What is Agent Orange and how is it still impacting Vietnam veterans decades later?
MOUNTAIN HOME, Tenn. (WJHL)- More than 58,000 American soldiers died in the Vietnam War, but the number of those dying from its impacts continues to rise because of Agent Orange.
'It was a very strong herbicide, most famously used in Vietnam. And what it was used for was to clear a very dense tropical vegetation that otherwise would have provided cover for the enemy,' said Dr. Jared Jeffries, the Chief of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
19 million gallons of the chemical concoction were sprayed by airplanes, helicopters, trucks and even the soldiers themselves.
'Basically just anybody who had a heavy dose of it, it's going to accumulate more in their body and especially multiple situations where they're exposed,' Jeffries said. 'It can be aerosolized. So if it's been sprayed and dropped, it's droplet aerosolized in the air, you breathe it in. If it contaminates water that you drink or food, you can also get it through skin exposure or a small amount will actually absorb directly through the skin.'
Dr. Jared Jeffries and his team at the VA screen veterans for toxic exposures.
'What that is, is a class of chemicals called dioxins, which are very toxic to animals and humans, can cause a bunch of different conditions, have effects on multiple organ systems throughout the body, as well as various types of cancers,' he said.
Within the first year of returning home, some Vietnam veterans started having issues with their skin.
'A particular type of acne [is] called chloracne. There's another skin condition called porphyria cutanea tarda, causes damage to the liver. And then also when the skin is exposed to sunlight, it can cause blistering pain.'
Then, doctors started noticing exposure to Agent Orange was creating other issues that weren't just on the surface.
'Pretty soon after, like within a year after, people can develop neuropathies in their peripheral nervous systems, their arms and legs. Much later on, we see all types of conditions or neurological conditions, including Parkinsonism, as a big umbrella, and then actual Parkinson's disease, cardiovascular problems,' Jeffries said. 'So ischemic heart disease being a big one. So, blocking out blood to the heart, the coronary arteries. So causing heart attacks and heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and hypothyroidism. There's a whole host of cancers.'
The dioxin TCDD is a byproduct of Agent Orange, and there's no treatment to get rid of it in the body.
'TCDD tends to accumulate in fat. And so the higher the amount that they were exposed to, it can accumulate in fat and then would kind of be released over time,' Jeffries said.
Most veterans whom Jeffries and his team screen have multiple conditions presumed to be from Agent Orange.
'We can talk to their primary care [doctor]. We can make recommendations about how to get a better diagnosis,' said Jeffries. 'Perhaps it's labs or imaging or something needs to be done, maybe in a specialist referral, so we can recommend that kind of stuff.'
The impacts of Agent Orange can also go beyond the veteran who served, with the possibility of Spina Bifida and other birth defects passed to their immediate children.
'That's a condition where the bones in the spine don't form around the spinal cord correctly, and also the skin,' Jeffries said. 'So either the sac around the spinal cord or the actual spinal cord itself is out and exposed to air. And that has to be repaired and comes along with disability.'
Jeffries says that's why it's important to go in and be screened so more research can be done, not only for those who served but for future generations.
'The more research that we have through registries, it allows us to identify more presumptive conditions so that getting through the claims process is not so difficult, that it can be a very expedited process,' said Jeffries.
Join News Channel 11 at 5 p.m. on Thursday for the next installment of The Vietnam War: 50 Years Later as we speak to former Congressman Phil Roe about the Blue Water Navy Act.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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