|
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Amplify Parkinson’s Advocacy from Home
Service dogs can help veterans with PTSD – growing evidence shows they may reduce anxiety in practical ways
As many as 1 in 5 of the roughly 2.7 million Americans deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 are experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.
We’ve been finding that once veterans with post-traumatic
stress disorder get service dogs, they tend to feel less depressed and less
anxious and miss work less frequently.
Complementing other forms of treatment
The traditional treatments for PTSD, such as talk therapy
and medication, do work for many veterans. But these approaches do not
alleviate the symptoms for all veterans, so a growing number of them are
seeking additional help from PTSD service dogs.
The nation’s estimated 500,000 service dogs aid people
experiencing a wide array of conditions that include visual or hearing
impairments, psychological challenges, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.
For our PTSD research, we partner with K9s For Warriors and
Canine Companions for Independence, two of many nonprofits that train service
dogs to work with veterans with PTSD.
There is no single breed that can help people this way.
These dogs can be anything from purebred Labrador retrievers to shelter mixes.
Unlike emotional support dogs or therapy dogs, service dogs
must be trained to do specific tasks – in this case, helping alleviate PTSD
symptoms. In keeping with the Americans with Disabilities Act, service dogs are
allowed in public places where other dogs are not.
Monday, March 29, 2021
Sweeping Measure Would Provide Care, Disability to Thousands of Vets Sickened by Burn Pits
A sweeping measure was introduced in the Senate Friday that could open up health care and disability compensation to a huge swath of veterans made sick by burn pits and other toxic exposures during military service.
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.,
reintroduced the Presumptive Benefits for War Fighters Exposed to Burn Pits and
Other Toxins Act, which would do away with most of the burden of proof on
veterans to show they got sick from breathing in burning garbage for up to a
year at a time while deployed.
The measure was also introduced last year and never got any
serious traction. This year, its bipartisan sponsorship means it could have a
better chance of becoming law.
Veteran advocates have grown increasingly impatient,
faulting Congress for being unable to pass any significant legislation that
delivers care and compensation to veterans made sick by exposure to burn pits
and other toxic environments. The VA has also not issued clear guidance on who
can get compensation for toxic exposure.
The VA estimates 3.5 million veterans have been exposed to burn pits, according to a 2015 report. Yet the department has denied claims of roughly 75% of veterans. As of January, the VA had approved claims related to burn-pit exposure for 3,442 veterans out of 13,830. It is unlikely the data paints a complete picture. It’s unclear how many suffer from serious burn pit-connected health ailments, or how many veterans are sick and unaware that illness is linked to service abroad.
State: Illegally dumped radioactive fracking waste will stay in E. Oregon landfill
Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the Oregon Department of
Energy’s decision Wednesday comes just over a year after it issued a notice of
violation to Chemical Waste Management.
The company operates Oregon’s only hazardous waste landfill,
outside of the Columbia River town of Arlington.
An investigation found CWM had dumped 1,284 tons of
radioactive waste in the landfill over three years.
Oregon law prohibits the establishment of a radioactive
waste disposal facility. The state Department of Energy says removing the waste
“would pose a greater risk to landfill workers than leaving the waste in
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Lawmakers relaunch landmark bill to create path to VA care for veterans ill from toxic exposure
A 29-year-old Marine is dying of
a rare brain cancer. Burn pits caused it, his family says.
The TEAM Act was introduced by
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who represents one of the largest populations of
troops and veterans in the country, including the largest Army base in the
world, Fort Bragg. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., who represents Pease Air Force
Base where troops and their families have been exposed to high levels of
"forever chemicals" including PFAS, cosponsored the bill at its
introduction.
Last year, the bill passed out of
the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, a key endorsement, but did not receive a
vote on the Senate floor before the end of the year, meaning it had to be
reintroduced in 2021. Tillis said in a press conference on Tuesday he believed
the reason the bill didn't pass last year was because of its late introduction,
and now he and Hassan are working to partner with House members on a companion
bill, and that additional amendments and provisions are on the table.
