Agent Orange Town Hall Meetings

July 19, 2014

Lewisburg, West Virginia

Armory

1:00-4:00

Contact: Dave Simmons

dsimmons@vva.org

August 23, 2014

Taylor, Michigan

10:00 am-4:00 pm

Wayne County Community College

2100 Northline Road

Taylor, Michigan 48180

Contact: Mike Goodpaster

Gunnersmate235@gmail.com

313-673-8740

September 12, 2014

Fort Collins, Colorado

6pm-8pm

Larimer County Courthouse, First Floor

200 West Oak Street, Fort Collins

Contact: Wes Carter

971-241-9322

C123kcancer@gmail.com

September 19, 2014

Bellingham, WA

1:00 PM

HEC Conference Center

3333 Squalicum Parkway, Bellingham WA

(right down from St. Joseph Hospital)

Contact: Bill Bowen VVA 165, Bellingham

billb@newobgroup.com

Upcoming: Sandpoint, ID Sept 20^th and Kalispell, MT Sept 21^st

September 27, 2014

Manitowoc, Wisconsin

12:00 pm (Noon) – 4:00 pm

UW Manitowoc

705 Viebahn Street

Manitowoc, WI 54220

Contact: Mike Demske

(920) 684-1624

Michael.demske@yahoo.com

October 25, 2014

Asheville, North Carolina

12-6pm

AB Tech Community College,

Enka Campus, Haynes Building,

1459 Sand Hill Road, Candler, NC

Contact: Allan Perkal, perkman@mac.com

Agent Orange town hall meeting in Wilmington

http://www.wwaytv3.com/2014/06/28/veterans-affairs-holds-agent-orange-town-hall-meeting-wilmington

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)-- Veterans from all over the United States came to Wilmington to fight for a cause at the Agent Orange town hall meeting.
Agent Orange is a dioxin that many soldiers were exposed to during war. The Veterans Affairs say it is pretty strongly linked to the Vietnam War. Now, they are fighting for diagnosis and treatment for their children and grandchildren that could be affected.
One woman is still very concerned after losing her son and then her husband to what she thinks was caused by Agent Orange.
"I’m still worried,” Lynn Olsen said. “I have grandchildren. I have two sons that I love desperately. I don't even want to think about what could possibly happen to them.”
Veterans Affairs wants anyone that has a claim to go to a local office and report it. They are trying to get a bill passed in Washington that will establish a national center for the treatment and diagnosis of conditions caused by exposure to these toxins.

READ MORE: http://www.wwaytv3.com/2014/06/28/veterans-affairs-holds-agent-orange-town-hall-meeting-wilmington

Enduring solution now

http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/Enduring-solution-now-5585761.php

A July 4, 1837, advertisement for a settlement along the banks of the San Jacinto River praises a "high, beautiful and undulating district of country, distinguished for health, good water and soil." Almost two centuries have passed since that ad. With the growth in population, Texans should expect our rivers to be used for such activites as recreation, fishing and transportation. We should not expect our rivers to be poisoned.
In the mid-1960s, Champion Paper (now merged with International Paper) contracted with a company (now owned by the Waste Management family of companies) to dispose of toxic waste from a paper mill. As Chronicle editorial cartoonist Nick Anderson explained in his two-part series, "The San Jacinto River: In Peril" (Page B12, June 8 and Page B12, June 15) someone had a terrible idea and stored the waste, contaminated with dioxin, in three shallow pits adjacent to the San Jacinto River.
Fast forward: In 2008, the San Jacinto Waste Pits were placed on the National Priorities List of Superfund Sites due to the high level of dioxin contamination detected nearby.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, studies have shown that exposure to dioxins at high enough levels may cause a number of adverse health effects, including cancer. Harris County and, separately, a group of fishermen in Galveston County have filed suit against the originating companies and their successors. "Dioxin has already spread to Galveston Bay. It's pervasive. It's everywhere," according to Special Assistant Harris Country Attorney Terry O'Rourke.
READ MORE: http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/Enduring-solution-now-5585761.php

Plagued by diseases, aging fliers find VA unwilling to help

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/06/28/veterans-who-say-they-were-exposed-agent-orange-residues-planes-after-vietnam-are-fighting-for-recognition/B9duMp0erHLI44h1Q9udZM/story.html

WASHINGTON — For more than a decade, Richard Matte has suffered through a series of grave illnesses. The 70-year-old from Chicopee has a transplanted heart. He’s been treated for bladder cancer, lung cancer, and nerve disorders.
But it wasn’t until 2011 that the retired master sergeant learned he and fellow veterans of the Air Force Reserve’s 731st Tactical Airlift Squadron in Westover might have been exposed to traces of Agent Orange. Matte quickly looked up ailments designated by the Department of Veterans Affairs as linked to contact with the deadly herbicide.
“I'm sitting here thinking, ‘Jeez, I got about 10 of these myself,’ ” Matte, who recently had his left leg amputated, recalled in an interview.

