Agent Orange’s dire legacy

Agent Orange, the defoliant used to clear terrain in Vietnam during the war of the 1960's and 1970's, is still plaguing veterans who were exposed to its vicious toxicity.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs this week announced that three more diseases have been added to the VA's list of illnesses recognized as likely deriving from exposure to the herbicide.

This "presumption of service connection" means that veterans who were exposed to herbicides in Vietnam and who suffer from one of the "presumed" illnesses do not have to prove an association between their medical problems and their military service to receive treatment from the VA.

Veterans who served in Vietnam, including its inland waterways, between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975, are presumed to have been exposed to herbicides, the VA said.

The three diseases added to the list are Parkinson's disease, hairy cell and other chronic B-cell leukemia, and ischemic heart disease. They join the 12 diseases already recognized as connected with Agent Orange exposure.

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Based on the 1991 Agent Orange Act and a 2008 report by the Institute of Medicine, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki last October recommended that the three diseases be added to the list. Having gone through the rulemaking process, the final regulation now goes into effect.

"This rule is long overdue.  It delivers justice to those who have suffered from Agent Orange's toxic effects for 40 years," Shinseki said.

The "presumption" simplifies and accelerates the application process and ensures that veterans will receive the benefits they deserve, Shinseki said.

Alan Oates, chairman of the Agent Orange Committee of the Vietnam Veterans of America, praised Shinseki for championing the new rule.

"It took political courage for Secretary Shinseki to stand up for the vets on this issue, because instituting these new presumptions is going to cost a nice chunk of money," Oates said.

Oates explained that there are many voices, and some in Congress, that say these diseases being added to the VA list are common illnesses associated with aging and lifestyle and should not be given such status.

"But the scientific research shows that these diseases are uncommon in their occurrence in Vietnam War vets and uncommon in the aggressiveness the diseases display in the vets," Oates said.

Oates said that most of the research into the connections between veterans and disease has been done outside of the military realm and that the VA has been lax in its responsibility to do research.

"The VA has a responsibility to conduct research into these connections, according to the Agent Orange Act," Oates said. "But the VA has not lived up to its responsibility, as the Institute of Medicine has said in previous reports. What we're seeing now is science catching up with the exposure issue."

Oates said he believes Shinseki is sincere in his desire to serve veterans, but that the VA is very large and it will take time before the whole system reflects Shinseki's reforming spirit and curtails the political maneuvering that has kept the system lagging behind the science.

"My fear is that we are going to start seeing these same diseases in veterans from the two Iraq wars and the Afghanistan War, because the same sorts of chemicals, like dioxin, were still being used," he said.  

During the Vietnam conflict -- which took over 58,000 American lives, about a quarter million South Vietnamese lives and over a million North Vietnamese -- more than 19 million gallons of herbicides were sprayed to remove foliage and undergrowth.  The most common, Agent Orange, was sprayed in all four military zones of South Vietnam.

The VA expects as many as 150,000 veterans to submit Agent Orange claims in the next 12 to 18 months. Additionally, the VA will review approximately 90,000 previously denied claims from Vietnam veterans for these three new diseases. All those who are awarded service-connection status, but are not currently enrolled in the VA health care system, will become eligible for enrollment.

Secretary Shinseki will appear before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Sept. 23 to explain and defend his decision to include the three diseases.

"I am happy to do that," Shinseki said. "It was the right decision, and the President and I are proud to finally provide this group of veterans the care and benefits they have long deserved."