The clock is ticking on a bill to help Vietnam-era Navy
veterans, and time is running out on many of them who are now sick.
The legislation extends health care and disability benefits
to Navy veterans suffering from exposure to the toxic herbicide known as Agent
Orange.
The so-called Blue Water Navy bill would assist 50-70,000
Navy veterans.
In June, the measure sailed through the U.S.House of
Representatives, where it received a unanimous endorsement.
Then instead of leading the way, Georgia Republican Senator
Johnny Isakson, blocked the door.
About 90,000 U.S.sailors fought in the Vietnam War, not on
the ground, but from the sea.
Their ships pulled into Vietnam's bays and harbors.
Veteran Mike Kvintus of New Port Richey was one of them.
"My ship sailed into Da Nang Harbor, and the days that
I was there, they sprayed Agent Orange all over the harbor," Mike
recalled.
The U.S. military sprayed millions of gallons of the
herbicide Agent Orange on Vietnam, to kill vegetation in which the enemy hid
and rob them of their food supply.
The powerful defoliant is now killing Americans.
"I have diabetes, I have heart disease, neuropathy, I
have kidney disease, all these are associated with Agent Orange.
The VA doesn't agree.
It maintains the science connecting Agent Orange to sailors
that never touched Vietnam soil, is just not there.
"Baloney," Commander John Wells of Military
Veterans Advocacy said.
According to Mr. Wells, a major force behind this bill, this
isn't about science, it is about money that the VA does not want to pay.
Cdr. Wells cites studies that show Agent Orange ran into
streams and rivers, then ended up offshore.
There, U.S. ships converted contaminated sea water to water
that crews drank, cooked and bathed in.
The distillation process only enhanced the Agent Orange.
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