Three more diseases linked to Agent Orange

In early November, the Department of Veterans Affairs acknowledged three more diseases as linked to Agent Orange exposure. B cell leukemias (like hairy cell leukemia), Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease are now officially recognized by VA as connected to Agent Orange - the herbicide used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War.

Since the 1980s, the controversial defoliant has been associated with a number of diseases and afflictions. VA formally acknowledges a list of them. It’s important that Vietnam veterans become familiar and stay up-to-date with this list, as studies are still ongoing into the affects of Agent Orange.•Acute and subacute transient peripheral neuropathy•AL amyloidosis•Chloracne•Chronic lymphocytic leukemia•Diabetes mellitus (Type 2)•Hodgkin’s lymphoma (Hodgkin’s disease)•Multiple myeloma•Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma•Porphyria cutanea tarda•Prostate cancer•Respiratory cancers, and soft tissue sarcoma (other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, or mesothelioma)