VA officials pledge new studies into effects of Agent Orange

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is expanding its efforts to determine how Vietnam veterans and their children have been affected by exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange.

The VA will conduct its first nationwide survey of Vietnam veterans in more than three decades and request an outside panel of experts to continue its work studying the health effects of Agent Orange on veterans, their children and their grandchildren. Both initiatives were discussed recently by ProPublica and The Virginian-Pilot on the possible multi-generational impacts of Agent Orange.

Vietnam veterans have argued for years that their exposure to the toxic herbicide has damaged their health as well as their children’s. From 1965 to 1970, some 2.6 million U.S. service members were potentially exposed to Agent Orange, which contained a dangerous strand of the chemical dioxin. While the VA has linked Agent Orange exposure to a host of diseases in Vietnam vets, experts and veterans advocates have criticized the lack of research into the effects on future generations.

“I believe that these individuals deserve an answer,” Linda Spoonster Schwartz, the VA’s assistant secretary for policy and planning, said in response to a question about the lack of research. “I believe that we need to at least ask the question. … This is the right thing to do.”

ProPublica and The Pilot have been examining the effects of Agent Orange for the past year and have heard from more than 5,500 veterans and their families. Thursday’s forum – titled A Toxic Legacy: Has Agent Orange Hurt the Children of Vietnam Vets? – featured veterans advocates, researchers and policy makers. It also provided a rare opportunity for frustrated veterans to vent directly to high-ranking VA officials. Veterans came from as far away as Mississippi and Pennsylvania to share their stories. Pilot photographer Stephen M. Katz told of his own health problems, which he believes may be linked to his father’s exposure to Agent Orange.

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VA wants all veterans exposed to Agent Orange to apply for benefits

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. The first U.S. combat troops arrived in Vietnam in March of 1965.

More than 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam conflict. Many who survived are fighting diseases the U.S. government now recognizes were caused by a very powerful toxic chemical used in the jungle war zone.

Since 2010, the Department of Veterans Affairs has recognized a list of diseases, cancers and illnesses caused by the chemical Agent Orange. The VA is now making a renewed push to ensure everyone knows about the benefits available to veterans sickened by Agent Orange.

A variety of illnesses are on the list, including, but not limited to: Type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, chronic B-cell leukemia, Hodgkin’s diseases, non-hodgkin’s lymphoma, Parkinson’s disease and Ischemic heart disease.

Many Vietnam veterans aren’t aware of the Agent Orange presumptive diseases. Furthermore, some veterans choose not to go to the VA for their treatment or some veterans have never thought to apply. Yet other veterans aren’t sure how to apply.

Claiming a disability from exposure to Agent Orange is an expedited claims process since the illnesses are “presumed” to be connected to Agent Orange exposure, meaning Vietnam veterans don’t have to prove an association between their medical problems and their military service as it relates to exposure to Agent Orange.

Any veteran or family member who might fit any of these categories should call the Rowan County Veteran Service Office at 704-216-8138.

More Agent Orange Exposure Potentially Revealed

Marine Corps veteran Lt. Col. Kris Roberts is the first veteran known to have won compensation for exposure to Agent Orange while stationed at MCAS Futenma, Okinawa, Japan, and now he is urging the military to come clean about what really happened at the air base.

For the first time in VA compensation history, the U.S. government has awarded compensation to the ailing former marine at the center of allegations that the defoliant Agent Orange was dumped on Futenma Air Base in Okinawa.

On Aug. 10, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals ruled that Roberts, chief of maintenance at the installation in Okinawa in the early 1980s, had developed prostate cancer due to “exposure to hazardous chemicals.” The presiding judge based the decision on evidence including medical reports, buddy statements and “photographs of barrels being removed from the ground.”

According to publicly available Department of Veterans’ Affairs records, more than 200 U.S. vets believe they were poisoned by Agent Orange while serving in Okinawa. Their sicknesses include multiple myeloma, Parkinson’s disease and peripheral neuropathy — illnesses for which the Department of Veterans’ Affairs compensates Americans exposed to defoliants in Vietnam, some areas of Thailand and the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.

Any military member stationed at MCAS Futenma, and who later developed any of the presumptive illnesses, should contact the Rowan County Veteran Service Office at 704-216-8138.

The presumptive illnesses are listed below.

AL Amyloidosis — A rare disease caused when an abnormal protein, amyloid, enters tissues or organs.

Chronic B-cell Leukemias — A type of cancer which affects white blood cells.

Chloracne(or similar acneform disease) — A skin condition that occurs soon after exposure to chemicals and looks like common forms of acne seen in teenagers. Under VA’s rating regulations, it must be at least 10 percent disabling within one year of exposure to herbicides.

Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 — A disease characterized by high blood sugar levels resulting from the body’s inability to respond properly to the hormone insulin.

Hodgkin’s Disease — A malignant lymphoma (cancer) characterized by progressive enlargement of the lymph nodes, liver, and spleen, and by progressive anemia.

Ischemic Heart Disease — A disease characterized by a reduced supply of blood to the heart, that leads to chest pain.

Multiple Myeloma — A cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell in bone marrow.

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma — A group of cancers that affect the lymph glands and other lymphatic tissue

Parkinson’s Disease — A progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects muscle movement

Peripheral Neuropathy, Early-Onset — A nervous system condition that causes numbness, tingling, and motor weakness. Under VA’s rating regulations, it must be at least 10 percent disabling within one year of herbicide exposure.

Porphyria Cutanea Tarda — A disorder characterized by liver dysfunction and by thinning and blistering of the skin in sun-exposed areas. Under VA’s rating regulations, it must be at least 10 percent disabling within one year of exposure to herbicides.

Prostate Cancer — Cancer of the prostate; one of the most common cancers among men.

Respiratory Cancers(includes lung cancer) — Cancers of the lung, larynx, trachea, and bronchus.

Soft Tissue Sarcomas(other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, or mesothelioma) — A group of different types of cancers in body tissues such as muscle, fat, blood and lymph vessels, and connective tissues.


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How to Prove Your Disability for VA Claims

Oftentimes only people with disabilities know the extend of their own suffering and difficulties, but there are times when letting the outside world know how you feel, as best as you can, is important.

In the case of applying for disability claims, there are some things you should know for giving yourself the best chance at success, as noted in this recent column by Ken Cruickshank, a retired Navy Master Chief Petty Officer and the Veterans Services Officer for Tulare County in California.

Among the most important points made by Cruickshank:

-You should apply for a service-connected disability benefit as soon as possible after your discharge date, which will help you prove it was service-connected

-The verification process is the first step, and you typically need three items of support: medical evidence of a current, chronic (continuous) disability; evidence of having suffered a disease, injury, or event while engaged in active service; and evidence linking these two items together.

Two Categories to Know

Your claim will fall under one of two categories: direct service connection or presumptive service connection.

Direct service connection meets all of the three conditions mentioned earlier, while presumptive disability refers to a health condition that could possibly have arisen during service.

For a more detailed explanation of what you should know before you apply, check out Cruickshank’s column by clicking here.

LINKS HERE 

Veteran Fights for $250K in Benefits for Agent Orange-Caused Condition

Don Rabush says he is owed more than $250,000 in retroactive benefits from the VA

Frustrated and fed-up, Vietnam veteran Don Rabush calls his fight to get Veterans Affairs benefits for an ailment caused by Agent Orange one of the worth battles he’s ever faced.

The Army second lieutenant has been working to get nearly 40 years of retroactive benefits after suffering a heart attack in 1974.

Though a doctor at the time told him the attack was not war-related, the decision was reversed in 2010 when doctors discovered Rabush suffered a heart condition from contact with Agent Orange. He encountered the chemical during his five and a half years of service.

“In Vietnam, I was fighting the Viet Cong. This is a more vicious enemy. These are people who hide behind bureaucracy not to serve veterans," Rabush told NBC 7 Tuesday.

When Rabush filed for benefits in 2010, the VA granted them. Officials are not disputing Rabush’s ailments or their cause, but when the benefits should start.
Rabush said he should get them retroactively to 1974, but the VA says they should start in 2010 when he filed his new claim.

At issue, says VA Pension Management Center Manager Gary Chesterton, is a form Rabush submitted in 1974, which the VA says was a procedural form, not a claim form.

Disabled American Veterans representative Guy Anastasia told NBC 7 Rabush’s checks say otherwise.

“I did research. I went to the legal staff here and in D.C. to verify it can be used for adjudication purposes. It can be,” Anastasia said.

VA officials say it could be months before a decision is made in Rabush’s case.

The veteran said the fight isn’t about the more than $250,000 he stands to get if he wins. Instead, Rabush said it’s more about making sure he and other veterans who risked life and limb get the benefits they need to lead a healthy life.
“It’s common knowledge that VA claims their motto is — for those that are veterans — is ‘Delay, deny until they die.’ And believe me, I’ve felt all of that,” said Rabush.

Chesterton said 87 percent of the people who work in the office are veterans, and they grant benefits as the law allows.

The Disabled American Veterans office is working with congressional leaders to craft legislation to prevent similar issues in the future.

