SUBJECT:  PROSTRATE CANCER


From: Rod Bain
To: scott

Dear Scott,

After spraying 21Million gallons of herbicide over the South Vietnam countryside 1962-71 I think it not an unreasonable assumption, ‘though probably not a very scientific one, that all personnel who served in Vietnam be they afloat or ashore have been exposed to sufficient dioxin of one form or another as a result of drinking contaminated water that we can believe that the males will all have prostate cancer until proved otherwise. To my mind that proof requires a negative biopsy. Too many of us have had early cancers at a youngish age (middle fifties) with normal range PSAs and negative digital examinations.

This has moved well beyond the anecdotal stage to the point where the figures I quote are that you are 2.3 times more likely to have it than your civilian counterpart who never went to Vietnam and should you have it then it will be 3 (three) times more aggressive than your civilian counterpart who has it.

There is now so much US Military Medical literature on the topic that the Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs accepts any Prostate Cancer pension claim put in by a Vietnam Vet as service related that there is no argument placed in the way of the claim except to prove you were actually there for a minimal period of time. Should you require further departmental confirmation speak to Paul Murdoch at the Repatriation Medical Authority at paul.murdoch@rma.gov.au

Hope the above has been of some assistance.

Regards

Rod


Dr Roderick Bain MBBS FRCA FANZCA
VVFHS Consultative Forum Member
RSL (NSW) State Vice President
Tel 02-93808774
Mob. 0417604450

Hi Eric,

Praise be to Allah or whomsoever you may follow that someone is at last listening in the Aust. Veteran world.

I’m getting very sick of the sound of my own voice on this prostate topic.

As your writer very wisely points out and I will put it even more bluntly. Any male who spent any time in Vietnam afloat or ashore between ‘62 and ‘72 must assume he has Prostate Cancer until he can prove otherwise. This means at a minimum one blood test and one physical examination of your prostate every two years. You are not the same as other men your age you have 2.3 greater chance of having the cancer and you have three (3) times the chance of dying from it if you do have it, than any non-Vietnam Vet..

Why? Because agent orange induced cancer is very nasty and very aggressive. If you are over sixty I would demand a biopsy as your writer did even if you are told by the GP or Urologist you do not need it. Unless they have a number of Veterans on their books they will treat you as an ordinary customer. You were exposed to agent orange every time you drank water from any where even on board HMAShips. There were other sources but the water alone is enough. So you must have at least one biopsy and then remain under review with blood tests forever.

DVA will fund only one variety of surgery currently but that can be sorted out if and when required. How am I so certain about all this? Well at age fifty six I parted company with my prostate being told I could wait and watch as an option after my biopsy results came back. No way Hose’
After surgery the pathology showed waiting was not an option for me at all as the cancer was well advanced but still contained. I could not have waited. Some years later, happily, all remains well.

So, the point being. The research work is in; the fact that it is an aggressive little devil is established. What to do? Educate all your mates and their partners to have them act and stay above the turf. Blood test, Physical examination, One biopsy, on going review. The last time I sent out a similar message like this I was accused of being alarmist. Better that than watching Rome burn when prevention is to hand. Just do it!!

Regards

Rod


Dr Roderick Bain (MO ex-RAN)
VVFHS Consultative Forum Member
RSL (NSW) State Vice President
Tel 02-93808774
Mob. 0417604450


PROSTATE CANCER and AGENT ORANGE.........the last word



Dear Reader,
The article below is the largest and most accurate study to date and I believe will be the final word on the topic of prostate cancer in service personnel and their exposure to agent orange.
There should be no Vietnam Vet who goes untested in this country by the end of this year. Of the 58,000 or so who participated in that war, the number carrying cancerous prostates will be several thousand and they must be found and treated as there is no reason why they should die from that complaint if treated in time. Their deaths will be through shear neglect on our part or on their own; so it is imperative that no blame be laid at our door through a failure to notify those personnel so exposed.
If some Veterans out there are sick of hearing about this matter and they have done nothing.....tough!

This information is so hot off the press it has not yet appeared in official medical journals but will do so in the 15th September, ‘08 edition of CANCER. May I commend this article to you for publication as I believe it is the definitive study in this matter and imperative that our veteran population hears this news once again.
Many Pension Officers around the country will be aware DVA has already accepted the link between the cancer and herbicidal exposure. What many do not appreciate is that this was done on statistical results, generously weighted in the veterans’ favour by the assessing panel. This new research now fully supports what was formerly only a high index of suspicion, regarding the connection between disease and herbicide.
So my advice to every male who was in Vietnam, afloat or ashore, for whatever duration of time, go and have your LMO check your Prostate and seek a Prostate Specific Antigen blood test at the same time. This will need to be done for the remainder of your life at two yearly intervals or as professionally advised. No buts just do it!
Regards,
Rod.


