Prominent scientists from research, industry and academia are reported to be outraged at the suggestion made in the UK’s Guardian newspaper that the late Sir Richard Doll who established the link between lung smoking and cancer allowed his consultancy work in industry to affect his objectivity as a scientist.

They point out in an open letter to the press (Times Online, Dec 8th, 2006) that declaring one’s links with industry was not standard practice 30 years ago, and that Sir Richard made no attempt to hide his. They suspect a smear campaign is being waged against Sir Richard’s work by scientists who wanted him to support their view that certain herbicides, such as “Agent Orange” which was used in the Korea and Vietnam wars, were linked to cancer.

Papers formerly belonging to Sir Richard which he donated to the Wellcome Library and are now in the public domain, show he had a contract with Monsanto in the 1980s to help them monitor the safety of their products. The Guardian article implied that this may have compromised his advice that there was no link between Monsanto’s herbicidal products, such as Agent Orange, and cancer.

Agent Orange was a mixture of herbicides first used in England and the US in the 1940s to control weeds growing in fields of grain such as wheat. It was one of several “rainbow” herbicides (so called because they were each named after a colour such as Purple, White, Pink and Green) used by the US in the Korea and Vietnam wars. Agent Orange was sprayed on forests to remove foliage and thereby remove the cover it provided. It also helped to stop the enemy getting hold of food.

Later it was discovered that one of the herbicides in Agent Orange carried a manufacturing byproduct, a dioxin known as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo- para-dioxin (TCDD) that has been associated with cancers such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), Hodgkin’s disease and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The herbicide is now banned in the US and other countries.

During the Vietnam war over 3,000 villages were sprayed with herbicides and it is estimated that up to 4.8 million people may have been affected. In 1984 the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) filed a lawsuit against manufacturers of Agent Orange, including Monsanto but it was dismissed by the judge who cited, among other reasons, that the product was not classed as a toxin under international law at the time of its use.

Written by: Catharine Paddock
Writer: Medical News Today