Agent Orange exposure

But unlike hundreds of thousands of other veterans who have been compensated by the VA for Agent Orange exposure during the Vietnam War, Matte never served in Southeast Asia or directly handled the deadly substance. The C-123 Provider cargo planes he crewed had been used to dump thousands of canisters of the toxin over Vietnam, before being brought home to Westover and used for domestic missions from 1972 to 1982.
It turns out those old planes were contaminated with toxic residue. Once they were retired for good, the Air Force even cordoned them off at a remote desert airstrip in Arizona and treated them as hazardous waste.
Despite growing evidence that the fliers were exposed to the poison, the VA is denying claims made by Matte and other veterans from the 731st Tactical Airlift Squadron, saying they are not eligible for special Agent Orange-related benefits mandated by Congress — health care as well as disability and survivor benefits.
READ MORE: http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/06/28/veterans-who-say-they-were-exposed-agent-orange-residues-planes-after-vietnam-are-fighting-for-recognition/B9duMp0erHLI44h1Q9udZM/story.html

Central TX Woman Fighting VA

http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/central-tx-woman-fighting-va-insists-agent-orange-exposure-real-18989.shtml

Many have criticized the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as an overwhelmed, unorganized system offering care. The VA is coming under fire again, this time from a Central Texas woman. This Central Texas woman says her survivor benefits have been denied, even though her husband's shipmates insist his exposure to Agent Orange is real. "He wasn't just a good sailor; he was an excellent husband," said Diane Zweig. Diane Zwieg met her blue-eyed Navy man in 1980. "He was the light of my life, I tell you that," Zweig said. Those baby blues enchanted her to the end, when cancer attacked Ted Zweig. "It had exploded through his whole body," she said. Diane says Ted got regular checkups at the VA, but no one noticed anything until he complained about his vision. She says an emergency room doctor spotted the cancer during an MRI. Ted started treatment, while he waited for a VA appointment. She says only when she stepped up her complaints about a dying husband did they make room for him. "They said how about October 27, and that was about a week and a half away," said Zweig. "I said, 'OK, we'll take it,' and dwell he died on the 26." Ted Zweig died October 26, 2013, of lung cancer that had metastasized, one day before his VA appointment. When Dianne applied for survivor benefits, she was denied.

Read More at: http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/central-tx-woman-fighting-va-insists-agent-orange-exposure-real-18989.shtml

Many have criticized the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as an overwhelmed, unorganized system offering care. The VA is coming under fire again, this time from a Central Texas woman. This Central Texas woman says her survivor benefits have been denied, even though her husband's shipmates insist his exposure to Agent Orange is real. "He wasn't just a good sailor; he was an excellent husband," said Diane Zweig. Diane Zwieg met her blue-eyed Navy man in 1980. "He was the light of my life, I tell you that," Zweig said. Those baby blues enchanted her to the end, when cancer attacked Ted Zweig. "It had exploded through his whole body," she said. Diane says Ted got regular checkups at the VA, but no one noticed anything until he complained about his vision. She says an emergency room doctor spotted the cancer during an MRI. Ted started treatment, while he waited for a VA appointment. She says only when she stepped up her complaints about a dying husband did they make room for him. "They said how about October 27, and that was about a week and a half away," said Zweig. "I said, 'OK, we'll take it,' and dwell he died on the 26." Ted Zweig died October 26, 2013, of lung cancer that had metastasized, one day before his VA appointment. When Dianne applied for survivor benefits, she was denied.

Read More at: http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/central-tx-woman-fighting-va-insists-agent-orange-exposure-real-18989.shtml

Many have criticized the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as an overwhelmed, unorganized system offering care. The VA is coming under fire again, this time from a Central Texas woman.