"We're trying to put a
framework in place that lets us end mistakes we made dating back to Agent
Orange," Tillis said. "When a veteran is experiencing an illness,
they've got so many other distractions on their mind, we should not make it difficult
for them to get the care they deserve."
Dioxin Mischief Everywhere - 1965–1966: Dioxin Experiments
1965–1966: Dr. Kligman conducted dioxin experiments on 70 prisoners at Holmesburg on behalf of Dow Chemicals. Dioxin has proved fatal in laboratory animals given small doses. These experiments were uncovered in 1980 at EPA hearings. (NY Times, 1983) In testing dioxin, a component of Agent Orange, Kligman went beyond Dow Chemical’s instructions. The Times reported that Kligman subjected 10 inmates to 7,500 micrograms of the toxic chemical — 468 times as much as Dow had requested. He reported that “Eight of the 10 subjects showed acne lesions. . . In three instances, the lesions progressed to inflammatory pustules and pules. These lesions lasted for four to seven months, since no effort was made to speed healing by active treatment.” EPA sought the identity of the 70 men, but Kligman refused to cooperate, claiming no records of the prisoners’ identities were kept.
In 2006, in response to a New York Times reporter’s inquiry about prisoner research, Kligman stated: “My view is that shutting the prison experiments down was a big mistake. . . I’m on the medical ethics committee at Penn, and I still don’t see there having been anything wrong with what we were doing.” “Nothing wrong” from his perspective inasmuch his experiments generated enormous profits from his patent of Retin-A, an anti-acne cream; and from the hundreds of experiments he performed on prisoners for Johnson & Johnson, Dow Chemical, the U.S. Army and his own corporation, Ivy Research. (Prison Legal News, 2008)
The University of Pennsylvania website praises Dr. Kligman as: “an innovative, captivating teacher… inspired generations of researchers and clinicians… a giant in the field…”
Tester, Moran Urgently Call on VA to Immediately Expedite Vietnam Veterans’ Blue Water Navy Claims
Senators: “Veterans have waited long enough, and it is time for them to have their claims properly adjudicated”
(U.S. Senate) – Senate Veterans’
Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Jerry Moran
(R-Kan.) are urgently calling on Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary
Denis McDonough to implement provisions under the Blue Water Navy Vietnam
Veterans Act to quickly provide long-overdue benefits and care to veterans
suffering from Agent Orange exposure.
“Veterans who have suffered for
decades would welcome quick Departmental implementation of this law,” wrote the
Senators in a bipartisan letter. “In response to questions prior to your
confirmation as Secretary, you agreed to provide a timeline on when these
veterans could expect Departmental action. We reiterate this request and ask
that you provide this information as soon as possible, along with any
additional resources your Department needs to adjudicate these claims
expeditiously. We also request that you detail any renewed filings veterans or
their survivors must undertake to receive benefits under the law. Veterans have
waited long enough, and it is time for them to have their claims properly
adjudicated.”
The Blue Water Navy Vietnam
Veterans Act changed the law to guarantee that veterans who served off the
shores of Vietnam and exposed to Agent Orange could access health care and
benefits related to their exposure from VA. President Donald Trump signed this
legislation into law on June 25, 2019.
“I submitted my Blue Water Navy
Claim to my local Veterans Service Organization in Kalispell more than a year
ago, and VA has yet to provide a resolution,” said Bigfork Vietnam Veteran Mike
Stone. “As a veteran living with three of the seven qualifying
service-connected conditions, including Type 2 Diabetes and Ischemic Heart
Disease, I simply can’t afford to wait another 14 months for VA to take action.
I appreciate Chairman Tester and Ranking Member Moran’s attention to ensuring
that these claims are expedited immediately for myself and countless others who
served on behalf of this nation.”
Lawmakers introduce bill to extend VA care to 490,000 more veterans ill from Agent Orange
Efforts in Congress last year to add hypertension to a list of diseases linked to Agent Orange at the Department of Veterans Affairs failed, keeping Vietnam-era veterans from accessing care for high blood pressure connected to the toxic exposure.
