Subject 2

http://www.emaxhealth.com/healthrecords.htm)

A toxic chemical called sarin that is often used in chemical warfare
inflicts widespread damage to genes that control memory, thinking, mood, muscle
control and a range of other brain functions, a new animal study has shown.
The study could explain many of the physical ailments people experience
following sarin exposure, said the researchers from Duke University Medical
Center. Such exposures have occurred through on-the-job use with insecticide
analogues in the agriculture industry, during the Persian Gulf War, and in the
1995 Tokyo subway terrorist attack.
"We have witnessed and catalogued the severe symptoms that victims of sarin
exposure have experienced, and we have studied the severe damage sarin
imposes on brain cells," said Mohamed Abou Donia, M.D., Duke pharmacologist and
senior author of the study. "Now, we have evidence that implicates the specific
genes that are damaged when one is exposed to sarin."
Abou Donia said the results of the study could ultimately lead to a blood
test for sarin exposure and could identify potential genes to target with new
therapies that ameliorate the damage. He also said the results further
emphasize that sarin should be handled with extreme care and used only by
professionals with appropriate protective gear.
Results of the study, funded by the Department of Defense, are published in
the March 15, 2006, issue of the journal Biochemical Pharmacology. Other
members of the Duke team include T.V. Damodaran, Ph.D., Holly K. Dressman, Ph.D.,
and Simon M. Lin, Ph.D.
Abou Donia's team used gene profiling techniques to examine the effects of
sarin on all known genes related to brain and nervous system function. Within
15 minutes of a single exposure to sarin, 65 different genes in the brains of
rats showed altered expression, meaning their protein levels either
increased or decreased. Three months later, expression of a total of 38 genes
remained altered. The study time point of three months in rats is the equivalent to
20 years in humans, demonstrating that the effects of sarin are widespread
and long-lasting, he said.
"Early reports indicate that some individuals exposed to low levels of sarin
during the Tokyo attack suffered persistent neurological and psychiatric
abnormalities for more than five years after exposure," said Abou- Donia. "In
addition, many of the Gulf War veterans were exposed to low-level sarin during
destruction of the enemy's chemical arsenal, and a percentage of them have
continued to complain of chronic fatigue, muscle and joint pain, weakness,
headaches, loss of concentration, forgetfulness, and irritability.
"Our new findings confirm that the duration of sarin exposure can continue
for years or even decades after the initial exposure because it alters gene
expression of proteins critical to brain function," he said.
Sarin was developed during World War II as a nerve agent tailor-made to
irreversibly inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase. This enzyme's normal role
is to halt the signal between a nerve cell and a muscle cell once it has been
transmitted. When acetylcholinesterase is inhibited, the nerve signal
continues unabated, causing excitability and over-stimulation. This
hyper-stimulation initiates the release of additional neurotransmitters that further excite
the cells and ultimately cause them to degenerate or die, said Abou Donia.
It has long been known that chemicals like sarin – called "organophosphates"
because they have a phosphorus atom attached to them – can cause brain cell
death in high enough doses, said Abou Donia. Until now, though, global genes
affected by sarin have been unidentified, he said. Abou Donia's team identified a primary gene responsible for immediate neuronal cell death following sarin exposure. The gene, Cam Kinase II, is overactivated after sarin exposure, resulting in an influx of calcium into the cell.
The calcium migrates to the cell's mitochondria, resulting in the release of
reactive oxygen species and ultimately cell suicide, characteristic of
long-term, chronic sarin exposure. Mitochondria are the power plants of the cell,
generating chemical energy through the breakdown of glucose.
The process is among many that occur following sarin exposure, said Abou
Donia. In addition, sarin induces changes within:
*   genes that maintain the blood-brain barrier, a membrane that
protects the brain from toxic substances;
*   genes that help scavenge reactive oxygen species or "oxygen-free
radicals" from inflicting irreparable damage in cells and contributing to the
aging process;
*   genes that control programmed cell death, called apoptosis;
*   genes that produce growth hormones and stress hormones; and
*   genes that control the electrophysiology of cells, directly
increasing excitability of membranes by blocking peripheral nerve conduction.
"We knew that organophosphates inflicted irreparable damage in the brain and
nervous system, but now we know how," said Abou Donia.
He said the current study results apply to other chemicals classified as
organophosphates, including chlorpyrofos and related insecticides. High-level
exposures to chemicals in this class have been known to produce a variety of
symptoms, such as excessive sweating and salivation, severe tremors, seizures,
and convulsions. Long-term exposure to these chemicals results in fatigue,
muscle contractions, muscle weakness, memory and cognitive deficits, mood
changes, and a host of other nervous system changes, researchers said.
In fact, a single high-dose of sarin injected into the muscles of rats
caused excessive salivation, severe tremors, seizures, convulsions and,
ultimately, death in half of the animals. Animals that received a low dose of sarin did not display the severe symptoms but became inactive, the study showed.
Previous studies have shown that low doses result in fewer acute symptoms but more of the chronic, persistent deficits, such muscle weakness, and memory
deficits said Abou Donia.

