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Once again the American Veterans Administration has jumped ahead of the Australian
Department of Veterans Affairs in accepting links between long-term illness and the herbicides and pesticides we were exposed
to in Vietnam.
VA Grants Agent Orange-Related Benefits
(EXCERPT)
WASHINGTON (Jan. 23, 2003) - Based upon a recently released
review of scientific studies, Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Anthony J.
Principi has decided to extend benefits to Vietnam veterans with
chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
"Compelling
evidence has emerged within the scientific community that
exposure to herbicides such as Agent Orange is associated with
CLL,"
Principi said. "I'm exercising my legal authority to ensure the full
range of VA benefits is available to Vietnam
veterans with CLL."
The ruling means that veterans with CLL who served in Vietnam during
the Vietnam War don't have
to prove that illness is related to their
military service to qualify for Department of Veterans Affairs
disability
compensation. Additionally, for more than 20 years, VA has
offered special access to medical care to Vietnam veterans with
any
health problems that may have resulted from Agent Orange exposure, and
this decision will ensure higher-priority
access to care in the
future.
The decision to provide compensation was based upon a recent report,
By the Institute
of Medicine (IOM) that found among scientific studies
"sufficient evidence of an association" between exposure to herbicides
during
the Vietnam War and CLL.
The IOM review, conducted at VA's request, was the latest in a series
spanning the period
since 1993 when the independent, non-governmental
agency first published a report for VA that examined thousands of
relevant
scientific studies on the health effects of various
substances to which American servicemembers may have been exposed in
Vietnam.
"On
the modern battlefield, not all injuries are caused by shrapnel
and bullets," Principi said. "This latest IOM study and
my decision to
act upon it are the latest examples of VA's continuing efforts to care
for the needs of our combat veterans."
VA
requested the IOM panel of experts to focus on CLL in their report
because of veterans' concerns that CLL shares some similarities
with
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which the IOM had previously connected to
Agent Orange exposure.
Principi ordered
the development of regulations to enable VA to begin
paying compensation benefits once a final rule takes effect.
Publication
of that regulation is expected in the near future. VA will
publish further details, when available, on its Web site at
http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/benefits/herbicide/.
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