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New research led by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of Toronto has identified more genes in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and shows that there is an overlap between some of these genes and those found in other neuropsychiatric conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

The study is published in the August 10 advance online edition of Science Translational Medicine.

The research team was led by Dr. Russell Schachar, Senior Scientist and Psychiatrist at SickKids and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and Dr. Stephen Scherer, Senior Scientist at SickKids, Director of The Centre for Applied Genomics at SickKids and the McLaughlin Centre at the University of Toronto…

The post Study Finds New ADHD Genes Links Susceptibility with Autism and Other Neuropsychiatric Conditions appeared first on VAORRC.

Psychiatry Investigation

Objective: Environmental pollutants, especially environmental toxins (ET), may have the
potential to disrupt neurodevelopmental pathways during early brain development. This study
was designed to test our hypothesis that mothers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children
would have less knowledge about ET and more chance to be exposed to ET than mothers
with healthy children (MHC).

Methods: One hundred and six biologic mothers with ASD children (MASD) and three hundred
twenty four biologic mothers with healthy children MHC were assessed using two questionnaires
asking about ET.

Results: The total score in response to questions related to knowledge about ET in MHC was
higher than that in MASD. The possibility of exposure to ET was higher in MASD than MHC.
MASD showed higher sub-scale scores in terms of exposures to canned food, plastics, waste
incinerators, old electronics, microwavable food, and textiles.

Conclusion: The current results show that reduced knowledge about ET and greater exposure
to ET may be associated with autism spectrum disorder. Psychiatry Investig 2010;7:122-127
Key Wordsaa Environmental toxins, Autism spectrum disorders, Child behaviors.

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Introduction

Wars do not end when the bombs stop falling and the fighting ceases. The devastation continues long after, in the land and in the minds and bodies of the affected population.

Today, three million Vietnamese suffer the effects of chemical defoliants used by the United States during the Vietnam War. In order to deny food and protection to those deemed to be “the enemy,” the U.S. defoliated the forests of Vietnam with the deadly chemicals Agent Orange, White, Blue, Pink, Green and Purple. Agent Orange, which was contaminated with trace amounts of TCDD dioxin – the most toxic chemical known to science – disabled and sickened soldiers, civilians and several generations of their offspring on two continents.

In addition to the millions of Vietnamese still affected by this deadly poison, tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers are also affected. It has caused birth defects in hundreds of thousands of children in Vietnam and the U.S. – that is, the second and third generations of those who were exposed to Agent Orange decades ago. Medical evidence indicates that certain cancers (for example, soft tissue nonHodgkin’s Lymphoma), diabetes (type II), and in children spina bifida and other birth defects, are attributable to the exposure.

The deadly mark left by Agent Orange on the natural environment of Vietnam includes the destruction of mangrove forests and the long-term poisoning of soil and crops.

Organized by

The International Association of Democratic Lawyers in coordination with the IADL affiliate French committee Droit Solidarité, along with the Franco-Vietnamese Friendship Association, Republican Association of Veterans, International Committee for Vân Canh Friendship Village, French Peace Movement, International Association of Humanitarian Law, General Union of Vietnamese in France, and Committee Vietnam-Dioxin.

Paris, France May 15-16, 2009

Executive Summary of the Decision

The International Peoples’ Tribunal of Conscience in Support of the Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange met on May 15 to 16 2009 in Paris to hear evidence of the impact of the use of Agent Orange by the US military in Vietnam from 1961 and 1971.  A summons and complaint announcing the Tribunal was sent to the United States Government, and the Chemical Companies which manufactured Agent Orange.  Despite notice neither the Government nor the firms responded.

The Tribunal was constituted by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL).  The Judges of the Tribunal came from every part of the globe: Jitendra Sharma, India; Judge Juan Guzman, Chile; Judge Claudia Morcom, USA; Professor Marjorie Cohn, USA; Dr. Gavril Chiuzbaian, Romania; Prof. Adda Bekkarouch, Algeria; and Attorney Shoji Umeda, Japan.

The Tribunal received evidence and testimony from 27 people including victims and expert witnesses.  The testimony from the victims was very compelling and the testimony of the experts tied the damages that these victims suffered to their exposure to Dioxin.  Testimony also described the extent of the spraying, the millions of persons exposed, the jungles and forests destroyed and families devastated.

