The Department of Veterans Affairs shows no signs of backing
off opposition to extending Agent Orange health care and benefits to "Blue
Water Navy" Vietnam veterans, setting up another major battle this year
with veterans groups and overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate.
The VA still lacks "sufficient evidence" to prove
a presumptive link between service off the coast of Vietnam and the illnesses
caused by the widespread use of the defoliant Agent Orange, Paul Lawrence, the
VA's under secretary and head of the Veterans Benefits Administration, said
Thursday.
"In terms of presumptives, they come with a real
requirement of sufficient evidence to indicate it's warranted," he said in
a panel discussion on a VA Town Hall webcast.
Veterans who served on the ground or on the inland waterways
of Vietnam are now eligible for Agent Orange health care and benefits. But
existing studies do not show definitive causation between the illnesses
suffered by the estimated 90,000 Blue Water Navy veterans and the use of Agent
Orange, Lawrence said.
"We understand the situation," he said. "We
talked about having more studies in 2019 that would give us more insight into
what the causation was and the definitive conclusions behind it."
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