Study Links Agent Orange to MDS in Veterans
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- Mikkael Sekeres and colleagues published findings in Blood Advances showing that Agent Orange exposure is linked to MDS, a group of blood cancers previously not formally connected to the herbicide despite long-suspected ties.
- The study ran for nearly eight years through the MDS Natural History Study, enrolling patients from 160 sites across the country; 6% of participants reported Agent Orange exposure, and 54% of those exposed were found to have MDS or a precursor condition, compared to 37% of those not exposed.
- Agent Orange-exposed patients were more likely to have complex MDS in poor or very poor genetic risk groups, with more molecular mutations and higher rates of disease progression, according to the research.
- Black veterans were three times more likely than white veterans to have been exposed to Agent Orange, often serving in frontline positions like infantry, where defoliants were sprayed most heavily.
- The Department of Veterans Affairs currently does not recognize MDS as presumptively linked to Agent Orange, forcing affected veterans to independently prove a direct service connection — which Sekeres called 'almost impossible' — to receive disability compensation.
- Agent Orange was contaminated with the highly toxic compound dioxin during production by companies including Monsanto and Dow Chemical, and was mixed with kerosene or fuel — also a carcinogen — when sprayed from the air and ground over Vietnamese jungles.
Why it matters: Sekeres built the study specifically to give aging Vietnam veterans the evidence they need to claim VA disability benefits, which are currently blocked by the agency's refusal to recognize MDS as an Agent Orange-linked condition. If the VA acts on this research, thousands of vets who developed MDS decades after exposure could finally qualify for compensation they cannot access today, and civilian populations in Vietnam and neighboring countries — also exposed — would gain a documented basis for early screening and claims.
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