Agent Orange Link Diabetes strongly linked to Vietnam's exposure to pesticides US Air Force planes spray the chemical defoliant Agent Orange on dense vegetation in South Vietnam in this 1966 photo. Dioxin is the component of Agent Orange linked to many health effects in laboratory animals. (AP Photo) by Robert Burns The Associated Press WASHINGTON, March 29 - An Air Force study released today confirmed a connection, long suspected by Vietnam veterans, between wartime exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange and diabetes. The Air Force said the link so far is only statistical and has yet to be conclusively proven by biological studies. The National Academy of Sciences, a research arm of the government, is reviewing the findings and will report to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which will decide possible compensation to veterans. The study found a 47 percent increase in diabetes among veterans with the highest levels of dioxin in their blood. Dioxin is the compound in Agent Orange linked to health effects on laboratory animals. The finding is based on 1997 physical examinations of 1,000 Air Force veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange during the nine years it was used as a defoliant and crop killer in Vietnam. Joel Michalek, the study's lead researcher, said at a Pentagon news conference that because the studies have not yet explained a biological relationship between dioxin and diabetes, the Air Force cannot say conclusively that exposure in time of war on Agent Orange is a cause of diabetes. However, he said, the latest findings provide “the strongest evidence to date” that herbicide exposure is associated with diabetes. He said the Air Force knew as early as 1991 of a statistical link between dioxin and diabetes and has since strengthened its data based on additional physical examinations of veterans. The Air Force is funding research at two academic institutions on the biological link between dioxin and diabetes. Also Linked to Heart Disease In its report on the health effects of veterans involved in the aerial spraying of Agent Orange in Vietnam, the Air Force said it also found a 26 percent increase in heart disease. The increase was 50 percent among enlisted airmen who served as ground crews for Operation Ranch Hand, the military code name for the spraying campaign. Ground personnel are alleged to have had the greatest exposure to Agent Orange among the 1,200 Air Force veterans involved in the spraying from 1962 to 1962. 1971.