This Central Texas woman says her survivor benefits have been denied, even though her husband's shipmates insist his exposure to Agent Orange is real. "He wasn't just a good sailor; he was an excellent husband," said Diane Zweig. 
Diane Zwieg met her blue-eyed Navy man in 1980. "He was the light of my life, I tell you that," Zweig said. Those baby blues enchanted her to the end, when cancer attacked Ted Zweig. "It had exploded through his whole body," she said. Diane says Ted got regular checkups at the VA, but no one noticed anything until he complained about his vision. She says an emergency room doctor spotted the cancer during an MRI. 
Ted started treatment, while he waited for a VA appointment. She says only when she stepped up her complaints about a dying husband did they make room for him. "They said how about October 27, and that was about a week and a half away," said Zweig. "I said, 'OK, we'll take it,' and dwell he died on the 26." Ted Zweig died October 26, 2013, of lung cancer that had metastasized, one day before his VA appointment. When Dianne applied for survivor benefits, she was denied.

Many have criticized the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as an overwhelmed, unorganized system offering care. The VA is coming under fire again, this time from a Central Texas woman. This Central Texas woman says her survivor benefits have been denied, even though her husband's shipmates insist his exposure to Agent Orange is real. "He wasn't just a good sailor; he was an excellent husband," said Diane Zweig. Diane Zwieg met her blue-eyed Navy man in 1980. "He was the light of my life, I tell you that," Zweig said. Those baby blues enchanted her to the end, when cancer attacked Ted Zweig. "It had exploded through his whole body," she said. Diane says Ted got regular checkups at the VA, but no one noticed anything until he complained about his vision. She says an emergency room doctor spotted the cancer during an MRI. Ted started treatment, while he waited for a VA appointment. She says only when she stepped up her complaints about a dying husband did they make room for him. "They said how about October 27, and that was about a week and a half away," said Zweig. "I said, 'OK, we'll take it,' and dwell he died on the 26." Ted Zweig died October 26, 2013, of lung cancer that had metastasized, one day before his VA appointment. When Dianne applied for survivor benefits, she was denied.

Read More at: http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/central-tx-woman-fighting-va-insists-agent-orange-exposure-real-18989.shtml

Read More at: http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/central-tx-woman-fighting-va-insists-agent-orange-exposure-real-18989.shtml

Spraying Cancer on GMOs: Agent Orange’s Toxic Chemical 2,4-D to Control Roundup Resistant “Superweed”

http://www.globalresearch.ca/spraying-cancer-on-gmos-agent-oranges-toxic-chemical-24-d-to-control-roundup-resistant-superweed/5388540

As a legacy chemical that was one half of Agent Orange, 2,4-D should be on its way out. But widespread “superweed” resistance to Roundup Ready crops, and a regulatory system complicit in supporting the failed genetically engineered (GE) agricultural model has set us on a course for an unprecedented increase in the use of this herbicide.
Dow AgroSciences has asked EPA to expand 2,4-D uses on its GE corn and soybeans to control Roundup-resistant weeds. Its new product, Enlist Duo, a formulation with 2,4-D and glyphosate (the chemical in Roundup), is set to be sprayed on GE crops across the country, putting agricultural communities and the surrounding environment at risk of toxic exposure from drift and runoff.
2,4-D is associated with increased cancer risks, especially for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It is also a potent neurotoxin and hormone-disruptor. Studies show that exposure to 2,4-D is associated with an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease, reduced sperm counts, and birth defects.

An unprecedented increase in 2,4-D would inevitably pose risks to public health, farmers, and the environment. 
Tell EPA To DENY Expanded Uses of 2,4-D!
Despite claims by Dow that this latest version of 2,4-D is less prone to drift, the risk from increased 2,4-D use threatens non-GE and organic crops, endangered species, and increased drift and runoff will contaminate water and non-target sites. Unfortunately, EPA’s preliminary ecological assessment is filled with data gaps, and does not address concerns of 2,4-D-induced weed resistance, or the potential synergistic and additive effects with a 2,4-D and glyphosate mixture.
TELL EPA NO TO MORE 2,4-D!
EPA is currently taking public comment on this new use of 2,4-D until June 30th.
READ MORE: http://www.globalresearch.ca/spraying-cancer-on-gmos-agent-oranges-toxic-chemical-24-d-to-control-roundup-resistant-superweed/5388540

A History of the World's Most Evil Corporation

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_66841.shtml
Of all the mega-corps running amok, Monsanto has consistently outperformed its rivals, earning the crown as “most evil corporation on Earth!” Not content to simply rest upon its throne of death, atop a mountain of rotting corpses, it remains focused on newer, more scientifically innovative ways to harm the planet and its people.

