Institute of Medicine backing away from Agent Orange/Leukemia connection

March 11, 2002

Feb. 28, 2002, 9:33PM

Institute reverses stance on leukemia

Pesticide not tied to kids' high risk

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The Institute of Medicine is backing away from its conclusion

last year that the children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange may have an

increased chance of leukemia.

The institute, part of the National Academy of Sciences, has concluded there

is not enough evidence to establish a connection between exposure and

development of acute myelogenous leukemia. This finding came after

researchers reviewed additional data, including a corrected Australian

study.

" Obviously we're disappointed, " said Len Selfon, director of veterans

benefits programs at Vietnam Veterans of America. " We'll have to see what

they based the retraction of their original conclusion on. "

Veterans Affairs Secretary J. Principi said that for now, " the

scientific evidence doesn't support " a connection. He said he would support

benefits for these children " if future studies reach the legal threshold. "

The institute reported last April that it had reviewed available studies and

concluded that the children of veterans exposed to herbicides such as Agent

Orange seemed to have an above-average chance of developing that form of

leukemia.

While the relationship between Agent Orange and various illnesses has been

debated for years, that was the first scientific connection between the

childhood disease and the pesticide. The finding stopped short of saying the

link was conclusive.

In the new analysis, the researchers said an Australian study that was a

major factor in their earlier conclusion had an error " that led its authors

to incorrectly conclude that these children faced significantly greater risk

of AML than the general population. "

When revised, that report found that the incidence of the disease among the

children of exposed veterans was slightly elevated, but within the range of

normal variation. Also, the panel said it reviewed two small studies of

pesticide exposure from Norway and Germany that had not been included in the

earlier analysis.

" Our review of available studies, combined with the revised analysis from

Australia, indicates that the evidence is too weak to draw any conclusions

or even make tentative ones, " said Irva Hertz-Picciotto, professor of

epidemiology at the University of California, , who headed the panel.

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