LINK

Veterans' Diseases Associated with Agent Orange

VA assumes that certain diseases can be related to a Veteran’s qualifying military service. We call these "presumptive diseases."

VA has recognized certain cancers and other health problems as presumptive diseases associated with exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides during military service. Veterans and their survivors may be eligible for benefits for these diseases.

AL Amyloidosis
A rare disease caused when an abnormal protein, amyloid, enters tissues or organs

Chronic B-cell Leukemias
A type of cancer which affects white blood cells

Chloracne (or similar acneform disease)
A skin condition that occurs soon after exposure to chemicals and looks like common forms of acne seen in teenagers. Under VA's rating regulations, it must be at least 10 percent disabling within one year of exposure to herbicides.

Diabetes Mellitus Type 2
A disease characterized by high blood sugar levels resulting from the body’s inability to respond properly to the hormone insulin

Hodgkin’s Disease
A malignant lymphoma (cancer) characterized by progressive enlargement of the lymph nodes, liver, and spleen, and by progressive anemia

Ischemic Heart Disease
A disease characterized by a reduced supply of blood to the heart, that leads to chest pain

Multiple Myeloma
A cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell in bone marrow

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
A group of cancers that affect the lymph glands and other lymphatic tissue

Parkinson’s Disease
A progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects muscle movement

Peripheral Neuropathy, Early-Onset
A nervous system condition that causes numbness, tingling, and motor weakness. Under VA's rating regulations, it must be at least 10 percent disabling within one year of herbicide exposure.

Porphyria Cutanea Tarda
A disorder characterized by liver dysfunction and by thinning and blistering of the skin in sun-exposed areas. Under VA's rating regulations, it must be at least 10 percent disabling within one year of exposure to herbicides.

Prostate Cancer
Cancer of the prostate; one of the most common cancers among men

Respiratory Cancers (includes lung cancer)

Cancers of the lung, larynx, trachea, and bronchus

Soft Tissue Sarcomas (other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, or mesothelioma)
A group of different types of cancers in body tissues such as muscle, fat, blood and lymph vessels, and connective tissues

LIVE HEALTHY

There are steps Veterans can take to help prevent heart disease, cancer, and other common diseases of aging. Get the recommended health screenings, eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, and don't smoke. Learn more about healthy living.

Children with birth defects

VA presumes certain birth defects in children of Vietnam and Korea Veterans are associated with Veterans' qualifying military service.

Veterans with Lou Gehrig's Disease

VA presumes Lou Gehrig's Disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS) diagnosed in all Veterans who had 90 days or more continuous active military service is related to their service, although ALS is not related to Agent Orange exposure.

LINKS HERE

Remembering Forgotten Veterans Poisoned by Agent Orange

For this Band of Brothers, the Vietnam War never ended. Forty years after the fighting stopped they continue their struggle to be recognized as part of the unenviable group poisoned by the deadly herbicide Agent Orange.

These men who dedicated years to the U.S. military were stationed at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. In the mid-1960s, it was an important stopover on the way to war zones in Southeast Asia. B-52 bombing missions targeting the Viet Cong — with names like Operation Arc Light and Operation Linebacker II — were launched from Andersen. Two years after the conflict, the base became a way-stop for more than 100,000 Vietnamese refugees seeking a new life in America.

Andersen AFB was a well-oiled machine, thanks to the dedicated soldiers stationed there. Two of those men — Master Sgt. LeRoy Foster and Sgt. Ralph Stanton — found each other late in life and began to compare their multitude of similar health problems.

Foster served at Andersen from 1968 to 1978 as a fuels specialist assigned to the 43rd Supply Squadron. Part of his duties, he told me, was to get rid of the vegetation and weeds on the base. Foster says Agent Orange — which contains deadly TCDD dioxin — was among the herbicides he regularly mixed and loaded into his 750-gallon, trailer-mounted sprayer. Back then, no one knew how deadly it was.

Stanton worked at Andersen's fuels maintenance shop. He says he remembers the skinny little Foster always driving by, spraying herbicides that left him and his fellow soldiers with a stomachache or headache. Stanton also recalls using discarded 55-gallon Agent Orange barrels to burn off excess fuels. He showed me photographs of an old herbicide drum he had fashioned into a barbecue for cookouts.

Today, both these men — and approximately 270 others once based in Guam — have applied with the Veterans Administration for Agent Orange benefits. Many of their diseases are found on the VA's official list of 15 ailments recognized as being tied to Agent Orange exposure. Among them: Hodgkin's disease, Parkinson's disease, prostate or respiratory cancers, soft tissue sarcoma, diabetes mellitus (Type 2), chronic B-cell leukemia, ischemic heart disease and Chloracne, an oily, painful condition of cysts and pustules that erupt on cheeks, arms, chest and groin areas.

