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My View

By John Zutz

Wow! What a bombshell! It clearly appears to be a smoking gun. There is now statistical proof that Vietnam veterans, their spouses, and their children have significant genetic, medical, and mental problems, at rates undreamed of by "normal" people.

A survey done for the Australian government by the AC Neilsen Corporation was sent to over 51,000 Vietnam veterans. It was answered by an astounding 41,000+. That's the same AC Neilsen who predicts elections from 200 responses. They gave the survey a 5% margin of error.

Those numbers alone made me suspicious enough to start asking questions. The answer I came up with is that the numbers, unbelievable as they may seem, are true, though they have not been confirmed.

As damning as all this seems, little will come of it. Though these numbers, and this accuracy, would be good enough to predict a presidential election, it won't be good enough for the scientists.

They'll whine that these are all self-reported illnesses. They'll ignore the fact that Vietnam veterans' groups have been begging for a comprehensive survey like this for over twenty years, and that without the backing of the vets' organizations there likely would have been no response at all. They'll snivel that there was no control group. They'll ignore the fact that an 85% response to any survey is totally unheard of.

Then the scientists will argue for five to ten years about how a real study should be set up. They'll take another three to five years to get funding, and another five years to do the study. The final report will be twenty pages long, and have lots of charts and graphs. It will conclude that more study is needed.

In the meantime veterans and their families will hurt.

John Zutz is a former VVAW Regional Coordinator. He is a member of the Milwaukee chapter of VVAW.