After examining the evidence the Tribunal found that the United States Government and the Chemical manufacturers were aware of the fact that Dioxin, one of the most dangerous chemicals known to man, was present in one of the component parts of Agent Orange; yet they continued to use it and in fact suppressed a study which showed in 1965 that Dioxin caused many birth defects in experimental animals.   It was not until the results of that study were released by a leak from concerned citizen that the use of Agent Orange was stopped.

Considering that this Tribunal finds:

1) that the evidence presented to the Tribunal  has  established that during the war of USA against Vietnam, from 1961 to 1971, military forces of the United States sprayed chemical products which contained large quantities of Dioxin in order to defoliate the trees for military objectives;

2) that the chemical products which were sprayed caused damages to the people, the land, the water,  the forest, the ecology and the economy of Vietnam that this Tribunal  can categorize as:

a.  direct damages to the people:   The illnesses produced directly to the people who have been exposed to Dioxin include cancer, skin disorders, liver damage, pulmonary and heart diseases,  defects to reproductive capacity, as well as nervous disorders;

b.  indirect damages to the children of those exposed to Dioxin, including severe physical deformities, mental and physical disabilities, diseases  and shortened life spans;

c.  damages caused to the land and forests, water supply, and communities.  The forests and jungles in large parts of southern Vietnam have been devastated and denuded, and may either never grow back or take 50 to 200 years to regenerate.  Animals which inhabited the forests and jungles have become extinct, disrupting the communities which depended on them. The rivers and underground water in some areas have also been contaminated. Dioxin will persist in the environment for many years; and

d.  erosion and desertification necessarily will change the environment contributing to warming the planet and the dislocation of crop and animal life.

Considering also that this Tribunal finds:

1) that the US war in  Vietnam was an illegal war of aggression  against a country seeking national liberation: the illegality is  based on Articles 2(3) and 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations which require countries to peacefully resolve their disputes.  The massive spraying of Agent Orange/Dioxin on the southern part of Vietnam and the massive bombardment of the northern part of Vietnam clearly demonstrates that the United States violated the UN Charter mandate to refrain from the use of force in international relations;

2) that the Nuremberg Principles define a war of aggression as a crime against peace punishable under international law;

3) that the use of Dioxin was a war crime because it was a poisoned weapon outlawed both in customary international law and by the Hague Convention of 1907. [Hague Convention 23(a)]. Violations of the customs and laws of war are considered war crimes under Principle VI b of the Nuremberg Principles. The Chemical companies knew how their Dioxin- laced products would be used in Vietnam; yet they continued to manufacture and supply these agents with very high levels of Dioxin to the US government.  By providing poison weapons the companies were complicit in the war crimes committed by the US government;

4) that the use of Dioxin was a crime against humanity as defined by VI c of the Nuremberg Principles, because it constituted an inhuman act done against a civilian population in connection with a crime against peace and war crimes;

5) that the use of illegal weapons in an illegal war has caused the devastation described above. These crimes have produced so much pain, suffering and anguish to at least 3 to 4 million people and their families.  The effects of these crimes will be felt for generations to come; and

6) that the time has come to provide an adequate remedy to the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange and their families and to repair as much as possible the environment of Vietnam.

CONCLUSIONS:

This Tribunal finds:

1. that the United States Government is guilty of the offenses listed above and determines that the damage to the environment of Vietnam can be defined as “ecocide”;
2. that the Chemical companies who were charged in the summons and complaint are guilty of complicity in the offenses listed above; and
3. that the United States Government and the Chemical companies which manufactured and supplied Agent Orange must fully compensate the victims of Agent Orange and their families. The US Government and the Chemical companies must also repair the environment to remove the contamination of Dioxin from the soil and the waters, and especially from the “hot spots” around former US military bases.

To complete the above task of compensation and repair, the Tribunal recommends that the Agent Orange Commission be established to assess the amount of compensation to be allocated to each victim, family group, and community.

The Agent Orange Commission will also determine the amount necessary to provide specialized medical facilities and rehabilitation and other therapeutic services to the victims and their families.

The Agent Orange Commission will also estimate the costs of the necessary studies of contaminated areas and the cost of environmental repair in the future.

