Who writes the Agent Orange Updates?
From 1962 to 1971, the US military sprayed herbicides throughout Vietnam for several reasons, right or wrong: to reduce the thick jungle canopy that concealed opposition forces; to destroy crops that those forces depended on; and to clear tall grasses and bushes from the perimeters of US base camps, air fields, outlying fire-support bases, and inland waterways. Because of continuing uncertainty about the long-term health effects of the sprayed herbicides on Vietnam veterans, Congress passed the Agent Orange Act of 1991 (PL 102-4). The legislation requires the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to provide the Secretary of Veterans Affairs with a comprehensive evaluation of all available and relevant scientific and medical information regarding the health effects of exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used in Vietnam. Mandated updates to the original study were to be conducted every 2 years for 10 years. (This time frame was extended to October 1, 2
