Health Risks Found from Exposure to Agent Orange Residues on Military Aircraft

The study, Post-Vietnam military herbicide exposures in UC-123 Agent Orange spray aircraft, modeled flight crew’s potential exposure to dioxin, a contaminant in Agent Orange and a highly potent carcinogen. Scientists based their models on monitoring tests that found dioxin contamination in the mid-1990′s and late 2000′s, over 20 years after the planes were first repurposed. Researchers looked at how dioxin volatilizes in the air, and thus rejected the military’s presumption that "dried residues" of the chemicals are no longer a concern. "Current Air Force and Department of Veterans Affairs policies are not consistent with the available industrial hygiene measurements or with the widely accepted models for semivolatile organic compounds"” the study indicates. Conclusions of the research found that, "Inhalation, ingestion and skin absorption in aircrew and maintainers were likely to have occurred during post-Vietnam use of the aircraft"”

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