The Agent Orange Commission will also determine the amount to be paid to the State of Vietnam to indemnify it for monies it has expended to support the victims and  repair the environment.

The Tribunal urges the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to forthwith constitute such Agent Orange Commission of people of eminence in the fields of medicine, science, engineering, law, epidemiology, agriculture, toxicology, ecology, public administration, and representatives of civil society.  The Agent Orange Commission shall make its recommendations within one year of its constitution.

Once the Agent Orange Commission has established the requisite amounts, those monies shall be paid by the United States Government and the Chemical companies jointly and severally to a trust fund specially created for present and future victims and their families, and repair of the environment. The amount of $1.52 billion a year being paid by the United States Government to the US Vietnam veteran victims of Agent Orange can be employed as a guide for the calculations performed by the Agent Orange Commission.

The full report of the Tribunal along with this Executive Summary shall be submitted to the Vietnamese Government within 4 weeks and will be published in full and widely distributed in the International community.

Press Advisory

May 22, 2009

Tribunal renders judgement against U.S. government and chemical companies – Hears testimony of U.S. Veteran and Vietnamese Agent Orange victims

For information, please contact:
Jearnne Mirer, Esq., Secretary General, International Association of Democratic Lawyers
(313) 515-2046 — Email: jeanne@eisnerassociates.com

On May 18, 2009, an international tribunal, sitting in Paris, ruled that the United States government and corporate manufacturers of Agent Orange are liable and responsible for the spraying of the dioxin laden chemical on the people and land of Vietnam during the Vietnam War.  The judges decided that “the use of Dioxin was a war crime because it was a poisoned weapon outlawed both in customary international law and by the Hague Convention of 1907” and ” that that the use of Dioxin was a crime against humanity as defined by VI c of the Nuremberg Principles. ”

The Tribunal held that, because the use of Agent Orange was illegal under international law and its use ” produced so much pain, suffering and anguish to at least 3 to 4 million people and their families… [that] the effects of these crimes will be felt for generations to come… the time has come to provide an adequate remedy to the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange and their families and to repair as much as possible the environment of Vietnam.”

The judges ordered the U.S. government and chemical manufacturers of Agent Orange to fully compensate to compensate the victims and their families and to clean up the environmental contamination in and around dioxin laden “hot spots” in Vietnam.

American veteran Frank Corcoran, who served in Vietnam and later contracted cancer acknowledged by the Veterans Administration to be related to Agent Orange, testified that, while he received 100% disability for his illness, ” the US is denying the Vietnamese people the same justice.”  Rena Kopystenski whose Vietnam veteran husband, John, died a year ago and whose son and grandson suffer from the effects of  John’s exposure to Agent Orange testified that when she looks at photos showing Agent Orange’s terrible impact on the children of Vietnam she realizes that, “while the chemical companies maimed and destroyed a selected segment of the American population, it has totally devastated an entire population and future populations of the country of Vietnam.”  She concluded, “with the death of my husband comes a new dedication to force answers, treatment and compensation for those who have been left to relive the War in Vietnam.”

The panel of international judges included Jitendra Sharma, President of the IADL and Supreme Court lawyer, India, Claudia Morcom, judge, Michigan and Juan Guzman, Judge, Chile, the judge who tried Augusto Pinochet. The judges heard testimony about the personal impact of Agent Orange from Vietnamese, U.S. and South Korean victims and from renowned scientists from May 15-16th.

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Autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, developmental delays and intellectual retardation are among the neurodevelopmental disorders that extract an enormous emotional, mental and financial toll in terms of compromised quality of life and lifelong disability. Additionally, these require special education, psychological and medical support services that drain resources and contribute to further stress on the families and communities. While it is generally accepted that the cause for these disabilities is likely to include genetic and environmental factors, for a vast majority of these disabilities, the cause remains unknown.

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The soldiers are dying. But, even more tragically, the children they have left behind are suffering. Sometimes at Birth Defect Research for Children we hear from veterans, but usually it is wives and children who send us poignant messages:

“I lost my husband from a cancerous brain tumor 13 months ago. My son has many disabilities, including Tourette’s syndrome, mental retardation, mild cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, and he is profoundly deaf. He will never be able to live on his own.”

