A
"MORAL OBSCENITY"
THAT
SHOULD SHOCK OUR NATION'S CONSCIENCE
I want to tell you a tragic story, long under
wraps and cruelly distorted. It must be
told once and for all, clearly, provably, and completely free of political or
partisan bias. It is a story of how hundreds of thousands of American and
Vietnamese children, born and yet-to-be born, became innocent victims of AGENT ORANGE (AO) during the
Vietnamese War. It is a story of
American malfeasance and cover-up, falsifications and deceptions at the highest
levels of government.
Agent Orange is a
powerful and deadly concoction. It contains
TCDD (2,3,7,8–tetrachlogodibenzo-para-dioxin), one of the most toxic manmade chemicals
known to humankind–150,000 times the toxicity of arsenic. And it was on millions of our soldiers that
this destructive concoction was wantonly expended.
The objective key
to the whole is shown in the attached CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF REPORTS AND SCIENTIFIC
STUDIES in which the overriding opinions from the scientific community
should have been warning enough for anyone, even in time of war. All reports and studies shown in Column A were
paid for, or manipulated by, our Federal Government. The reports and studies listed in Column B
were conducted by independent scientists.
(The differences are well defined in the two columns A and B.)
The tragedy
started in the early 1960s with the spraying of AO in the Vietnam War. Based on
documented facts our
Government knew as early as 19521* that AO was dangerous to
health, but it told our soldiers and the international community that it
was not harmful. However, in November
1961 President Kennedy approved the use of Herbicide (Dioxin) spraying in
Vietnam. For the following year,
Presidential approval was required to spray Herbicides on any Vietnam target,
troops or villages. Then in late 1962 President
Kennedy delegated limited authority to order defoliation missions (herbicide
spraying) to the U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam and our military leaders and
they were continued until April 15, 1970.
On this day the U.S. Surgeon General issued a warning that Agent Orange
might be hazardous to our health.
Simultaneously the Secretaries of Agriculture, Health, Education and
Welfare and the Interior jointly announced the suspension of it use. Why?
Because Agent Orange (2,4,5-T) caused birth
defects. By then the
international community was of one voice in condemning the use of Agent Orange
in combat operations and against civilian populations. However, one name stands out, the name of a
widely admired and openly honest American military leader: Admiral Zumwalt,
Chief of Naval Operations. Throughout
all the studies, arguments, counter-arguments and cover-ups, this great man
held on to and articulated the real truth about the evil of Agent Orange. He was ignored.
* A 1 or 4, etc. at the
end of a word refers to the source of
the information provided, which is located on pages 15-17 of the Chronological
listing of reports and scientific studies.
The Department of
Veterans Affairs ("VA") estimated that 4,200,0004 of our
Vietnam veterans were exposed to AO.
Many of the children they fathered were born with major deformities and
illnesses. Independent Scientific
Studies proved these deformities and illnesses were the result of their
fathers' DNA being altered by AO.14/15 Hidden Federal Government studies also confirm
this fact.7 Yet the denial
of truth continued. WHY? Why would any government do this? The answer lies in a series of memos from
President Regan's Agent Orange Work Group ("AOWG") that ordered the
manipulation of data and the altering of scientific conclusions to hide the
truth that AO was the cause of deformed children fathered by Vietnam Soldiers
exposed to AO.40/45/47 The
White House had determined that the Federal Government could not afford the
cost of caring for these deformed and ill children.28 When these soldiers were sent to war in the
1960s they were lied to about AO. When
they returned home they were deliberately abandoned to suffer the life-long
consequences of AO exposure to the children they fathered.
Today,
we have hundreds of thousands of families, both in the United States and
Vietnam, struggling with the burden of caring for children suffering from their
fathers' exposure to AO. Our Government
denies its complicity. The fact that the
White House ordered the alteration and manipulation of data to hide the truth
is shocking. It is also shocking that
the Oval Office ordered the herbicide spraying as early as 1961.
