Editing Agent Orange (section)

===New Jersey Agent Orange Commission===
In 1980, New Jersey created the New Jersey Agent Orange Commission, the first state commission created to study its effects. The commission's research project in association with [[Rutgers University]] was called "The Pointman Project". It was disbanded by Governor [[Christine Todd Whitman]] in 1996.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Prestin|first1=Terry|title=Agent Orange Panel Closes|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/03/nyregion/new-jersey-daily-briefing-agent-orange-panel-closes.html|access-date=13 September 2014|work=The New York Times|at=Section B; page 1; column 1|date=July 3, 1996|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913214450/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/03/nyregion/new-jersey-daily-briefing-agent-orange-panel-closes.html|archive-date=13 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> During the first phase of the project, commission researchers devised ways to determine trace dioxin levels in blood. Prior to this, such levels could only be found in the [[adipose tissue|adipose (fat) tissue]]. The project studied dioxin (TCDD) levels in blood as well as in adipose tissue in a small group of Vietnam veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange and compared them to those of a matched control group; the levels were found to be higher in the exposed group.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Peter C. |last1=Kahn |first2=Michael |last2=Gochfeld |first3=Martin |last3=Nygren |first4=Marianne |last4=Hansson |first5=Christoffer |last5=Rappe |first6=Henry |last6=Velez |first7=Therese |last7=Ghent-Guenther |first8=Wayne P. |last8=Wilson |title=Dioxins and Dibenzofurans in Blood and Adipose Tissue of Agent Orange—Exposed Vietnam Veterans and Matched Controls |journal=JAMA |volume=259 |issue=11 |date=March 18, 1988 |pages=1661–7 |doi=10.1001/jama.1988.03720110023029|pmid=3343772}}</ref> The second phase of the project continued to examine and compare dioxin levels in various groups of Vietnam veterans, including [[United States Army|Soldiers]], [[United States Marine Corps|Marines]], and [[Brownwater Navy|Brownwater Naval]] personnel.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yyvmcMsNnB4C&q=The+Pointman+Project+rutgers&pg=PA30|title=Encyclopedia of the Veteran in America|last=Pencak|first=William|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2009|isbn=978-0-313-08759-2|page=30|access-date=February 11, 2022|archive-date=November 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126071609/https://books.google.com/books?id=yyvmcMsNnB4C&q=The+Pointman+Project+rutgers&pg=PA30|url-status=live}}</ref>