“My father passed away in 1998. He had many health problems, including type II diabetes. He was only 50 years old. Agent Orange has been a part of my life from the moment I was born. I was born without my right leg, several of my fingers, and my big toe on my left foot. My mother had three miscarriages. My younger brother (age 29) has to wear bifocals and suffers from chronic joint pain.”

“I served four tours in Vietnam. We have three children: one daughter with a heart defect, another with scoliosis and digestive problems, and a son born with a defective optic nerve that has left him blind in the right eye. There is no history of birth defects on either side of our family.”

Since 1991, we have recorded thousands of such cases in our National Birth Defect Registry.

Some 2.8 million Americans served in the Vietnam theater of operations. Three-to-six percent of Vietnam veterans’ children are born with some kind of birth defect (Emory University School of Medicine reports a 3-4 percent birth-defect rate among the general population). An impressive body of scientific evidence points to increases in birth defects and developmental problems in the children of Vietnam veterans and others exposed to dioxin-like chemicals.

Agent Orange was a combination of two defoliants, 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D contaminated by dioxin (TCDD), a toxic byproduct of the chemical production process. More than 19 million gallons of herbicides were sprayed in Vietnam between 1962-71. More than 11.2 million gallons sprayed after 1965 were dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange. Agents Purple, Pink, and Green used before 1965 were even more highly contaminated with dioxin.

According to Barry Commoner and Thomas Webster in their 2003 book Dioxins and Health, “the current scientific evidence argues not only that dioxin is a potent carcinogen, but that the non-cancer health and environmental hazards of dioxin may be more serious than believed previously.” They report that dioxin appears to act like a persistent synthetic hormone that interferes with important physiological signaling systems that can lead to altered cell development, differentiation, and regulation. The most troubling consequence is the possibility of reproductive, developmental, and immunological effects at the levels of dioxin-like compounds present in the bodies of the average person.

Since studies of Vietnam veterans exposed to herbicides in Vietnam have found much higher levels of dioxin in their bodies than the average person, these effects also should be detectable in their children.

In 1996, the National Academy of Sciences found “limited/suggestive” evidence of an association between Agent Orange exposure and spina bifida, a neural tube defect, in the children of Vietnam veterans. In 2000, Dr. H.K. Kang of the Environmental Epidemiology Service of the Veterans Health Administration published a study that found that the risk of moderate-to-severe birth defects was significantly associated with the mother’s military service in Vietnam. As a result of these findings, the VA now funds assistance programs for spina bifida in the children of male or female Vietnam veterans and for all birth defects without other known causes in the children of female veterans.

The Australian Department of Veterans Affairs (without acknowledging a link to Agent Orange exposure) provides treatment to the children of Vietnam veterans with spina bifida, cleft lip or palate, acute myeloid leukemia, and adrenal gland cancer.

Other studies offer evidence that many more birth defects may be associated with dioxin-contaminated herbicide exposure in Vietnam. In 1990, an independent scientific review of the literature was sponsored by Vietnam Veterans of America, the American Legion, and the National Veterans Legal Services Project. Seven prominent, independent scientists and physicians on this Agent Orange Scientific Task Force concluded that elevated incidences of birth defects in the children of Vietnam veterans were found in several studies. These included spina bifida, oral clefts, cardiovascular defects, hip dislocations, and malformations of the urinary tract. In addition, defects of the digestive tract and other neoplasms such as neuroblastoma also were higher in Vietnam veterans’ children.

Aschengrau and Monson of the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study published in 1990 in the American Journal of Public Health on paternal military service and the risk of late pregnancy outcomes. The scientists reported that Vietnam veterans’ risk of fathering an infant with one or more major malformations was increased at a statistically significant level.

The Air Force Ranch Hand study of Vietnam veterans involved in herbicide spraying has been analyzed several times for adverse reproductive outcomes. A 1995 analysis found modest, but significant, increases in spontaneous abortion, defects of the circulatory system and heart, all anomalies, major birth defects, and some developmental delays in the Ranch Hand veterans’ children. There also was an increase in spina bifida in the children of Ranch Hand veterans with high dioxin levels.

More recent studies have found additional evidence of increases in birth defects in the children of both male and female veterans. Researchers at the University of Texas, the University of Queensland, and the University of Sydney collaborated on a meta-analysis (a review of the combined data from many studies) of Agent Orange and birth defects in the International Journal of Epidemiology. They identified all studies from 1966-2002 that had examined an association between Agent Orange or dioxin and birth defects. The study authors identified 22 studies, including thirteen Vietnamese and nine non-Vietnamese studies.

