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Congress Must Act to Restore Earned Benefits to All Vietnam Veterans – Including "Blue Water" Vets!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2009
Washington, D.C. – House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) announced the introduction of H.R. 2254, a bill to restore equity to all Vietnam veterans that were exposed to Agent Orange.
"We owe it to our veterans to fulfill the promises made to them as a result of their service," said Chairman Filner (D-CA). "If, as a result of service, a veteran was exposed to Agent Orange and it has resulted in failing health, this country has a moral obligation to care for each veteran the way we promised we would. And as a country at war, we must prove that we will be there for all of our veterans, no matter when they serve. The courts have turned their backs on our veterans, but I believe this Congress will not allow our veterans to be cheated of their earned benefits."
H.R. 2254 would clarify the laws related to VA benefits provided to Vietnam War veterans suffering from the ravages of Agent Orange exposure. In order to try to gain a better military vantage point, Agent Orange, which we now know is a highly toxic cocktail of herbicide agents, was widely sprayed for defoliation and crop destruction purposes all over the Vietnam War Battlefield, as well as on borders and other areas of neighboring nations. It was also stored on U.S. vessels and used for vegetation clearing purposes around U.S. bases, landing zones and lines of communication.
Currently, VA requires Vietnam veterans to prove a "foot on land" occurrence in order to qualify for the presumptions of service-connection for herbicide-exposure related illnesses afforded under current law. This issue has been the subject of much litigation and on May 8, 2008, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals upheld VA's overly narrow interpretation and the Supreme Court later denied certiorari essentially affirming this ruling. However, Congress clearly did not intend to exclude these veterans from compensation based on arbitrary geographic line drawing by VA.
H.R. 2254 is intended to clarify the law so that Blue Water veterans and every service member awarded the Vietnam Service medal, or who otherwise deployed to land, sea or air, in the Republic of Vietnam is fully covered by the comprehensive Agent Orange laws Congress passed in 1991. If enacted, this bill will make it easier for VA to process Vietnam War veterans' claims for service-connected conditions that are linked to toxic exposures during the Vietnam War and that are identified in current law.
Chairman John Hall leads the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, the subcommittee with jurisdiction over these issues. He stated, "With this legislation, Congress will leave no doubt that the `Blue Water Navy' and all combat veterans of Vietnam are intended to be covered and compensated; thus ensuring that these veterans will receive the disability benefits they earned and deserve for exposure to Agent Orange. This is the cost of war. We asked these brave men and women to fight for us and serve their country, and it is a grave injustice that they have had to wait this long for treatment. We must place care of our soldiers among our top priorities. This applies for all past, present, and future conflicts."
"Time is running out for these veterans," concluded Chairman Filner. "Many are dying from their Agent Orange related diseases, uncompensated for their sacrifice. There is still a chance for America to meet its obligations to these noble veterans. I will work with my Congressional colleagues to provide the earned disability benefits and health care to the thousands of Navy blue water veterans and survivors that earned this care in battle."
The study, published in the May issue of British Journal of Urology International, followed 1,495 veterans who underwent radical prostatectomy to remove their cancerous prostates. Researchers found that the 206 exposed to Agent Orange had nearly a 50 percent increased risk of their cancer recurring, despite the fact that their cancer seemed relatively nonaggressive at the time of surgery. Further, their cancer came back with a vengeance: the time it took the prostate specific antigen, or PSA, level to double – an indicator of aggressiveness – was eight months versus more than 18 months in non-exposed veterans.
The PSA of prostate cancer patients is typically measured every three months for two years after surgery then every six months for life. After surgery to remove the diseased prostate, the PSA should be zero, but any prostate cancer cells left behind continue to make PSA, a red flag of recurrence. The PSA often "percolates along," so physicians tend to watch it for a while to determine if additional therapy is needed. However in patients with Agent Orange exposure, radiation or hormone therapy to kill remaining cells may need to be done sooner rather than later.
Increasing evidence is emerging that exposure to Agent Orange, a herbicide and defoliant used during the Vietnam War, increases risk for a variety of health problems, including prostate cancer, although the exact mechanism is unclear. Dioxin, a known carcinogen, also is found in herbicides and pesticides used by U.S. farmers and forestry and chemical plant workers. Studies have shown them to have an increased cancer risk. Scientists suspect dioxin activates regulatory regions of genes to enable the uncontrolled cell division that is a cancer hallmark.
A separate study of 1,653 veterans at VA medical centers in five cities between 1990 and 2006 also showed recurrence rates were higher and recurring cancers were more aggressive with Agent Orange exposure.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and trails lung cancer as the second leading cause of cancer death.
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The study was funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, the Georgia Cancer Coalition, the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program and the American Urological Association/Astellas Rising Star in Urology Award.
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