NATION : Agent Orange Decision on Hold

Veterans Secretary Edward J. Derwinski said today he will wait for results of a study due next spring before determining if any Vietnam veterans should be entitled to disability payments for exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange.

Derwinski said several members of an advisory committee told him the major study of cancer among Vietnam veterans could weigh heavily in their recommendations.

He said the advisory committee told him its review of more than 30 other studies and scientific papers found no significant statistical link between non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a rare form of cancer, and chemicals in defoliants sprayed in Vietnam to destroy greenery.

But he said the committee could not rule out such a link and said several members told him the cancer study due next spring would influence their recommendations.