Vietnamese kids have had many birth defects from the herbicide/chemical weapon Agent Orange. Not only that, but over one million American veterans were hurt by it as well. Acute peripheral neuropathy, soft tissue sarcoma and Hodgkin’s lymphoma are just a few of the conditions troops who were either enlisted or chosen to serve came home with. The Washington Post reports that a quarter of the a million troops receiving disability checks, or 270,000 Vietnam War veterans, will in two months get compensation for diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s and different types of leukemia. This means that forty two billion dollars could be spent by United States taxpayers on this in a decade.
Agent Orange: running the gamut from diabetes to erectile dysfunction
Diabetes is the most common medical problem Agent Orange caused for the Vietnam veterans, says the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Agent Orange also has erectile dysfunction tied to it now. Normally this would be attributed to age however veterans are getting extra compensation for it. Former Wyoming Republican senator and current chairman of President Obama’s deficit commission, Alan Simpson, has said such compensation flies in the face of commitments to control federal spending.
“The irony (is) that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess,” he said.
Also, Sen. Daniel K Akaka (D-Hawaii) who is the chairman of Veterans’ Affairs Committee thinks these are “presumptive conditions” that taxpayers are now paying for. The Post found an email stating Alkaka’s plans to be in a hearing on “what changes Congress and also the VA may need to make to existing law and policy,” around September 23.
Not good VA spending
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs might end up paying too much for Vietnam veterans with diabetes, says the Associated Press. Independent calculations based upon upon VA records suggest that $850 million per year would sufficiently address those in need, but the VA’s numbers – which they do not track by specific illness – are estimated to be substantially higher. .
Then there’s the ‘Credible evidence for association’
A 1991 federal law on Agent Orange, pointed out by Victoria Anne Cassano, the Veterans’ Health Administration Director of Radiation and Physical exposures, saying that there is a link between afflictions and also the chemical agent “if the credible evidence for the association is equal to or outweighs the credible evidence against the association.”
It isn’t hard to prove that. The Post reports this. As Cassano puts it, “Does it make you take a deep breath? Does it give you pause? Yes. However you nevertheless do what you think is the right thing to do.”
U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs
publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/diseases.asp
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/31/AR2010083106819.html
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange
The children of Agent Orange, 2008 (WARNING: Disturbing content)
youtube.com/watch?v=9zay0zcC0K4
