Agent Orange Presumptive Disease

[billr]

I just got off of a conference call with a VA Deputy Secretary and County Veterans Service Officers from throughout the Western US and we were informed that at 4:30 pm EST today VA announced that the Institute Of Medicine has found evidence to establish a connection between Agent Orange exposure and a form of leukemia call Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia(CLL). This is the first step in the process of establishing a presumptive determination of service connection for veterans diagnosed with CLL and who had service in Vietnam.
Hopefully there are not many veterans out there with this disease but if you know of anyone or have a way to spread the news, please do so. Even though it will take a while for VA to publish the new rule, I would encourage everyone with this condition to file a claim ASAP.

[Boats]

billr,

This AO is spreading further out than just VN. Sailor's or weapons handlers have been contaminated with AO as well.
The VA center I go to in Crown Point, IN has many guys each week getting checked out. Planes that fly through the stuff bring it back to the bases or ships and the guys handling the aircraft from fuelers, plane pushers, O2, weapons and whoever else comes in contact with these aircraft or handling these weapons has been exposed.

It gets into your skin and spreads out. The guys in the field are breathing it in and this accelerates the toxins. My brother died about 5 years ago from complications to AO. I've worked on and around aircraft and base installations supporting AO deliveries.

I got cancer about 5 years ago and so far I'm still clean but each year I must undergo these test and they are no fun especially waiting for the results.

It's not over yet and more and more men/women are going to get sick from the exposure. Just how well we can prove these exposures is currently being investigated by the VA.

Go to your VA and tell them that you've been exposed they will run test. Then wait and see. Get tested each year the sooner you catch something the sooner you can treat it and maybe put it into check.

Good Luck - Keep us informed on any upcoming news.

[billr]

Boats - I agree that a person can get exposed to Agent Orange in many different ways. However, for VA to grant Service Connection on a presumptive basis, the veteran had to have served in-county in Vietnam or in the inland waters. Presumptive means that you don't have to prove that you were exposed, just that you were in Vietnam. If not, then you have to prove actual exposure.
If a veteran is diagnosed with one of the now 11 conditions associated with Agent Orange exposure and can show that they handled Agent Orange or were exposed to it during the course of their military duties, service connection can be granted. It's just a little more difficult that if VA grants it on a presumptive basis.
If anyone is interested in reviewing the last published Agent Orange Review (2000) put out by the Institute of Medicine, you can find it at:

http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10098.h..._newsdoc041901