Nationwide Consultation Begins On Agent Orange

Monday, 17 October 2005, 11:12 am
Press Release: Agent Orange Joint Working Group

14 October 2005

The Agent Orange Joint Working Group, set up to make recommendations to Government on issues relating to the health and wellbeing of Viet Nam veterans and their families, is about to start a nationwide consultation process.

“The Working Group will later this month begin consulting Viet Nam Veterans and their families wanting to make submissions”, the group's independent chair Michael Wintringham said.

“Following the report of the Health Select Committee in 2004, the Government accepted that New Zealand Service men and women were exposed to a toxic environment (including Agent Orange) during their service in Viet Nam”, Mr Wintringham said.

In February this year, the Government established the Joint Working Group comprising representatives from the Ex-Vietnam Services Association (EVSA) and the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association (RNZRSA), and officials from the Offices of the Minister of Defence and the Minister of Veterans' Affairs.

The Working Group is united in its commitment to helping the Government achieve a positive outcome for Viet Nam veterans and their families through this process.

Veterans and their families have for years been voicing their concerns about the impact on their health and well being of the veterans’ service in Viet Nam. This is an issue that not only impacts on the veterans and their families but is of importance to the country as a whole.

"In recognition of the need for urgency to resolve this issue the Government has told us that they want our recommendations by next April," Mr Wintringham said.

Those wishing to participate in the consultation process are invited to register their interest on a website (http://www.vietnamvetswg.govt.nz/) or by calling 0800 838372.

Submissions can be made in writing direct to the Joint Working Group office. There will also be an opportunity to speak to the Joint Working Group during a series of consultation meetings commencing in mid November. More information on the submission and consultation process will be provided to those who register.”

<http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0510/S00125.htm>

In a split decision, the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States have granted a Vietnam Veteran the right to continue pursuing claims that were not properly represented in a 1984 settlement involving Dow Chemical, Monsanto, and other chemical manufactures. In an unsigned opinion the court allowed Daniel Stephenson and his family to continue their lawsuit against Agent Orange makers. Stephenson is a retired helicopter pilot who served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1970. He was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer five years before. The nine member court split in its decision 4 –4. The tie vote essentially affirmed the federal appeals court decision, giving Stephenson the right to sue.

The facts have been clearly underestimated in the past. The US Military sprayed more Agent Orange and other dioxin containing herbicides during the Vietnam War than previously thought according to recent scientists. Researchers at Columbia University in New York have re-examined military records and found that the amount of Agent Orange was underestimated by seven million liters, almost twice as much of the carcinogen dioxin was released.

US Forces sprayed the herbicides to defoliate large areas of forest from 1961 to 1971; the researchers determined 1.84 million gallons or ten (10) percent more herbicides were sprayed than earlier estimated.

Agent Orange got its name because of the colored stripes on the containers. Use of the herbicide was stopped in 1971 after it was discovered to contain dioxin.

Cancer, miscarriages, and birth defects in the sprayed areas are always higher than the areas not sprayed, said Tran Manh Hung of the special committee on Agent Orange in Vietnams Ministry of Health.

After a scientific report in 1969 concluded that one of the primary chemicals used in Agent Orange could cause birth defects in laboratory animals, use of the herbicide was suspended. All US authorized herbicide use in Vietnam was halted in 1971. As the decade wore on, concern about possible long term health consequences of Agent Orange and other herbicides heightened, fueled in part by reports from Vietnam Veterans who had developed cancer or fathered handicapped children. Since then, thousands of scientific studies have been conducted. Evidence is sufficient to conclude that there is a positive association between the exposure of herbicides and health outcomes including but not limited to:

Soft tissue sarcoma
Non-Hodgkin’s
Lymphoma Hodgkin’s Disease
Chloracne
Porphyrial Cutanea Tarda
Respiratory Cancer
Prostate Caner
Multiple Myeloma
Diabetes Mellitus (or Type II)
Since the recent Supreme Court decision there has been a mounting drive to pursue a new class action against the chemical companies potentially responsible. The ultimate issue would be how many will step forward and be willing to pursue the responsible parties.

The Following site is maintained by a Law Firm in Florida, and contains some great "basic" information about agent orange such as spray maps, history, and other areas of interest.

Dr. Smoger, was part of the origional Agent Orange Lawsuit, and it was he who won the recent case before the U.S. Supream Court. He understanding and dedication to Veterans is well known. Please visit his site before making a determination on who you will use to represent you if you are qualified for the suit.

Cyber Sarges web site has to be the best informative site on agent orange on the web. His site is somewhat intense, however it is well worth the visit.

We believe that the Purple Heart, our most venerable military decoration, should be awarded to ALL combat veterans wounded or killed in action against an enemy of the United States; although at this time we focus our attention specifically on the Vietnam War and the defoliant Agent Orange which was deployed there.

