Human Health Effects among Veterans Exposed to Herbicides Used in Vietnam.
- Author:
Cheol Hyeon KIM
1
;
Poong Taek KIM
;
Yang Soo LEE
;
Hyun PARK
Author Information
1. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine Kyungpook National University Hospital.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Herbicide;
Veterans;
Vietnam
- MeSH:
Chemistry;
Daegu;
Herbicides*;
Hospitals, Veterans;
Humans*;
Peripheral Nervous System Diseases;
Physical Examination;
Sarcoma;
Thromboangiitis Obliterans;
Veterans*;
Vietnam*
- From:Journal of the Korean Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine
1998;22(1):40-45
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
Many studies have failed to prove the health effects of herbicides on exposed Vietnam veterans. The main difficulties for the studies have been the methodologic weakness, the time delay from the onset of exposure to the assessments and inability of measuring exposure amount. The purpose of this study is to evaluate human health effects among Vietman veterans who were exposed to herbicides while staying in Vietnam. The subjects were patients who visited to Taegu veterans hospital between November, 1995 and July, 1996. Any veterans stationed in Vietnam for six or more months between 1966 and 1973 were included in this study. We performed a comprehensive study including a neurologic test, physical examination, medical history, serum and urine chemistry, electrodiagnostic study and a roentgenographic study. We have found that the patients with peripheral neuropathy were 24 cases, soft tissue sarcoma 1 case and Buerger's disease 1 case. And many other diseases were also diagnosed in these patients. However we were unable to find the strong evidences of association between the clinical illness and the exposure to herbicides.
