A veterans' group request to the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs, if approved, could open the door for Guam residents to seek medical
help for presumptive exposure to herbicides with toxic components, such as
Agent Orange, during and after the Vietnam War.
Attorney John Wells, executive director of the
Louisiana-based Military Veterans Advocacy, sent a letter to Veterans Affairs
Secretary Robert Wilkie, requesting him to issue rules recognizing the
presumption of Agent Orange exposure to veterans who served on Guam from Jan.
9, 1962 through Dec. 31, 1980.
The request also covers veterans who served on Johnston
Island from Jan. 1, 1972 until Sept. 30, 1977.
"While many veterans who served on Guam felt that they
were exposed to Agent Orange, we must not obsess with that term. The important
thing is that they were exposed to herbicides with toxic components. That is
sufficient to trigger coverage," Wells wrote in his Dec. 3 letter to
Wilkie.
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