Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure Committee on Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans

and Agent Orange Exposure; Institute of Medicine (2011)

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13026 pg 49/158 The herbicides were purchased from several US chemical manufacturers and transported via commercial Merchant Marine ships from the United States to military installations in Vietnam. Blue Water Navy and Coast Guard vessels were not used to transport herbicides from the United States to the Republic of Vietnam (Baldini, 2009). Note: To include a subordinate U.S. Company, lvon Watkins Dow chemical factory operating on the island community of New Plymouth, New Zealand. http://www.bhopal.net/worldmap/new_zealand_more.html The Commanding Officer of the USS White Plains AFS-4 wrote a statement showing they did transport chemicals used in the development of Agent Orange as loaded in Subic Bay Philippines for further transport to Vietnam. http://www.va.gov/vetapp11/files2/1117049.txt Pgs 53- 54/158 (Strictly FYI) http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13026&page=53

CHEMICALS USED ABOARD US NAVY SHIPS

Blue Water Navy and Brown Water Navy personnel were exposed to many chemicals during their shipboard deployments. Exposure may have occurred by ingestion, inhalation, or dermal contact. Some common chemicals found aboard surface vessels and their potential associated adverse health effects are presented in Table 3-2. The table is not meant to be comprehensive but rather represents some of the chemicals to which naval personnel might have been exposed while serving on ships in the Blue Water Navy during the Vietnam War. In
TABLE 3-2 Examples of Adverse Health Effects Associated with Chemical Exposure Chemical Trichloroethylene Mercuryd Benzene
e c

Use Category Degreaser Explosives, disinfectants, batteries Component of jet and other fuels, combustion product, cigarette smoke

Adverse Health Effecta Cancer Cancer Peripheral neuropathy Leukemia Chronic obstructive

Polychlorinated biphenylsb Insulation

Phosgene

Welding

pulmonary disease Asbestosb Hydraulic fluidsc Lead

a b b

Insulation, cement pipe, sealants, plasters Machinery lubricants Electroplating, soldering, boiler water

Cancer, pulmonary disease, asbestosis Nervous system effects Neurotoxicity

Paint, cable and wire, plastics, pastes, caulks Neuropathy

Hydrazinef

Long-term adverse health effects from Haz-Map Database, National Library of Medicine. Navy Occupational Safety and Health Program Manual for Forces Afloat. Volume I. SOH and

Major Hazard-Specific Programs (Department of the Navy, 2002).

c

Trichloroethylene factsheet. Available Navy Occupational Safety and Health Program Manual for Forces Afloat. Volume II. Surface Ship

at:http://www.nmcphc.med.navy.mil/downloads/ep/factsheets/tce.pdf (accessed January 19, 2011).

d

Safety Standards (Department of the Navy, 2007).

e

Benzene factsheet: Available

at:http://www.nmcphc.med.navy.mil/downloads/ep/factsheets/benzene.pdf (accessed January 19, 2011).

f

Navy MIL-H-24776: Hydrazine Test Kit, Naval Shipboard. 1992. Available

at:http://engineers.ihs.com/document/abstract/NCSWDAAAAAAAAAAA (accessed January 19, 2011). determining long-term adverse health effects of chemicals like those shown in Table 3-2, it is generally presumed that a person was exposed to a single chemical. However, in practice, personnel aboard naval vessels were exposed to a complex mixture of environmental contaminants. Those exposures could occur concurrently or sequentially. The importance of understanding the exposures is twofold.
Note: (Naval personnel were assigned Preventive Maintenance tasks as well as rehabilitation work crews, better known as tiger teams that would have exposed them to various chemicals/materials in the performance of their duties regardless of rating assigned. i.e., Seaman, cook, yeoman, radioman, signalman, etc Recommend reading further for justification of exposure based on shipboard ventilation systems)

Pg 89/158 Exposure opportunity has been defined as the potential for exposure rather than as a quantitative determination of exposure (that is, relatable to dose) and is therefore only a crude estimate of dose (IOM, 2008). There are no environmental concentration data (for example, data on concentrations in soil and water) for the three populations of interest on which to base estimates of individual dose or exposure levels. Note: In 2010 (This IOM report was published May 20, 2011) Section 2 page 2-7 provides environmental concentration data for Da Nang, 35 years later. http://www.agentorangerecord.com/images/uploads/modules/EA%20DNG.pdf Pg 98-99/158

