Scott Pinkstaff UNIV 200 M/W 2/23/2015 Source 9 Research Question: How does having the positive support of family as well as the availability of private insurance and an active lifestyle affect the treatment of men who have been exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War who have been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in comparison to those who have to rely on the support of the Veterans Affairs health system? Is there a difference between these men and the general population of men diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in the United States? Citation: Stellman, Jeanne, Steven Stellman, Richard Christian, Tracy Weber, and Carrie Tomasallo “The extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam” Nature, 422 (2003):681‐687. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. Qualifications: Dr. Jeanne Stellman received her PhD in 1972 from City University of New York and has spent her career focusing on occupational and environmental issues in public health with a considerable amount of experience in Agent Orange and other military herbicides used in Vietnam. She and her husband, Dr. Steven Stellman have worked on creating a geographic information system that has been used to estimate the exposer to various herbicides and defoliants in Vietnam under contract by the National Academy of Sciences that has been backed by the Institute of Medicine. She and her husband are professors of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. Main Claim: Herbicides were sprayed by the United States for military purposes during the Vietnam War at far greater rates then domestically. Sub Claim(s): When a link of dioxins to birth defects was established and the use of them were banned within the United States, the Military actually soon followed halting the use by 1971, 4 years before the end of the war. The US military became interested in defoliants as a tool after the British had success during the incursions in Malaysia. Scott Pinkstaff UNIV 200 M/W 2/23/2015 Source 9 Evidence: Dr.’s Stellman et al states “Between 1961 and 1971 herbicide mixtures, nicknamed by the coloured identification band painted on their 208‐litre storage barrels, were used by United States and Republic of Vietnam forces to defoliate forests and mangroves, to clear perimeters of military installations and to destroy ‘unfriendly’ crops as a tactic for decreasing enemy food supplies” (681) “US Air Force (USAF) operations, codenamed Operation Ranch Hand, dispersed more than 95% of all herbicides used in Operation Trail Dust, the overall herbicide programme.” (682) Quotes: Dr.’s Stellman et al found that “The best‐known mixture was Agent Orange. About 65% of the herbicides contained 2,4,5‐ trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5‐T), which was contaminated with varying levels of 2,3,7,8‐tetrachlorodibenzo‐p‐dioxin (TCDD).” (681) Dr.’s Stellman et al noted that Military herbicide operations in Vietnam became a matter of scientific controversy from their inception5,6. In April 1970, 2,4,5‐T was banned from most US domestic uses, on the basis of evidence of its teratogenicity.” (681) Basically, the US started seeing evidence that the trichlorophenoxyacetic acid, which is one of the components of Agent Orange was causing birth defects if it was ingested and banned the use of it in the United States. As Dr.’s Stellman et al found the history of using chemical defoliants but the United States can be traced back to the “The DoD’s Advanced Research Project Agency’s (ARPA) Project Agile was instrumental in the US development of herbicides as a military weapon, an undertaking inspired by the successful British use of 2,4,5‐T to destroy jungle‐grown crops during the insurgency in Malaya.” (681) The first “large‐ scale” test of these defoliants was performed at Camp Drum in New York in 1959 using Agent Purple.(681) These tests were then conducted during 1961 and 1962 in Vietnam using adding Agent Blue to the mix. Why use this source: This gives an idea of why the military used Agent Orange, and the other dioxin defoliants during the Vietnam war. It also gives some evidence to domestic policy changing as a link to the defoliant’s used state side was causing birth defects that ultimately did lead to the stoppage of use in Vietnam around a year later. Additionally, this opens up the use of other sources from Dr. Stellman as she is a premear researcher and expert in the use of Agent Orange. .