WASHINGTON
Sam Genco, at age 19, narrowly survived
one of the United States’ worst military aircraft carrier fires. Today,
50 years later, it’s that ship’s drinking water he says could be killing
him.
Genco was diagnosed last year at a North Carolina veterans’ clinic with ischemic heart disease – a common condition the federal government says is linked to Agent Orange exposure. He suffers from severely blocked arteries, cutting off the normal flow of oxygen and blood to the heart.
“It’s fatigue. Your muscles just don’t want to work. Like an engine full of sludge,” Genco said. “The engine keeps working harder but going slower.”
But the 69-year-old can’t get disability benefits tied to exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange.
If the federal government approved his claim, Genco could receive full disability benefits, which would increase his monthly veteran’s benefit check from about $1,400 to more than $3,000. Full disability benefits also have tax advantages and would improve his wife’s health care coverage. Despite no acknowledgment from the government that he was exposed to Agent Orange, Genco does get free medical treatment, like other veterans, at veterans’ clinics.
His bid for financial help is caught in a bureaucratic maze and a struggle involving widespread disagreement among experts about why he’s sick.
Genco, who lives in Pine Knoll Shores, North Carolina, is one of an estimated 90,000 affected “blue water Navy Vietnam veterans,” named for the open seas and harbors where they served.
Federally funded research by the Institute of Medicine – now the National Academy of Medicine – concludes the sailors were possibly exposed to Agent Orange via their ships’ drinking water or from winds blowing the chemical out to sea.
The 2011 study, the most recent assessment, says the blue water controversy can’t be solved with science because the military didn’t track Agent Orange’s drift and presence in the water during the war.
Genco was diagnosed last year at a North Carolina veterans’ clinic with ischemic heart disease – a common condition the federal government says is linked to Agent Orange exposure. He suffers from severely blocked arteries, cutting off the normal flow of oxygen and blood to the heart.
“It’s fatigue. Your muscles just don’t want to work. Like an engine full of sludge,” Genco said. “The engine keeps working harder but going slower.”
But the 69-year-old can’t get disability benefits tied to exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange.
If the federal government approved his claim, Genco could receive full disability benefits, which would increase his monthly veteran’s benefit check from about $1,400 to more than $3,000. Full disability benefits also have tax advantages and would improve his wife’s health care coverage. Despite no acknowledgment from the government that he was exposed to Agent Orange, Genco does get free medical treatment, like other veterans, at veterans’ clinics.
His bid for financial help is caught in a bureaucratic maze and a struggle involving widespread disagreement among experts about why he’s sick.
Genco, who lives in Pine Knoll Shores, North Carolina, is one of an estimated 90,000 affected “blue water Navy Vietnam veterans,” named for the open seas and harbors where they served.
Federally funded research by the Institute of Medicine – now the National Academy of Medicine – concludes the sailors were possibly exposed to Agent Orange via their ships’ drinking water or from winds blowing the chemical out to sea.
The 2011 study, the most recent assessment, says the blue water controversy can’t be solved with science because the military didn’t track Agent Orange’s drift and presence in the water during the war.
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