of certain data which appears at this stage to be forthcoming, the Government is now j:?.tl<sCi«Dd that this :;ia;;or study is not only legible but essential if a satisfactory scientific resolution to the question is to be reached. �—3— It ...ay bo help:, a 1. to the House, Mr Speaker, if I give some rii1.'. ••.;•.••.:•! ; of: the nature and a copy of the .study that has been po.;-...; .'. , t.iie Co.-.i.r.onwealth Institute ol: Health. The U-;~.Lo design of the study will be a comparison of three groups of voter. "ins. These are Australian veterans who were in Vietnam and were exposed to herbicides and other chemicals of significance; f Australian veterans who were in Vietnam but were not judged to be exposed to herbicides but perhaps exposed to other environmental hazards; and A matched and comparable group of Australian veterans who did not go to Vietnam and have not been exposed to the herbicides and other chemicals used there. These groups will be compared to see whether there are 1. Differences in the incidence of defined illnesses in the veterans themselves; 2. Differences in the incidence of certain genetic defects in their offspring compared with the control group; and 3. Differences in the incidence of birth defects in their offspring and the incidence of abortion in their wives. This is known as a Cohort Study. There are basic criteria that have to be met before the study is feasible such as:information on the names and units of veterans and their geographical locations in time in Vietnam at least 90% and preferably more of those veterans must be able to be traced in Australia �—4— the: iiotiyc; of her bicidr.:: by g e o g r a p h i c a l arc-an and l:i:.\c uusi: I-.t u i i t a h l i 3hed mocHcal records before service and at. enlistment, if any record:;, of birt.hr; and deaths in Australia, maintained by tho State Registrars-General f and other records such as those of the Department of Social Security and of; the Australian Bureau of Statistics. f Tho study would progress by means of an assessment of every veteran in the cohort and his children by means of interview by a specially trained team and, in addition, the assessment would utilize existing hospital records and records of mortality and morbidity. Data would be collected on potential confounding variables such as s-.noking, occupational hazards and the use of drugs and me die in o.c> . Any suggestions of positive findings which appeared would be studied in greater depth, involving comprehensive interviews by specially trained field workers. The task of statistical collection, analysis and interpretation would be enormous, Mr Speaker. Some 60,000 veterans whose families would be expected to include approximately 100,000 children, will be interviewed and a questionnaire will have to be completed about each. We estimate that a full time specially trained work force would be engaged for about a year on this task. We have decided to ask the Commonwealth Institute of Health to press on with the study as quickly as possible. �— 5— Mr E ' J O i i K o r , T a:;i a w a r e t h a t t h i s decision w i l l not bo u n i v e r s a l l y nc..'clai:\i(.'d. For i n s t a n c e , we know as a r e s u l t of the v i s i t of Mr i'loclbucy, a member of the R e p a t r i a t i o n C o m m i s s i o n , t h a t the U n i t e d .Stater, of A m e r i c a is engaged in a very large research e f f o r t . There; are two m a j o r opiderniological s t u d i e s of veterans and several waller studies of workers who have been exposed to components of Agent O r a n g e under way in that c o u n t r y . There are also l a b o r a t o r y studies designed to establish w h e t h e r any of the components of Agent O r a n g e may produce genetic damage or i n d u c e a l t e r a t i o n s in males that may r e s u l t in their- f a t h e r i n g m a l f o r m e d o f f s p r i n g . It m i g h t be suggested t h a t we await the r e s u l t of such r e s e a r c h w o r k , r a t h e r t h a n e m b a r k on our own. W e l l , Mr Speaker, the G o v e r n m e n t does not accept t h a t "sit back, w a i t and see" a t t i t u d e ! We are aware t h a t even the i n i t i a l , far f r o m f i n a l r e s u l t s of these American s u r v e y s appear to bo at least two years away, that even these major studies may not produce c o n c l u s i v e r e s u l t s and t h a t , in the eyes of the A u s t r a l i a n v e t e r a n com:aunity - by w h i c h we are prepared to be j u d g e d on our r e c o r d - the U n i t e d S t a t e s s t u d i e s of U n i t e d States v e t e r a n s may not be r e l e v a n t to our A u s t r a l i a n e x p e r i e n c e . It has also been s u g g e s t e d , Mr S p e a k e r , t h a t we may be ablo to speed up the r e s u l t s and reduce the very heavy costs, by sample s u r v e y s of say 2 , 0 0 0 or 3 , 0 0 0 of the 41,000 veterans who w e r e in V i e t n a m . My v e r y best a d v i c e , Mr S p e a k e r , is t h a t t h e r e would be very real problems w i t h the v a l i d i t y of any conclusion d r a w n f r o m such a sample survey. The comparative r a r i t y of occurrence of the diseases in the c o m m u n i t y as a whole is such that no less than the e n t i r e Vietna.ii v e t e r a n population, compared w i t h a control group of s i m i l a r composition t h a t did not go to V i e t n a m , of about 2 0 , 0 0 0 , m u s t be covered by the s u r v e y . Mr Speaker, I hope t h a t every V i e t n a m v e t e r a n , irrespectivr, 1 of any doubt he may have about any possible e f f e c t s of exposure to h e r b i c i d e s , w i l l come f o r w a r d at the a p p r o p r i a t e time to p a r t i c i p a t e in the survey. �-6A !c:!'.;c:it- has bof.-n ir.ddo, Mr S p e a k e r , t h a t i n s t e a d of t h i s iitajoi- • • ; _ • ' . ;:ii.o.l o g i f n l .'.itudy, a forrc of: j u d i c i a l i n q u i r y bo sot up. U '•'"•• •''.'on s u g g e s t e d t h - i t t h i s i n q u i r y should have, ;is a ba 5:.;. o ;.;. v : • • : : • I; i o n , 1-};e pr es;in\ pi. i on t h a t a vast range of sy,nptom : • covorir.-;; vi i: t u a l l y all. medical c o n d i t i o n s are caused by exposure t o her U c : . < • : : • ; i n V i o t n c u T i . I t is envisaged t h a t , L n t h i s i n q u i r y , thJ:", p::r-.vr,;.;.-r..i.op. should be r e b u t t e d by the Commonwealth. Mr Spoa!;.;:r , i t cannot- be proved t h a t a causal r e l a t i o n s h i p between each an.:! e v e r y c o n d i t i o n w i t h i n t h a t vast r a n g e does not e x i s t proof ol: :-\>::h n e g a t i v e - a s s o c i a t i o n is not possible in the circiun.-'.UKicos. in a d d i t i o n , t'no a v a i l a b l e s c i e n t i f i c l i t e r a t u r e on w h i c h such an i n q u i r y must largely depend,was studied as r e c e n t l y as 1977 by an agency of the World Health O r g a n i s a t i o n . It concluded t h a t f u r t h e r s t u d i e s i n c l u d i n g those of an epidemiologies! n a t u r e , such as will be done in A u s t r a l i a , w e r e needed to resolve the q u e s t i o n . In c o n s i d e r i n g the n a t u r e of t h i s f o r m of i n q u i r y , the Govoi.TmionL was not able to see how it would help resolve the most di 55 t r e e si rig of the problems f a c e d by some V i e t n a m v e t e r a n s . It would not a s s i s t , Mr S p e a k e r , in assessing the medical c o n d i t i o n of the members of the v e t e r a n s ' f a m i l y , in e s t a b l i s h i n g what t r e a t m e n t and d i s a b i l i t y pension payments would be a p p r o p r i a t e , and in helping him to make decisions as to w h e t h e r or not he and his w i f e should have more c h i l d r e n . There would be n o t h i n g personal or i m m e d i a t e l y h e l p f u l to the v e t e r a n in such an i n q u i r y . For all these reasons, Mr Speaker, the Government has decided t h a t the r e q u e s t for t h i s f o r m of i n q u i r y must be r e f u s e d . In this r e j e c t i o n , Mr Speaker, and in the decision to press on w i t h the major epidemiologies! study of which I f i r s t i n f o r m e d the House in F e b r u a r y , the Government is most evidently not seeking to avoid any i s s u e , but r a t h e r uuir.t be seen as i n t e n t on seeking answers to questions t h a t so u n d e r s t a n d a b l y are d i s t r e s s i