Summary: From 1965 to 1970, the Department of Defense (DOD) sprayed over 10 million gallons of Agent Orange in Vietnam. Over 2 million military personnel served in Vietnam during that period. Since 1977, the Veterans Administration (VA) has been contacted by veterans about health problems they believe were caused by exposure to the herbicide. The government's efforts to resolve the veterans' concerns have been hampered by a lack of personnel information documenting troop exposure and the lack of conclusive scientific information on the long-term health effects of exposure. Army records from the Vietnam conflict were neither complete nor well organized making it difficult to correlate Army troop locations with spraying missions. Marine reports contained more detailed troop location information and were compared with spraying missions. Although it was possible to determine which Marine troops had the highest potential for exposure, the actual exposure or degree of exposure could not be documented. Several studies are being conducted concerning the term health effects of exposure to Agent Orange including a VA study of the long-term effects of dioxins on Vietnam veterans. GAO has suggested that Marine troop records be used for this study. In the short run, GAO believed that emphasis should be placed on providing thorough and compassionate treatment of veterans with illnesses which they believe are related to herbicide exposure.