In the ongoing research that I was
conducting, a local Vietnam veteran, Al Martinelli, came to my attention. His story is typical of countless ones
available to anyone who cares. His story
is being cited here because it generated real interest on the part of the local
Coeur d'Alene Press which then prompted The Press to conduct its own due
diligence. Since then over 40,000 copies
of this story have been downloaded, shared or mailed. The story is as follows.
Al Martinelli was a Navy Reservist stationed
on the USS Cleveland LPD7 (the "Cleveland") from November 1967 to
December 1968. The Cleveland operated between
DaNang and Hue, very near the coast and at the mouth of the Qua Viet and Hue Rivers. The ship was close enough to the shore to be
exposed to offshore drift of spraying operations by C-123 aircraft at the mouth
of the Qua Viet River. The Cleveland (an
amphibious transport dock ship, crewed by 164 officers, 396 enlisted and 840
troops,) supported the "Mike Boats;" delivering troops and supplies
to the battle fields and retrieving troops after they patrolled in the rivers
and operated on land. When the Mike
Boats returned to the Cleveland with soldiers covered with dirt, mud and water
contaminated with Agent Orange, Al and his fellow crewmen became contaminated
as they worked on the Boats and helped our battlefield soldiers.
Al fathered
two children, each born with major anomalies.
After his first child was born with nervous system defects and skeletal
defects (Hypo Condroplasia), he and his wife (Sharon) consulted with a team of
doctors and asked if they dared to have any more children. The doctors searched the Martinellis' medical
records for any history of birth deformities–none existed.
Al and Sharon were advised that the chances of having another deformed
child was one in a million. So they had
another boy. He was born with Down's
Syndrome, defects of the digestive system and hip abnormalities, deformities
totally unrelated to the first child.
The doctor that worked with the Martinellis was shocked. Based on their medical history, such deformities
were impossible! When Al took the 2012
North Idaho Vietnam Veterans Agent Orange Survey he realized and confirmed that
his two sons' deformities were the result of his exposure to Agent Orange
during the 1968 Tet Counter-offensive in Vietnam.
The Coeur
d'Alene Press published the Martinelli story - Fighting for the next
generation. It is attached.
In conducting its
own due diligence, the CDA Press contacted the Department of Veterans Affairs
("VA"). Randy Noller, a spokesman
for the VA in Washington DC, responded to the documented government denial of responsibility
for Agent Orange deformities by saying, ".
. . VA makes these decisions relying on our scientific advisors from the
independent Institute of Medicine [IOM] of the National Academy of Sciences
[NAS]." "IOM has ongoing
analysis of the scientific literature looking at questions of health effects
from exposure to Agent Orange, including birth defects." However, let's look at the actual history in the
attached Chronological Order of Reports and Scientific Studies:
A.
1969 - Page 3, right column, paragraph 3 states, ". . .NAS Research Council Committee received a
"confidential" report prepared by the Bionetrics Research Council
Committee "BRC" that 2,4,5-T (which contains TCDD) showed a significant potential to increase birth
defects." Contrary
to Mr. Noller's statement, this NAS sponsored report was ignored - not relied
upon.
B.
1970 - Page 4, right column,
paragraph 3. - Use of 2,4,5 - T (which contains TCDD, or 2,3,4,8-tertrachlogodibenzo-para-dioxin)
was a "teratogen" (causing developmental
malfunctions & monstrosities (birth defects). Dow also confirms the BRC/NAS report, when dioxin was disbursed in quantities
exceeding production specifications, birth defects did
occur. Again, the VA ignored
these findings that supported the conclusions of the NAS in 1969.
C. 1974 - Page 5, right column, paragraph 2 -
NAS expressed concern over TCDD because
of (1) it's
very high toxicity to animals, (2) it's presence in Agent Orange, (3)
preliminary reports of presence of TCDD in fish in Vietnam, and (4) the lack
of any data permitting assessment of TCDD effects on humans. The NAS recommendation that
long-term studies be made did not start until 18 years later and birth
defects were not included in the studies.
D.
1980 - Page 6, right column, paragraph 2. - An anonymous memorandum sent
to Senator Daschle on VA stationary which stated; ".