Although the VA's rules say the benefit of the doubt should always go to the diagnosed veteran, fewer than a dozen Guam-based vets have been granted benefits. Why?

Here's the rub: The Defense Department has long maintained — and told me again last week — that there are no surviving records to prove that Agent Orange was ever sent to Guam. No proof, no benefits — except in the case of about nine claimants, including Foster. He stands as a modern-day, human Catch-22. The DOD denies he could have been exposed to Agent Orange on Guam, yet the VA has awarded him disability payments specifically tied to the deadly herbicide's effects. Foster never set foot in Vietnam.

Foster told me he thinks his claim was approved because he's been so vocal. He has sent mountains of compelling research and sad testimonials to Congress. He has testified before House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees in 2010 and again in 2012. He has written directly to President Barack Obama, asking that personnel stationed on Guam be given the automatic benefits awarded to soldiers who had boots on the ground in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Foster told me he is motivated by the overwhelming guilt he feels for spraying the poison at Andersen for so many years.

As I researched this story I discovered that it is not just the veterans who believe Agent Orange was used on Guam. In 2008, the legislature of Guam passed a resolution asking Congress to include the island on the list of those locations due benefits under the Agent Orange Equity Act saying, "The VA procedures have resulted in an unjustified withholding of benefits for military and civilian workers in staging areas for the Vietnam War such as Guam, through which military personnel, munitions, equipment and supplies — including herbicides containing Agent Orange — were shipped." The resolution has been ignored.

A Public Health Report issued by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in 2002 reported that water and dioxin soil contamination at Andersen AFB was an astronomical 19,000 parts per million. The EPA puts the safe level at below 1 part per billion. Even today, Andersen remains on the EPA's Superfund contamination list. Currently, there is a population of about 8,000 living at Andersen, with another 5,000 Marines set to be transferred in soon.

I found another compelling outside opinion in financial advisory reports for potential investors in Monsanto and Dow Chemical, two manufacturers of Agent Orange. The 2004 report stated, "Soldiers stationed on Guam who handled Agent Orange have become ill, and symptoms of TCCD (dioxin) poisoning are apparent in the general population of the island as well." Indeed, Guam does have a higher than normal cancer rate, especially rare leukemia-type cancers in children.

The saddest part of this story to me has to do with the birth defects reported in children born to these Andersen vets. Foster says his daughter was a victim, and her child, Foster's granddaughter, was born with 12 toes and fingers and is feared to be autistic. These birth defects mirror what has happened to generations of children born in Vietnam.

The latest Institute of Medicine report on veterans and Agent Orange says more study is needed on the question of "paternally transmitted effects to offspring."

It has been 40 years, and these vets wonder how much longer it will it take. Many believe the VA is engaged in a program of "Deny, deny until they die."

I find it hard to argue with that.

link

Veteran takes on feds in fight for Agent Orange Compensation

A New Brunswick veteran who says his life has been forever changed due to Agent Orange exposure is fighting the federal government for compensation.

For months, 82-year-old Basil McAllister has been preparing to represent himself in the case, and today he didn’t back down in a Fredericton courtroom.

“I have prostate cancer, I have bone cancer, I have skin cancer, and I’m a four-needle-a-day Type 2 Diabetic,” says the Burton, N.B. resident.

The deadly dioxin Agent Orange was sprayed at CFB Gagetown during the 1960s while McAllister worked on the base.


He claims he worked closely with 10 other people who have since received monthly payments for their own Agent Orange damages.

“For some reason, the panel members who reviewed my case five times declined to give me a pension,” he says.

Officials with the federal government say that in order to receive a pension for Agent Orange compensation, a claimant must prove there was direct exposure to the chemical.

In court today, Veterans Affairs argued that McAllister’s direct exposure evidence was insufficient and not credible, adding that decisions made about other pensions are irrelevant to his case.

Many of the veteran’s family members and friends appeared in court today to show their support, including some people who worked with McAllister at CFB Gagetown.

“Who in Veterans Affairs can prove that we weren’t sprayed on?” asks Christopher Tucker.

“If he and 10 other people or whatever are in the same region, and I don’t think the mosquitoes took the spray away,” says Harry Harkes.

McAllister’s case is also attracting attention from other complainants in the midst of their own fight for Agent Orange compensation.

“Two people can have the same illness. One gets approved, one doesn’t,” says Marie Hogan, a member of the Widows on the Warpath group. “There’s no need for that. It should be consistent across the board.”

The judge in the case has reserved her decision to be made public at a later time.
McAllister says he has made it this far, and he is prepared to wait it out.

LINK