In addition to being the reason for severe birth problems for generations of Vietnamese children, the herbicide/chemical weapon Agent Orange has afflicted more than a million American veterans. There were many diseases the troops that might not have even been there by choice with the draft received including things for instance acute peripheral neuropathy, soft tissue sarcoma and Hodgkin’s lymphoma. There is a new ruling that says 270,000 Vietnam War veterans will be getting compensation for any diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s and types of leukemia. The Washington Post reports that that is around a quarter of the one million that are already getting disability checks right now. This means that $42 billion will be spent by American working class on this in a decade.
Loads of diseases from diabetes to erectile dysfunction come with Agent Orange
The Department of veterans’ Affairs reports on which medical condition is most common from Agent Orange. It really ended up being diabetes. Other conditions, such as erectile dysfunction, that would otherwise be attributed to age are being tied to Agent Orange, so veterans are being compensated. Alan Simpson thinks that this compensation is way far off from what federal spending is trying to do. Alan Simpson is the chairman of President Obama’s deficit commission.
“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.
Taxpayers are simply paying for “presumptive conditions” if you ask Sen. Daniel K. Alkaka (D-Hawaii). He is on the veteran’s Affairs Committee. The Post found an email stating Alkaka’s plans to be in a hearing on “what changes Congress and the VA may need for making to existing law and policy,” around September 23.
VA spending does not compute
According to the Associated Press, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs may end up overpaying for Vietnam veterans with diabetes. Independent calculations based on VA records show that only $850 million a year is needed to help those with diabetes. Sadly, the VA’s numbers are much higher than that. Considering that the VA spends $34 billion a year on disability benefits for United States veterans wars, the forty two billion dollars increase over the next a decade is an earth-shattering leap.
There is ‘Credible evidence for association’
Victoria Anne Cassano is the Veterans’ Health Administration Director of Radiation and Physical Exposures. She explains that there was a federal law created on Agent Orange in 1991 saying that chemical agents and afflictions do have a correlation with Agent Orange “if the credible evidence for the association is equal to or outweighs the credible evidence against the association.”
It is not hard to prove that. The Post reports this. Cassano asks, “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.”
Find more information on this subject
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
