Posted on Apr 1, 2015
SGT Infantryman (Airborne)
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I was talking with a vet today at the Houston VA. He has two of the four cancers from Agent Orange exposure in 1966. He isn't expected to make it. The VA doctors told him and his wife, there isn't anything more they can do. He's in a wheel chair and cannot walk. He mentioned he found out that traces of Agent Orange are in weed killers such as Round Up. I looked it up tonight and sure enough, it's true. But, as I continued to look I came across this from Wikipedia. I think you'll be concerned.

Our benevolent agricultural guardians at the USDA have announced that they are allowing the introduction of new corn and soybean seeds that have been designed specifically to withstand a dousing with 2,4-D, a key ingredient in the infamously deadly Agent Orange.
Now we get to be the unwilling guinea pigs while USDA-approved test fields are planted.
It seems that our government did not learn its lesson from the millions of people gruesomely affected by the ingredients of Agent Orange the first time around.
Agent Orange, you may recall, was brought to wartime Vietnam by the evil masterminds at Dow and Monsanto. American forces sprayed it all over the countryside of Vietnam from 1961 to 1971. Its purpose was to defoliate trees and shrubs that were providing cover to enemy forces, and to kill food crops that were providing sustenance.
image: http://cdn5.freedomoutpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Agent-Orange.jpg
Agent Orange
This caused damage to the ecosystem of Vietnam that is still present today. More than 5 million acres of forests were destroyed, and half a million acres of farmland were tainted. It will take centuries of nurturing for the land to recover.
The environment was not the only thing affected. Exposure to Agent Orange resulted in five horrible illness in those exposed: soft-tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (including hairy-cell leukemia), Hodgkin’s disease, and chloracne. (source) What’s even worse is that the damage may not be limited to those directly exposed – it can affect offspring even up to 3rd and 4th generations.
Over a million US veterans were also exposed:
In 2010, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provided $16.2 billion in compensation to 1,095,473 Vietnam-era veterans.[i] The agency does not relate these service-connected benefit figures directly to Agent Orange/dioxin exposure or to any other possible cause of illness, nor does it provide data on total compensation for the years since the war ended.
Thousands of U.S. veterans returning from Vietnam reported health problems almost immediately and rapidly associated them with Agent Orange/dioxin exposure. Controversy over these assertions began just as fast, and continues now.
Many questions remain: Whether (and how to test whether) the illnesses of veterans and their offspring are related to Agent Orange and other herbicide exposure; Levels of dioxin present in the chemicals; The accuracy of data about veterans’ exposure; Levels of corporate, military and government awareness of dioxin’s presence; Fixing of responsibility for the contaminant’s presence and liability for its damages; Details of research protocols, accuracy of findings and reliability of interpretations; and Decisions on who should pay what to whom for which possible courses of remedial action. This “blame game” has blocked action in both the U.S. and Vietnam, needlessly prolonging the suffering of millions of U.S. veterans and Vietnamese. – (source)

Read more at http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/01/usda-approved-agent-orange-coming-farm-near/#ye18M2IrreDAADrr.99
Posted in these groups: Vietnam service ribbon Vietnam War375b1df4 Agent Orange
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Sgt David G Duchesneau
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Edited 9 y ago
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All I know is they said that it wouldn't hurt us. We set up perimeters around hill tops that were hit with Agent Orange and we dug fox holes in that infested dirt and we laied there for days on end. We drank water from the streams and again, they told us to just use the halogen pills. What a bunch of bull shit. We washed up in the streams and again they, the Marine Corps, said is was safe. So far, I have had two cancer surgeries because of that shit and right now I am in remission. I have been diagnosed with stage 2, adult onset diabetes. So much for Agent Orange being safe and not a heath risk. WTF-Over!
Bastards!
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SGT Infantryman (Airborne)
SGT (Join to see)
9 y
What's it take for the VA to admit to unrecognized cancers and defects, when, if you look up these diseases on the VA Site, they have a list of causes they say they recognize. Once again, this isn't going to go away until all of us and our children, and our children's children are dead. I can't see any reason the VA should deny a claim of post AO illnesses, when thousands of Vietnam vets have the same diagnoses. We have to continue to keep the AO claims in the public sector going. When I asked the doctors if AO could have caused my melanoma, they just looked at each other. When I tried to pressure them, they didn't say anything and walked out. Is it because they will lose their jobs for looking into the possibility, or is it because the VA Admin warned them not to consider it? I wish I had the answers.
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PO1 Dustin Adams
PO1 Dustin Adams
9 y
In order to get a condition that is not conceded as presumptive to AO exposure service-connected you need a doctor's opinion with a supporting rationale. The rationale will have to include sources (research papers, medical journals, etc.) that support the doctor's opinion. It is a high hurdle but not insurmountable, the key is the rationale for the opinion. It would also help if the doctor is a specialist in that area of medicine.
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Cpl Lawrence Lavictoire
Cpl Lawrence Lavictoire
>1 y
I have heard to be careful on claims: example; myself-filed claim for AO 1968/69 and also am included in the Camp Lejeune water issue, "one claim can cancel out another future claim. Other words: which one gave you cancer first??? Pick A. or B. there is no C. !
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PO3 Michael James
PO3 Michael James
>1 y
Yes Sir, heard that many times.. Trouble is I originally believed them and trusted them.. oooops..
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Sgt David G Duchesneau
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Edited 9 y ago
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What do I know about Agent Orange? It sucks! Yes , it literally sucks the life out of you until one day you are gone!
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SGT Thomas Lucken
SGT Thomas Lucken
9 y
If A.O. wasn't such a danger, how come we are quietly now working with Vietnam to clean up the areas A.O. was used 40 plus years later?

