Not only does the herbicide/chemical weapon Agent Orange cause birth defects for Vietnamese children, it also has hurt more than a million American veterans. Diseases were brought home by the United States troops which were there either as a result of enlistment or due to the draft. Just a couple of these consist of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma and even acute peripheral neuropathy. In two months, approximately 270,000 Vietnam War veterans – more than a quarter of the one million-plus receiving disability checks, reports the Washington Post – are to be compensated for diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s and certain types of leukemia under a new rule. Within the next ten years, United States working class will have to cover $42 billion for this.
Agent Orange came with every little thing between diabetes and erectile dysfunction
According to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, diabetes is probably the most common Agent Orange-related medical complication Vietnam veterans face. Other conditions, for instance 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.
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 listening to on “what changes Congress and the VA may need to make to existing law and policy,” around September 23.
Too much VA spending
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs might end up paying too much for Vietnam veterans with diabetes, says the Associated Press. Independent calculations depending upon VA records suggest that $850 million per year would sufficiently address those in need, but the VA’s numbers – which they don’t track by specific illness – are estimated to be substantially higher. 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 10 years is an earth-shattering leap.
Then there’s the ‘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 says, “Does it make you take a deep breath? Does it give you pause? Yes. But you nevertheless do what you think is the right thing to do.”
Discover more details 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