As true champions of evil, they won’t stop until…well, until they’re stopped! But what is Monsanto and how did they get to be so obscenely evil in the first place? I think that’s the best place to start this journey, so grab a few non-GMO snacks or beverages and let’s go for a ride into the deep, murky sewers of their dark past.
1901: The company is founded by John Francis Queeny, a member of the Knights of Malta, a thirty year pharmaceutical veteran married to Olga Mendez Monsanto, for which Monsanto Chemical Works is named. The company’s first product is chemical saccharin, sold to Coca-Cola as an artificial sweetener.
Even then, the government knew saccharin was poisonous and sued to stop its manufacture but lost in court, thus opening the Monsanto Pandora’s Box to begin poisoning the world through the soft drink.
1920s: Monsanto expands into industrial chemicals and drugs, becoming the world’s largest maker of  aspirin, acetylsalicyclic acid, (toxic of course). This is also the time when things began to go horribly wrong for the planet in a hurry with the introduction of  their polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
“PCBs were considered an industrial wonder chemical, an oil that wouldn’t burn, impervious to degradation and had almost limitless applications. Today PCBs are considered one of the gravest chemical threats on the planet. Widely used as lubricants, hydraulic fluids, cutting oils, waterproof coatings and liquid sealants, are potent carcinogens and have been implicated in reproductive, developmental and immune system disorders. The world’s center of PCB manufacturing was Monsanto’s plant on the outskirts of East St. Louis, Illinois, which has the highest rate of fetal death and immature births in the state.”(1)
Even though PCBs were eventually banned after fifty years for causing such devastation, it is still present in just about all animal and human blood and tissue cells across the globe. Documents introduced in court later showed Monsanto was fully aware of the deadly effects, but criminally hid them from the public to keep the PCB gravy-train going full speed!
READ MORE: http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_66841.shtml
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The RICO Act focuses specifically on racketeering, and it allows the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they ordered others to do or assisted them, closing a perceived loophole that allowed someone who told a man to, for example, murder, to be exempt from the trial because he did not actually commit the crime personally.
RICO was enacted by section 901(a) of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (Pub.L. 91–452, 84 Stat. 922, enacted October 15, 1970). RICO is codified as Chapter 96 of Title 18 of the United States Code, 18 U.S.C. § 1961–1968. Under the close supervision of Senator John Little McClellan, the Chairman of the Committee for which he worked, G. Robert Blakey drafted the "RICO Act," Title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, signed into law by Richard M. Nixon. While its original use in the 1970s was to prosecute the Mafia as well as others who were actively engaged in organized crime, its later application has been more widespread.
Beginning in 1972, 33 States adopted state RICO laws to be able to prosecute similar conduct.

Agent Orange Town Hall Meetings

June 25, 2014
Oneida, Wisconsin
10:30am- 12:00 pm (Noon)

Oneida Veterans Affairs Office

134 Riverdale Drive

Oneida, WI 54155

Contact: Mike Demske

(920) 684-1624

Michael.demske@yahoo.com

June 28 , 2014

Wilmington, North Carolina

11:00 to 1:00

Elks Lodge Wilmington, NC

Contact: Tony Musolino 910-352-5128

tondeb@yahoo.com

Vietnam vets share effects of Agent Orange

http://www.svherald.com/content/shar-porier/2014/06/21/380728
SIERRA VISTA — Though the nation is acknowledging the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the war in Vietnam, the fighting is still not over as veterans and, now, their children and grandchildren, seek medical attention for the numerous critical maladies and cancers from exposure to Agent Orange.

Though the war has been over for a little more than four decades, the impact of a decision to use 20 million gallons of a herbicide that contained dioxins and benzene, has left hundreds of thousands of soldiers requiring medical attention, that now has been discovered to even have affected their children and grandchildren.

