'Ranch Hand' study confirms agent orange, diabetes link.

A U.S. Air Force Health Study on the health effects exposure to herbicides in Vietnam offered the strongest evidence to date that Agent Orange is associated with adult-onset (Type II) diabetes. This supports the findings from earlier reports in 1992 and 1997.

Legislation signed into law in 2001 added Type II diabetes to the list of diseases presumed to be caused by herbicide exposure.

The 20-year Air Force study, involving some 1,951 pilots and ground crew members, reported a 166% increase in diabetes requiring insulin control in subjects with the highest levels of dioxin. However, the report said there was no link between herbicides such as Agent Orange and heart disease or cancer.

The report, along with many other studies on herbicide and dioxin exposure, will be reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences.

The Ranch Hand Study was named after the operation responsible for spraying herbicides in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to deny cover and destroy crops of the North Vietnamese Army.

Since the first examination in 1982, the Air Force has tried to determine whether long-term health effects exist in the Ranch Hand pilots and ground crews, and if these effects can be attributed to the herbicides used in Vietnam, mainly Agent Orange and its contaminant, dioxin.

Results from the 2002 physical examination support adult-onset diabetes as the most important health problem seen in the Air Force Health Study. They suggest that as dioxin levels increase, not only are the presence and severity of adult-onset diabetes increased, but the time to onset of the disease is decreased.