Also, they admit to using it along the southern boundary of the DMZ, but no cleanup and no admitting that we have exposed our Troops and the Koreans to the half-life that can last 30 to 100 years per the EPA! 1969+30 = 1999....

I served up on the DMZ numerous times and years, starting in 1983.
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SGT Infantryman (Airborne)
SGT (Join to see)
9 y
SGT Thomas Lucken, did you see the pictures of the Vietnamese children? The government has agreed it causes cancer, deformities, diabetes, death, etc. I think it's our responsibility to help Vietnam clean up our mess we left for them. They farm rice paddies, which uses tons of water. They bathe in that water. As much as I despised the NVA and Victor Charlie, I loved the kids and mothers who were doing the best they could in a war, they didn't want.
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SSG Lloyd Becker BSBA-HCM, MBA
SSG Lloyd Becker BSBA-HCM, MBA
9 y
Viet Nam and the Marshall Islands are the same. Annawetok is the containment island from the clean up from testing nuclear weapons. Agent Orange clean up is a "good luck" with that, because everything that was contaminated with the herbicide is permanently manifested in the plants and other field crops.
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SGT Thomas Lucken
SGT Thomas Lucken
>1 y
SGT (Join to see) - May problem with it, they keep denying it was used more then 68 to 69 in Korea along the southern part of the DMZ!!!!! To many veterans are suffering from the early 60s to early 90s from A.O. related illnesses now. Hell my 26 yr old son has spina bifida and a 3rd kidney......
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SFC Charles S.
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I know that it's the cause of a lot of non-combat related Vietnam Veterans Deaths related to Cancer.  THE VA has a very long list of Presumptive conditions they will give compensation for just being in contact with it.
I also personally know some very awesome soldiers who have lost their battle with cancer because of Agent Orange.  CW2 Jeffrey Tillman Recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross for Gallantry in action in the country of Vietnam.

http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/conditions/index.asp 
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Sgt Field Radio Operator
Sgt (Join to see)
9 y
Thank you Charles. My VFW VSO told me about the "within one year limit." I will press the issue.
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PO1 Dustin Adams
PO1 Dustin Adams
9 y
Skin cancer is not a presumptive condition recognized as associated with AO exposure by the VA. There are three AO related conditions that must be diagnosed within one year of last exposure in order to be considered presumptive to AO, they are: chloracne, peripheral neuropathy, and porphyria cutanea tarda.

There is a list of conditions (not AO related) that the VA concedes as presumptive to service if diagnosed within one year of separation from service.

I would recommend looking up 38 CFR 3.309 as that is the regulation for the VA on presumptive conditions, 3.309(e) is specifically for herbicide (AO) exposure.

A lot of the back pay is due to re-adjudication of previously denied claims under the NEHMER court order.
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SGT Infantryman (Airborne)
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9 y
Yes Sir SFC Darrell Adams , it's that little clause they have in there, "must be diagnosed within one year of last exposure". Hell, you don't know you are affected by it for years and they know that.
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SFC Charles S.
SFC Charles S.
9 y
Sgt (Join to see) Yes, PO1 Dustin Adams is correct. My Step-Father-In-Law had Prostate and Bladder Cancer which is on the Presumptive condition list.
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