Dr Roderick Bain MBBS FRCA FANZCA
RSL NSW State Vice President (Southern Country)
Tel 02-93808774
Mob. 0417604450



PS. The term metastatic disease means that the cancer has spread beyond the prostate into bone, lung, liver. The prognosis in these cases is less than ideal; so we need to catch it earlier than this stage of development.


Exposure to Agent Orange linked to prostate cancer in
Vietnam veterans
Public release date: 5-Aug-2008
Contact: Karen Finney
karen.finney@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu  
REFERENCE: University of California Davis
Health
System
SACRAMENTO, Calif.)( ­ UC Davis Cancer Centre physicians today released results of research showing that Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange have greatly increased risks of prostate cancer and even greater risks of getting the most aggressive form of the disease as compared to those who were not exposed.

The findings, which appear online now and will be published in the September 15 issue of the journal Cancer, are the first to link the herbicide with this form of cancer. The research is also the first to utilize a large population of men in their 60s and the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test to screen for the disease. "While others have linked Agent Orange to cancers such as soft-tissue sarcomas, Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, there is limited evidence so far associating it with prostate cancer," said Karim Chamie, lead author of the study and resident physician with the UC Davis Department of Urology and the VA Northern California Health Care System. "Here we report on the largest study to date of Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange and the incidence of prostate cancer."

Chamie also said that, unlike previous studies that were either too small or conducted on men who were too young, patients in the current study were entering their prime years for developing prostate cancer. There was also the added advantage that it was conducted entirely during the era of PSA screening, providing a powerful tool for early diagnosis and tracking of prostate cancer.

More than 13,000 Vietnam veterans enrolled in the VA Northern California Health Care System were stratified into two groups ­ exposed or not exposed to Agent Orange between 1962 and 1971. Based on medical evaluations conducted between 1998 and 2006, the study revealed that twice as many men exposed to Agent Orange were identified with prostate cancer. In addition, Agent Orange exposed men were diagnosed two-and-a-half years younger and were nearly four times more likely to present with metastatic disease. Other prostate cancer risk factors ­ race, body-mass index and smoking ­ were not statistically different between the two groups.

"Our country's veterans deserve the best possible health care, and this study clearly confirms that Agent Orange exposure during service in Vietnam is associated with a higher risk of prostate cancer later in life," said Ralph de Vere White, UC Davis Cancer Centre director and a study co-author. "Just as those with a family history of prostate cancer or who are of African-American heritage are screened more frequently, so too should men with Agent Orange exposure be given priority consideration for all the screening and diagnostic tools we have at our disposal in the hopes of early detection and treatment of this disease."

Now a banned chemical, Agent Orange is a combination of two synthetic compounds known to be contaminated with the dioxin tetrachlorodibenzo-paradioxin (TCDD) during the manufacturing process. Named for the colour of the barrel in which it was stored, Agent Orange was one of many broad-leaf defoliants used in Vietnam to destroy dense forests in order to better visualize
enemy activity.

It is estimated that more than 20 million gallons of the chemicals, also known as "rainbow herbicides," were sprayed between 1962 and 1971, contaminating both ground cover and ground troops. Most of the rainbow herbicide used during this time was Agent Orange. In 1997, the International Agency for Research on Cancer reclassified TCDD as a group 1 carcinogen, a classification that includes arsenic, asbestos and gamma radiation.

The study was funded by the UC Davis Cancer Centre. In addition to Chamie and De Vere White, study authors were Bryan Volpp, associate chief of staff, clinical informatics, VA Northern California Health Care System; Dennis Lee and Joonha Ok, UC Davis resident physicians with the Department of Urology; and Lars Ellison who, at the time the study was conducted, was an assistant professor with UC Davis and chief of urology with the VA Northern California Health Care System. Ellison is now affiliated with the Penobscot Bay Medical Centre in Maine and a major in the U.S. Army Reserve currently serving active duty in Iraq. A copy of the study can be requested by emailing Amy Molnar at amolnar@wiley.com.

Prostate cancer is the second most common malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. It is estimated that there will be about 186,320 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States in 2008 and about 28,660 men will die of the disease this year. Designated by the National Cancer Institute, UC Davis Cancer Centre is leading the way in identifying the molecular pathogenesis of carcinoma of the prostate, enhancing therapeutic response and identifying chemoprevention.

For more information visit: www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/cancer