The National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology produced this report on Levels of 2, 3, 7, 8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in Australian Vietnam Veterans compared to the Australian population. Agent Orange and other herbicide mixtures sprayed in Vietnam contained TCDD as a specific contaminant. The report contains a review of published literature, looking at whether high exposure to TCDD may be associated with diabetes, and an analysis of measured concentrations of TCDD in a sample of 102 consenting Australian Vietnam veterans, compared to the Australian general population of the same age range.

The study found that interpretation of the data was complicated by the quality of the available analytical data, with a highly variable limit of quantification. The veteran data did not provide immediate evidence that the detected TCDD concentration was linked to dioxin exposure in Vietnam. The measured concentrations of dioxin in the veteran population were not found to be in excess of the upper bound of background dioxin concentrations in the general Australian population of the same age range.