The Nation - News from June 25, 1989

The key poison in the herbicide Agent Orange, used extensively in the Vietnam War, may kill animals but appears relatively harmless to people, experts in long-term studies said at the National Environmental Health Conference, which was held in San Antonio. Researchers presented the latest findings on large-scale studies of the effects of dioxin, the toxic ingredient of Agent Orange. Except for skin cancer, no major differences from normal levels were found in the cancer and heart disease rates of 1,261 U.S. soldiers exposed to the poison, according to a $50-million Air Force study. Also, no unusual deaths or illnesses were found in 40,000 people tracked in a University of Milan study following a 1979 Italian dioxin plant explosion that contaminated a nearby town.