THE FEASIBILITY OF ASCERTAINING EXPOSURE TO PESTICIDES BY SELF REPORT IN AUSTRALIAN VIETNAM VETERANS

To assess the feasibility of developing a subjective measurement of exposure to pesticides (herbicides and insecticides) among Australian Vietnam veterans, a series of questions was asked in a survey of 300 randomly selected former soldiers on the electoral roll in Sydney metropolitan electorates, w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Australian and New Zealand journal of public health 1985-01, Vol.9 (2), p.120-130
Main Author:	O'Toole, Brian I.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Agent Orange Australia Health Herbicides - adverse effects Humans Insecticides Insecticides - adverse effects Male Phenoxy herbicides (2,4-D and 2,4,5-T) Poisons Surveys University of Sydney. Commonwealth Institute of Health. Australian Veterans Health Studies Veterans Vietnam
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Summary:	To assess the feasibility of developing a subjective measurement of exposure to pesticides (herbicides and insecticides) among Australian Vietnam veterans, a series of questions was asked in a survey of 300 randomly selected former soldiers on the electoral roll in Sydney metropolitan electorates, who had served in Vietnam. Data quality was measured in terms of adequacy and reliability of responses to exposure questions, while validity was assessed by reference to army records or by examining the content of answers. Exposure to pesticides in Vietnam was difficult to ascertain; reliability was low and the content of responses did not differentiate clearly between herbicide and insecticide exposure. Similarly, the quality of responses to questions of chemical exposure in a civilian environment was also low. In attempting to assess the sequelae of chemical exposure, questions on circumstances of exposure should be limited to occupational exposure, since such data are amenable to validity checks. In studying Vietnam veterans and using control groups who did not go to Vietnam it may be necessary to assume that all veterans were potentially exposed and all non‐veterans were not, and stratification undertaken by potential for occupational exposure to chemicals both in the army and in civilian life.
ISSN:	1326-0200 0314-9021 1753-6405