n g to A u s t r a l i a n v e t e r a n s and t h e i r f a m i l i e s . The e x p e n d i t u r e on the s u r v e y will exceed two million dollars and it will e x t e n d , in its major phase, over some two years. H o w e v e r , it is expected to provide s c i e n t i f i c a l l y v a l i d r e s u l t s t h a t will give a basis for u n d e r s t a n d i n g w h i c h w i l l be i n v a l u a b l e not only to enable the G o v e r n m e n t to move to w h a t e v e r f u r t h e r m e a s u r e s are a p p r o p r i a t e but as a s i g n i f i c a n t c o n t r i b u t i o n to medical s c i e n t i f i c knowledge t h r o u g h o u t the world. ../7 �-7V?o i.'0l3-.jvo i t i.-: l i k e l y to prove the only, way that the . ! • • ! •"*'•: e r an a of s e r v i c e in V i e t n a m can be given the a s s u r e ' . - ; :. :.-.i',;it t h e y r;o un J e r r . t a n d a b l y need. To c.n'.vincc w o r l d - w i d e as well as loca] acceptance of the s t u d y , i ': in i n t e n d e d tha 1 : a small g r o u p of: s c i e n t i s t s , indooon:"!"iiL and w i t h world-wide c r e d i b i l i t y as epidemiologists, be er.taixli:;:: r od to assess and endorse the methodology of the s t u d y and to co:n::>.ont on any a l t e r a t i o n s which may become necessary in the s t u d y d . i / i n g i t s course. I propose to announce the composition of that s e l e c t y r o u p to the House as soon as practicable b u t , f Mr Speaker, the continuing progress of the study will not be held up aw a i. i: i ng these appo i n tm en t s . I continue to say, as I said when the first complaints were made, that those veterans who feel they have been affected by herbicides during their service in Vietnam should lodge a claim with ray Department GO that medical examinations can be carried out to establish a diagnosis and to make recommendations on whether any disabilities found could be linked with their service in Vietnam, to the independent authorities which make the determinations. Mr Speaker: , I have said on earlier occasions that the Government has acted with all speed and understanding in this matter. I have kept the House informed of developments as they have occurred. I am pleased, Mr Speaker, to inform Honourable Members now of this very significant further step that the Government has decided to take to resolve the uncertainties underlying the question of whether exposure to herbicides, during the Vietnam conflict, has had or may in future be likely to have, an impact on the health of Australian Vietnam veterans and their children. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alvin L. Young Collection on Agent Orange Description An account of the resource <p style="margin-top: -1em; line-height: 1.2em;">The Alvin L. Young Collection on Agent Orange comprises 120 linear feet and spans the late 1800s to 2005; however, the bulk of the coverage is from the 1960s to the 1980s and there are many undated items. The collection was donated to Special Collections of the National Agricultural Library in 1985 by Dr. Alvin L. Young (1942- ). Dr. Young developed the collection as he conducted extensive research on the military defoliant Agent Orange. The collection is in good condition and includes letters, memoranda, books, reports, press releases, journal and newspaper clippings, field logs and notebooks, newsletters, maps, booklets and pamphlets, photographs, memorabilia, and audiotapes of an interview with Dr. Young.</p> <p>For more about this collection, <a href="/exhibits/speccoll/exhibits/show/alvin-l--young-collection-on-a">view the Agent Orange Exhibit.</a></p> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Box The box containing the original item. 070 Folder The folder containing the original item. 1878 Series The series number of the original item. Series III Subseries IV Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Statement on Herbicides and Chemicals and Vietnam Veterans Made by The minister for Veterans' Affairs, The Hon. A. E. Adermann, M. P. in the House of Representatives, 31 March 1980. Subject The topic of the resource Australian Parliamentary Hearing compensation study protocol ao_seriesIII