Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides & Institute of Medicine 
Veterans and Agent Orange 
Update 1996

This book updates and evaluates the available scientific evidence regarding statistical associations between diseases and exposure to dioxin and other chemical compounds in herbicides used in Vietnam, focusing on new scientific studies and literature published since the release of Veterans and Agent Orange (1994). The update gives special attention to the relationship between exposure to herbicides and the development of birth defects and transient peripheral neuropathy, as well as the relationship between exposure to herbicides and the subsequent development of prostate, hepatobiliary, nasopharyngeal, and other cancers. The book also explores the relationship between the length of time since first exposure and the possible risk of cancer development. It reviews and summarizes the strength of scientific evidence concerning the association between herbicide use in Vietnam and each disease suspected to be associated with such exposure.