Their review indicated that parental exposure to Agent Orange was associated with an increased risk in birth defects. The association increased with greater degrees of exposure rated on intensity and duration of exposure. Although other researchers have pointed out weaknesses in the studies of birth defects from Vietnam, the birth defect association with Agent Orange exposure was statistically significant even when the Vietnamese studies were excluded.

Genetic damage in New Zealand Vietnam War veterans was investigated in a study published this year in Cytogenetic & Genome Research by researchers from the Institute of Molecular Biosciences at Massey University in New Zealand. A significantly higher frequency of genetic damage was found among New Zealand Vietnam War veterans compared to a control group. The authors suggested that New Zealand Vietnam veterans had been exposed to a harmful substance that could cause genetic damage. Although the authors recommended caution in interpreting specific health outcomes, they concluded that genetic damage to any degree has the potential to result in adverse health effects. The greatest concern about genetic damage is that it can be passed on to future generations.

Important new research on birth defects in the children of Vietnam veterans was presented at the 2006 meeting of the Society for Epidemiological Research in Boston. Three researchers conducted a study of neural tube defects (anencephaly, encephalocele, spina bifida) in the offspring of Vietnam veterans. They found that paternal blood levels of TCDD were significantly associated with neural tube defects in their children and that a particular paternal genotype (genetic predisposition) could enhance this association.

LITANY OF BIRTH DEFECTS

Since 1990, Birth Defect Research for Children has collected data on birth defects and developmental disabilities in the children of Vietnam veterans. The National Birth Defect Registry is a collaboration among seven prominent scientists to identify patterns of birth defects and disabilities in children with similar prenatal exposures.

When compared to non-veterans’ children in the registry, the children of Vietnam veterans have shown consistent increases in learning, attention, and behavioral disorders; all types of skin disorders; problems with tooth development; allergic conditions and asthma; immune system disorders including chronic infections; some childhood cancers; and endocrine problems including thyroid disorders and childhood diabetes. More and more studies of prenatal exposures to dioxins and similar chemicals are adding support for these associations.

According to Linda Birnbaum of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, dioxin can modulate growth and development. In the embryo and fetus, dioxin-altered programming can result in malformations, anomalies, fetal toxicity, and functional and structural deficits that often are not detectable until later in life.

In a paper published in Environmental Health Perspectives, Birnbaum discusses research that demonstrates that prenatal exposures to endocrine disruptors (chemicals that can disrupt hormone activity) such as TCDD can alter hormones, reproductive tissue development, and increase susceptibility to potential carcinogen exposure in the adult.

Increased susceptibility to chronic childhood infections and cancers later in life may be a result of dioxin’s effects on the developing immune system. Researchers in 2000 investigated the immunological effects of everyday exposures to PCBs and dioxins in preschool-age Dutch children. The researchers found that prenatal exposure to these chemicals was associated with changes in the T-cell population. They concluded that the effects of prenatal background exposure to PCBs and dioxins persist into childhood and could be associated with a greater susceptibility to infectious disease.

Another 2003 study by a team of researchers from Quebec reported their finding of a chemical imbalance that could be a marker for prenatal immune damage caused by organochlorines (which include dioxin-like compounds). The researchers found that the lymphocyte cells of newborns exposed to higher concentrations of these chemicals during prenatal development secreted fewer cytokines than those of a control group of newborns. These alterations of the immune system could lead to increased susceptibility to infection.

A growing body of evidence is linking prenatal exposures to dioxin-like chemicals to learning and behavioral deficits. At a Children’s Health Meeting
in 2000 sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Jerry Heindel reported on several studies of pregnant women who had consumed several meals of PCB-contaminated fish per month during pregnancy and who gave birth to infants with small but detectable learning and behavioral deficits. The children with the highest exposure averaged six points lower in IQ compared to children with lower levels of exposure.

A 2007 study from the Department of Preventive Medicine at Kyungpook University in South Korea reported associations between blood concentration of persistent organic pollutants (including dioxins) and increases in learning and attention disorders in children in the general population.