We are aware that many other injustices have been perpetrated on Vietnam veterans, but at this time, the matter of Agent Orange is the only injustice for which we have court decisions and federal legislation to back our claims. Therefore, we choose to fight one dragon at a time, in hopes that our example may eventually light the way for those who will one day take up the remaining gauntlets of injustice. Purple Hearts should be dispensed thoughtfully and evenhandedly. A combat veteran who is wounded or killed in action is entitled to the Purple Heart, regardless of the source of the wounds.

In our Quest for the Purple Heart, we have learned that ignorance is contagious, and misery knows no fatherland. There is no copyright on pain, and no statute of experience garnered through wading through miles of red tape, trying to find someone with the courage necessary to force the President to enforce existing law and give our armed forces all they ask for ... simple Justice.

There can be no doubt that Vietnam veterans exposed to this deadly defoliant and identified under the Agent Orange Act of 1991 deserve Purple Hearts. Executive Orders, Public Law, and Military Regulations specify it in black letter law. Only Presidential Policy stands between the service personnel and their medals. The President is the only person who can change Executive Policy, but he can, indeed, do so, with a single stroke of a pen. The President of the United States, at this time, is in violation of Executive Orders and Public Law, and even the Military Regulations to which he is subject as Commander in Chief. Purple Heart Law, specifically U.S. Naval Regulations, contains no discretionary clause by which personnel can be excluded. It MUST be awarded to a combat veteran who has been wounded or killed in a war zone. Those service personnel whose lethal exposure to Agent Orange resulted in internal, invisible wounds, which are revealed only by the passage of time, are nonetheless eligible to receive Purple Hearts. Unfortunately, at this time, Agent Orange exposure is NOT considered an eligible wound, because that is the President's present political policy. Unlike the other military decorations, the President of the United States alone is responsible for its dispersal and standards. Although President Kennedy, in Executive Order #1016, authorized the Secretaries of each of the Armed Forces to bestow it on his behalf, the standards for awarding Purple Hearts remain in the hands of the occupant of the White House, unless they are uniformly altered across all branches of the Armed Services, as approved by the Secretary of Defense. Regulations at this date are NOT uniform.

Any existing regulations that require that the Enemy inflict an injury are in direct conflict with both the letter and the spirit of Executive Orders concerning "friendly fire". Any regulations that require that a wound be treated and recorded at that time have lost touch with the realities of modern chemical warfare. Americans who were exposed to mustard gas in World War I received Purple Hearts. Ask any wounded survivor or Hiroshima or Nagasaki today (many of whom are American Service personnel), and they will tell you that they were wounded by a bomb, a weapon so insidious that its results could be impossible to detect at the time.

It is for these reasons that we have created The Order of the Silver Rose. We will never stop praying that the doors to the Purple Heart will someday swing open wide enough to admit all service personnel who have earned it. Until that day comes, we cannot allow our particular demon to continue to run unchallenged in America. We battle the Dragon of Prejudice armed only with a Silver Rose, desiring to win simple honor and respect for these heroic personnel who have already earned it. That honor and respect is embodied in The Military Order of the Purple Heart. However, if the Armed Services refuse to recognize and reward these American heroes, then we will do it. As our pleas to the White House go unanswered by the President, we solicit a Joint Resolution of Congress to bring pressure upon the Commander in Chief to Right this thirty-year-old Wrong. We do it proudly, because we are the children of American Heroes.

My name is William Davis. I am a Viet Nam Navy vet recently denied disability benefits under Agent Orange legislation because of the VA General Counsel's Precedent 27-97, which requires that VN vets must have set foot on the ground in the Republic of Viet Nam.

I am looking for Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard veterans who served off the coast of Viet Nam, and have one or more of the 12 qualifying diseases and conditions listed for Agent Orange, and who have filed a claim with the VA. I am looking for those who have either had their claims granted or denied, it does not matter.

The objective is to file a class action lawsuit to set aside VAGCPREC 27-97. This arbitrary, exclusionary, and insulting legal sidestep by the VA's General Counsel has excluded tens of thousands of veterans who served honorably in the Viet Nam Combat Zone. New evidence is emerging on the effects of Agent Orange and other herbicides being concentrated when processed through the fresh water distillation plants onboard ships.

Please contact me with your particulars at: vnvets@yahoo.com

We need to do what we can to right this injustice.

Thank you.

William Davis

vnvets@yahoo.com

Agent Orange Overview. Approximately 20 million gallons of herbicides were used in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to remove unwanted plant life and leaves which otherwise provided cover for enemy forces during the Vietnam Conflict. Shortly following their military service in Vietnam, some veterans reported a variety of health problems and concerns which some of them attributed to exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides. The Department of Veterans Affairs has developed a comprehensive program to respond to these medical problems and concerns. The principal elements of this program include quality healthcare services, disability compensation for veterans with service-connected illnesses, scientific research and outreach and education.

(We would encourage any veteran with in-country Vietnam service and diagnosed diabetes mellitus to contact his or her local VA office for information and assistance on applying for benefits. Or you may apply on-line) http://vabenefits.vba.va.gov/vonapp

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