. . Agent Orange and Agent Blue, are mutagenic and teratogenic. This means they intercept the genetic DNA
message processed on an unborn fetus, thereby resulting in deformed children
being born. Therefore the veteran would
appear to have no ill effects from exposure but he would produce deformed
children due to the breakage in his genetic chain . . ."
E. 2010
- Page 13, right column, paragraph 3. - IOM Veterans and Agent Orange:
Update. IOM stated "Work needs to be undertaken to resolve questions regarding
several health outcomes, most importantly COPD, tonsil cancer, melanoma, brain
cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and paternally transmitted effects to offspring." As late as
2010 the VA has continued to ignore the IOM's recommendations regarding birth
defects. Clearly, birth defects had not
been researched by the IOM or NAS.
Mr. Noller's statement that
the IOM has an ongoing analysis ". .
.including defects" is blatantly false. The 1991 Agent Orange Act (P.L. 102-4)
instructed the VA to commission the IOM to conduct an analysis of the effect of
Agent Orange on the health of Vietnam soldiers.
However, birth defects were not included. (Note
page 11 of the attached Chronological Study, right column, starting at paragraph
4.)
Mr. Martinelli's case is but one of tens of thousands that could be
cited, all of which prove out the warnings of the majority scientific
community, of Admiral Zumwalt and other highly respected and credible
participants in the debate. Furthermore,
the havoc wrought upon hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese children is as much
a part of the story as anything else.
The problem is not just the VA's denial, it is the failure of Congress
to properly oversee the Department of Veteran Affairs. The data outlined in the Chronological
Order of Reports and Scientific Studies is not new. The real tragedy is: (1) the continued
failure of the Oval Office to recognize the enormous harm the Federal Government
has inflicted on the soldiers it sent to Vietnam and the children these
soldiers fathered, and (2) the failure of Congress to fix a problem they have
known about for decades. Where does the
buck stop? What must we, the 21,000,000
Veteran families, mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers do? These
families consist of at least 60,000,000 voters. The answer is simple, the task daunting.
We must act as one and demand that our White House and Congress:
(1) stop the ongoing cover-up, falsifications and deceptions that have caused
the early death of hundreds of thousands of our Vietnam veterans and the birth
of untold thousands of ill and deformed children, (2) complete the Agent Orange
Exposure Study that was ordered by Congress four decades ago, but cancelled by
the White House to hide this massive, life destroying cover-up, and (3) establish
a Trust Fund to care for these children who, because of the failures of
Congress, cannot care for themselves. The
Trust Fund can also advance scientific research to reverse the damage done to
the DNA of our Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange.
The cost of this is primarily your time. Will you
devote the time to flood our Congressional leaders with your demands to fix the
problem? VST has the legal talent to
help make this happen. We need your help
and will provide you all of the materials and contacts you will need. Let VST know you are on board by e-mailing us
at rep@vstnow.org and simply say: "YES,
I will help to get Congress to fix the
problem." Please send this
letter and Chronological Study to everyone you know. Ask them to join in the battle.
I want to stress that my passion (and I hope yours, too) is
generated by conscience, by a plea for the exercise of universal moral values,
a plea to protect and care for our children, born and yet-to-be born. It is not driven by politics, or partisan flimflammery. It is an outright plea for justice and rightness
and plain, unqualified honesty by our Federal Government.
Can you imagine the impact of mothers, fathers, grandmothers and
grandfathers joining with Al and Sharon Martinelli and countless thousands of
others in seeking the truth and identifying wrongdoing – Fighting for the next generation?
Richard Phenneger
President VST
A special note - the
four-year cost of developing the Chronological Order of Reports and Scientific
Studies has been totally born by trusted friends, educators, writers, attorneys,
committed volunteers and scientists who care.
Without them we would have failed.
They have created the foundation upon which we stand. If you can help going forward, it would be
wonderful. $5.00 will go a long way. Veteran
Services Transparency, Inc. (“VST”) is a 501(c)(19) Corporation - Federal Tax
ID #27-1042577
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