Ingestion Ground troops and Brown Water Navy personnel The committee was unable to locate information on water sources or water treatment of Vietnamese surface (or ground) water to determine the potential for TCDD contamination of freshwater supplies either on US military bases or from local municipal water supplies. The committee was also unable to locate specific information about sources of potable water for ground troops and Brown Water Navy personnel. Westheider (2007) reported that water evaporators were used on some US military bases in Vietnam to produce potable water. Anecdotal information suggests that ground troops, particularly those who were in the field and away from firebases, would sometimes obtain their water from fast-running streams, rainwater, and shell holes in addition to carrying water canteens and rubber bladders (http://community.history.com/topic/10831/t/Usable-water.html).
Other information on water sources could not be identified. It is possible that some of the water sources had been sprayed with herbicide. Water treatment, if used, would probably be aimed at controlling pathogens and would not be expected to reduce TCDD contamination substantially other than by removal of settleable solids. Thus, exposure of the two populations to Agent Orangeassociated TCDD via ingestion of freshwater is plausible. Note: 3,000 barrel water tank and treatment plant completed in Da Nang pg III-2 b. http://www.history.navy.mil/ar/docs/comnavforv/1966/July1966.pdf
MCB-133 Begins on Water Treatment Plant at Camp Tien Sha at Da Nang pg 49 http://www.history.navy.mil/ar/docs/comnavforv/1967/February1967.pdf 2 Four Inch Water lines run from Monkey (Marble) Mountain to Camp Tien Sha in Da Nang http://www.history.navy.mil/ar/docs/comnavforv/1966/August1966.pdf pg III-2 8 Inch Water Line From a Dam on Monkey Mountain to Camp Tien Sha in Da Nang pg 48

Da Nang visited 85 times by Seventhflt ships; Da Nang provided 566,460 gals diesel fuel, and 1,063,478 gals of potable water (contaminated with AO ~ emphasis mine) pg 49 http://www.history.navy.mil/ar/docs/comnavforv/1967/March1967.pdf Four large water camels manufactured in Subic Bay arrive in Da Nang for providing potable water to visiting ships.http://www.history.navy.mil/ar/docs/comnavforv/1966/August1966.pdf pg III-6 (4) MACV Monthly Summary July 1967 page 46 shows "The Port of Danang was visited 134 times by SEVENTH Fleet ships during July. The ships were provided with almost one and one-half million gallons of diesel fuel and over "three million gallons of potable water", in addition to mail, freight, courier, transient billeting and disbursing services. http://www.history.navy.mil/ar/docs/comnavforv/1967/July1967.pdf MCB-5 was responsible for building the hill road overlooking the western perimeter of the Da Nang complex and maintaining several miles of camp roads . It installed two water supply systems involving a three-mile, eight-inch water line connecting the 3d Marine Division cantonment with the Cao Do River. pg 43 http://www.marforres.marines.mil/Portals/116/Docs/Chaplain/instruction/ChaplainsWithMarinesinViet nam1962-1971.pdf Modern Day Problems with Water Supply DaNang/Aquifer/Rivers/Reservoirs (identifies sources of water supplies, rivers, streams surrounding Da Nang and problems associated with runoff during monsoon seasons) http://www.acccrn.org/sites/default/files/documents/1%20DaNang%20Resilience%20Strategy_0.pdf

Example of Types of Hotel Services for US Navy Ships at ports around the globe:
Fleet Support http://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrsw/om/port_operations.html Fleet Support coordinates logistics requests from all ship moves in NRSW. Ship visits from U.S. warships not homeported in San Diego and all foreign military ship visits are also coordinated by Fleet Support. The logistics coordination includes arranging hotel services (water, steam, sewage disposal), vehicles, cranes, telephones, stores load/unload and special requests to name just a few. Coordination is conducted through Port Control, Berthing Services, NAVFAC, FISC, and the Navy's Fuel Farm. Contact Fleet Support at 619-556-1484.