The New Jersey Agent Orange Commission will present the first copies of their new Physicians Desk Guide to the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Bang and the Vietnamese Ambassador Hon. Nguyen Tan Chien in a ceremony at the Saint Regis Hotel (2 East 55th Street, New York City) at noon, Wednesday, December 12. Montclair State University students will also be receiving the PDGs they have volunteered to hand deliver to more than 10,000 New Jersey physicians during their holiday break.

The New Jersey Agent Orange Commission’s Physicians Desk Guide details 35 specific diseases and birth defects that are directly caused by exposure to the more than 18 million gallons of Agent Orange (containing TCDD/dioxin) that was sprayed over Vietnam during the nine-year-long war.  The PDG was designed to educate doctors and nurses about the diseases New Jersey’s 80,000 Vietnam veterans and their children are at particularly high risk of contracting according to the National Academy of Sciences.

The New Jersey Agent Orange Commission is the only government agency nationwide whose sole mission is to study health problems among Vietnam Veterans and to educate veterans, physicians and the general public.  After a 1998 survey revealed that N.J. physicians made the correlation to Agent Orange exposure in only 1 percent of the survey’s case studies, the NJAOC began compiling the PDG.  The guide has been completed six months ahead of schedule and more than $13,300 under budget.
 
New Jersey’s new Agent Orange Physicians Desk Guide
       
“Our Physicians Desk Guide is the most important project the NJAOC has ever undertaken during our 20-year history,” said Dr. Paul A. Scipione, NJAOC Chairman.  Earlier contributions include NJAOC’s Pointman I and II research projects which established the technique that is now used worldwide to find dioxin in the tissue of people, even years after exposure.

More than 300 Montclair State University students have volunteered their time during the holiday break and spring semester to deliver the guide to 7,100 New Jersey primary care physicians and 3,700 specialty care physicians.  The remainder of the 12,000 first-issue copies will be given to New Jersey hospitals, emergency rooms, libraries and veteran service officers by MSU students.

Student quote  “It wasn’t until I started working with the Agent Orange Commission that I learned just how much Agent Orange affects veterans and their whole families still today.  I was surprised that so few people know just how devastating dioxin exposure during the Vietnam War can be.” 

Administration quote  “It has been an honor to be able to be a part of compiling this much needed medical resource.  It is the least we can do for those who have paid a high price in service to our country.”

The information presented in the NJAOC Guide is equally relevant to Vietnamese military personnel and civilians who were exposed to TCDD/dioxin during or following the 1964-1975 war. Vietnamese officials plan on translating the guide into Vietnamese for use by physicians in their country as well.

Vietnamese Embassy quote