Is anyone doing anything to connect Colon Cancer with Agent Orange?

Sandra Altsman - The short answer is yes. There are multiple organizations that are doing research into a connection between Agent Orange and colon cancer.

Now for the long answer to your unasked questions.

In order for the VA to classify something as service-connected, three things must line up: 1) proof of a condition, 2) proof that exposure to something has a direct or proximal cause of that condition, and 3) that that exposure happened while you were serving in the military.

For the VA to classify something as presumptive, they must have evidence that exposure to something that was common place in the military (either generally or at a specific time/location) is linked to a higher rate of those conditions occurring.

When one of those three is straightforward, the VA will give that aspect as presumptive designation - for example, there are numerous medical studies showing that people exposed to asbestos have a much higher incidents of Mesothelioma than the standard population. If you have Mesothelioma and can show your exposure while in the military (you worked for a long time in a building with asbestos or were involved in demolition of buildings/facilities with asbestos, etc), you don't need to prove the third aspect (linkage between asbestos and Mesothelioma) because the connection is already presumptive by the VA.

If there is research that shows that conditions connected to certain service dates and locations have a much higher incident rate that the average population, then they do more research to find out why and establish a presumptive for two of the three aspects - exposure to something has a direct or proximal cause of that condition and that that exposure happened while you were serving in the military. All you need to prove is that you have that condition and that you were at serving in the military during those dates and at that location.

In some cases, they will even give a presumption to the cause even though there isn't research showing that exposure heightens the risk of a condition because they have research that shows servicemembers that were at a location during a certain timeframe developed a much higher rate of incidents with a condition than the rest of the population. They may not know WHAT is causing people to get sick, but there is something there.

Back to Agent Orange. The preceding is what has occurred with Agent Orange. There are numerous studies going on with Agent Orange and the chemical in the herbicide that show individuals exposed to these chemicals may have a high risk of developing specific types of cancer because the incidents of those cancers has been proven to be much higher. Because of it's widespread use during Vietnam, the VA has given one aspect (time/location) a presumption and because of the research that shows exposure to the chemicals have a proximal cause for certain cancers (bladder, leukemia, Hodgkin's, prostate, etc.) that aspect is also given a presumption (exposure caused or increased the risk of a condition).

Now specifically to colon cancer and it being caused by Agent Orange. As I said before, in order for the VA to give a presumption to exposure having a direct/proximal cause of a condition, there must be research that shows that and so far there isn't any research that shows that the chemicals in Agent Orange has a proximal cause to colon cancer nor is there research that shows the servicemembers exposed to it have a higher incidence of the disease than the rest of the population.

Is research still ongoing? Absolutely. The US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), the US National Toxicology Program (NTP), and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) all have ongoing studies that intersect with Agent Orange - studies on the veteran population and their exposure, studies on the chemicals contained within Agent Orange, etc. Additionally, there are many other organizations (Universities, private research labs, etc) that have been given grants to continue research into aspects of veterans service in Viet Nam and/or Agent Orange.

I hope this gives you clarification on what probably is a frustrating answer (no service-connection presumption between Agent Orange and colon cancer).
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* Colorectal cancer: Statistics - https://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/colorectal-cancer/statistics
* 1994 comprehensive study on the : Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK236356/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK236356.pdf

Sandra Altsman The paragraph below is from the link below that. As the paragraph states, I would work with a Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) or Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Veteran Service Officer (VSO) to file a disability Claim. If there are enough claims, maybe they might make the connection.

If you have a cancer or illness that’s not on our list of presumptive conditions, but you believe it was caused by Agent Orange exposure, you can still file a claim for VA disability benefits. But you’ll need to submit more evidence. Keep reading to learn about service requirements and supporting evidence.

https://www.va.gov/disability/eligibility/hazardous-materials-exposure/agent-orange/#requirements-for-agent-orange-

check the PACT ACT there is a list of all presumptive positives related to defoliants and burn pits. Check with your state Veterans Office.