In an effort to let Vietnam veterans know that there is help for them, the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 1093, Sierra Vista, held a special town hall meeting to let local veterans know they are not alone, that someone still has their backs.
Bill Colberg, president of the local chapter, brought in two VVA national activists from California, Jim Doyle and Zack Earp, to offer Vietnam veterans the chance to voice their concerns and problems.
Earp, who is a descendant of Wyatt Earp, uses a walker these days and still carries nearly 200 pieces of shrapnel in his body. He suffers from Parkinson’s Disease and has had previous battles with prostate cancer. His children have had serious health issues. One is dead from neurological problems that caused Grand Mal seizures. He was only 32.
READ MORE: http://www.svherald.com/content/shar-porier/2014/06/21/380728

Veteran wants his cancer linked to Agent Orange

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/21/6496983/veteran-wants-his-cancer-linked.html
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Dan Barrett was through with the Vietnam War almost as soon as he managed his way past a taunting, spitting anti-war protester at the airport.
The war, however, wasn't done with him.
The retired Evansville businessman has spent the better part of four decades trying to forget the horrors of combat, only to find himself fighting new battles with cancer and bureaucracy.
Barrett has received chemotherapy every four weeks since being diagnosed with esophageal cancer in September 2009 — a cancer he believes originated with his almost daily exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam.
READ MORE: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/21/6496983/veteran-wants-his-cancer-linked.html

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/21/6496983/veteran-wants-his-cancer-linked.html#storylink=cpy

Dow Chemical Co. to test another 170 properties in Midland for dioxin

http://www.ourmidland.com/news/dow-chemical-co-to-test-another-properties-in-midland-for/article_2e7e7772-12cb-525e-bec8-5c8849b0574f.html

The Dow Chemical Co. will expand its dioxin testing to 170 more residential properties in Midland (MI) to try to confirm the boundaries of aerial pollution that was spread in some areas of the city as a result of historic waste management practices.
Dioxins are toxic byproducts from industrial processes that were emitted from Dow’s Michigan Operations site in Midland.

Dow and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality agreed to a cleanup process in 2012 that targeted 1,475 properties in a designated resolution area. Dow offered homeowners free soil sampling to see if levels of dioxin surpassed a site-specific dioxin action level of 250 parts per trillion. If soil levels were higher than 250 ppt, the property owners were offered the removal of 1 foot of soil, replacement top soil and new landscaping at no cost.
Now, Dow and the MDEQ have agreed to test another 170 properties just beyond the edges of the original resolution area.
“It will serve as a way to confirm whether the original boundaries were correctly drawn and we’ll decide how to move forward from there,” Dow spokesman Nate Kerns said.
READ MORE: http://www.ourmidland.com/news/dow-chemical-co-to-test-another-properties-in-midland-for/article_2e7e7772-12cb-525e-bec8-5c8849b0574f.html

EDITORIAL: Justice Can't Wait - U.S. needs to own responsibility for Agent Orange

http://www.masslive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/06/editorial_us_government_needs.html#incart_river_default

Years after a long, arduous battle resolved, the U.S. Department of Labor is finally compensating and covering medical expenses for people who worked at the former Chapman Valve Manufacturing Co. in Springfield’s Indian Orchard neighborhood.
In fact, it’s now seeking workers who may be eligible for the funds.

That’s not the case for former Air Force personnel at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee who worked on planes that became contaminated with Agent Orange. They are still seeking recognition and compensation for the illnesses they have developed as a direct result. The U.S. government has made virtually no admission of the health threat the contaminated planes posed to those exposed to them.
Chapman Valve workers who have developed cancer or chronic beryllium disease are eligible for $150,000, plus medical expenses. The program has received 442 applications from heirs and employees of Chapman Valve. Thus far, just 82 workers have been compensated a total of $6.9 million. It would be both kind and prudent to fast-track applications from those who were directly exposed.
Chapman Valve Manufacturing Co. supplied valves to Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In 1948, Chapman machined uranium rods into slugs for reactor fuel at Brookhaven National Laboratory. In 1949, Chapman may have also conducted rolling operations on uranium metal.
This compensation took years of effort on the part of former workers who developed illness as a direct result to exposure to dangerous chemicals. For many it’s too little and too late.
Why it takes the federal government so long to admit the truth of its dangerous practices and to compensate those whose lives have been sacrificed for them is mind-boggling. Perhaps there’s method to this madness: By ignoring the problem, it will go away.
Meanwhile, Air Force personnel who never went to Vietnam but were nonetheless exposed to Agent Orange through work on planes at Westover Air Reserve Base are still waiting.
The time is short. Justice can’t wait.