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AGENT ORANGE DOES NOT CAUSE DIABETES
Did you read in almost all newspapers that a study shows that agent orange causes diabetes? Only Gina Kolata of the New York Times wasn't fooled.
The authors found that those with the highest blood levels of dioxin had a 47 percent higher risk for suffering diabetes. Does that tell you that dioxin causes diabetes? Of course not. Dioxin is stored in body fat, so people with the most fat store the most dioxin and have the highest blood levels of dioxin.
People who are fat are the ones most likely to suffer diabetes because body fat blocks insulin receptors and causes diabetes. So being fat causes diabetes and being fat causes the highest levels of dioxin. Another example of this kind of reasoning is that people who have sexual relations are more likely to become pregnant and people who have sexual relations are more likely to suffer venereal diseases, so venereal diseases must cause pregnancy. If you are diabetic, see report #D222.
Checked 8/9/05