Thomas Zoeller, an endocrinologist at the University of Massachusetts, has found that dioxin-like PCBs activate cellular machinery that can alter the structure of other, non-dioxin-like PCBs. Some of these dioxin-induced metabolites can act directly on the thyroid hormone receptor. In the fetal brain, this could alter the course of development leading to learning and developmental disabilities.

The new research on dioxin and dioxin-like chemicals holds the promise of unraveling the intricate ways in which these chemicals can alter embryonic development. The research should continue, but it is now 35 years since Agent Orange was first sprayed in Vietnam. And the calls keep coming.

In Dioxins and Health, Thomas Webster and Barry Commoner comment: “Much of the media coverage of the dioxin debate has consisted of trying to convince the public that their common sense is wrong and that experts know best. In this case, the public’s view has been largely correct. Dioxin is a dangerous and unwanted chemical pollutant.”

Vietnam veterans who would like to add information about their children’s birth defects or disabilities to the National Birth Defect Registry sponsored by Birth Defect Research for Children can register online at www.birthdefects.org

Betty Mekdeci is the executive director of Birth Defect Research for Children.

More about birth defects and agent orange

The National Vietnam Veterans’ Birth Defects/Learning Disabilities Project is a cooperative effort between the Association of Birth Defect Children (ABDC) and the New Jersey Agent Orange Commission (NJAOC).

In April of 1991, the state of New Jersey approved a contract with ABDC to collect data on disabilities in the children of Vietnam veterans through the NBDR.

Questionaires were returned by 800 Vietnam veterans and disabilities in their children were scientifically compared to non-veterans’ children in in order to learn of the possible effects of herbicides/dioxin on reproductive outcomes.

Initial 1992 data comparison has revealed no increases in any major category of structural birth defects, but a pattern of functional problems in Vietnam veterans’ children is emerging.  This pattern includes significant increases in the following conditions: all areas of learning and attention disorders; chronic skin disorders (eczema, psoriasis, acne-like rash, skin fungus and other skin problems); benign tumors and cysts; allergic disorders (hives, asthma, hay fever, food intolerance and others); growth disorders; immune problems; emotional/behavioral problems and a range of miscellaneous conditions including: tinnitus, frequent headaches, heat/cold sensitivity, fatigue, muscle pain or weakness, joint pain, unexplained fevers, hair loss, tooth problems and chronic stomach disorders.

The post Agent Orange & Birth Defects: The Legacy Continues appeared first on VAORRC.

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New findings paint a more sinister picture of the Vietnam War herbicide; scientists are trying to revive an epic study of its effects on U.S. veterans and clarify its legacy in Vietnam

The post Agent Orange’s Bitter Harvest (Science, Vol. 315) appeared first on VAORRC.

Environmental Health Perspectives

BACKGROUND: One of the outcomes positively associated with dioxin exposure in humans is type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted in order to find the molecular biological evidence for the diabetogenic action of dioxin in adipose samples from Vietnam veterans.

METHODS: We obtained 313 adipose tissue samples both from Vietnam veterans who were exposed to dioxin (Operation Ranch Hand) and from comparison veterans who served in Southeast Asia with no record of dioxin exposure. We conducted quantitative reverse-transcribed polymerase chain reaction studies on selected marker mRNAs from these samples.

RESULTS: We found the most sensitive and reliable molecular indicator of dioxin-induced diabetes to be the ratio of mRNA of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) and nuclear transcription factor kappa B (NFκB), a marker of inflammation. This ratio showed significant correlations to serum dioxin residues and to fasting glucose among those in the Ranch Hand group and, surprisingly, even in the comparison group, who have low levels of dioxin comparable to the general public.

Such a correlation in the comparison group was particularly significant among those with known risk factors such as obesity and family history of diabetes.

CONCLUSIONS: These results show that the GLUT4:NFκB ratio is a reliable marker for the diabetogenic action of dioxin, particularly at very low exposure levels that are not much higher than those found in the general public, implying a need to address current exposure levels.

KEY WORDS: adipose tissue, Agent Orange, biological markers, diabetes, fasting glucose, glucose transporter type 4, inflammation, molecular epidemiology, NFκB, tetrachlorodibenzodioxin.

Environ Health Perspect 114:1677–1683 (2006). doi:10.1289/ehp.9262 available via

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