Now, lawmakers are making another
attempt to add hypertension and MGUS (Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined
Significance), to a list of presumptive conditions at VA, which will qualify
those veterans for care and benefits. As many as 490,000 Vietnam-era veterans
could benefit from the change, if the bill passes Congress and becomes law.
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
Chairman Jon Tester, D-Montana, introduced the Fair Care for Vietnam Veterans
Act this week, along with support from 16 other senators. Tester said the bill
would "put an end to decades of veterans wrestling with bureaucratic red
tape" at VA, adding that there is sufficient scientific evidence to
connect the illnesses to the toxic herbicide.
Earlier this month, Tester and
Moran urged VA leaders to expand care and benefits to as many as 160,000
affected by Agent Orange-linked hypertension.
The Victims of Agent Orange the U.S. Has Never Acknowledged
America has never taken responsibility for spraying the herbicide over Laos during the Vietnam War. But generations of ethnic minorities have endured the consequences.
It was a blazing-hot morning in October 2019 on the old Ho Chi Minh Trail, an intricate web of truck roads and secret paths that wove its way across the densely forested and mountainous border between Vietnam and Laos. Susan Hammond, Jacquelyn Chagnon and Niphaphone Sengthong forded a rocky stream along the trail and came to a village of about 400 people called Labeng-Khok, once the site of a logistics base inside Laos used by the North Vietnamese Army to infiltrate troops into the South. In one of the bamboo-and-thatch stilt houses, the ladder to the living quarters was made from metal tubes that formerly held American cluster bombs.
Hammond, Chagnon and Sengthong
make up the core of the staff of a nongovernmental organization called the War
Legacies Project. Hammond, a self-described Army brat whose father was a senior
military officer in the war in Vietnam, founded the group in 2008. Chagnon, who
is almost a generation older, was one of the first foreigners allowed to work
in Laos after the conflict, representing a Quaker organization, the American
Friends Service Committee. Sengthong, a retired schoolteacher who is Chagnon’s
neighbor in the country’s capital, Vientiane, is responsible for the
record-keeping and local coordination.
The main focus of the War
Legacies Project is to document the long-term effects of the defoliant known as
Agent Orange and provide humanitarian aid to its victims. Named for the colored
stripe painted on its barrels, Agent Orange — best known for its widespread use
by the U.S. military to clear vegetation during the Vietnam War — is notorious
for being laced with a chemical contaminant called
2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-dioxin, or TCDD, regarded as one of the most toxic
substances ever created.
Monday, March 15, 2021
Attorney Gerson Smoger's Filing Against the Roundup settlement
Some of you may remember Gerson Smoger from our days arguing
against MDL 381, the Agent Orange Class Action Suit, settled (against the
wishes of Vietnam veterans) in May 1984. We're just trying to stay ahead of any
new developments with respect to exposures and what the government continually
tries to hide from its citizens.
Paul Sutton
They are proposing a new herbicide get out of jail free card for Monsanto like the Agent Orange settlement that was so destructive. As with that, I am opposing it. I thought that you may be interested in my court submission. Keep up your updates -- I do read them.
Best,
Gerson
Gerson Smoger, Smoger & Associates, P.C.
Petition for Camp Lejeune water registry to be presented to congressional representation
Congressional representatives and state lawmakers from Kentucky are set to convene to discuss water contamination that occurred at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune for more than 30 years from the 1950s to 1980s and to hear out victims' plea for a medical health registry.
The special event, organized by former Marine Brian
Amburgey, will be held on Wednesday, March 17 at the Elks Lodge located at 225
Shoppers Dr. in Winchester, Kentucky. The program begins at 1:00 p.m. with a
showing of “Semper Fi: Always Faithful”, a 2011 documentary about the contamination.
A Q&A session with retired Marine Corps Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger, a main
voice in the film and leading proponent of justice for victims, will follow.
Mike Partain, a male breast cancer survivor who was born at
Camp Lejeune during the contamination, is also a leading advocate for victims
who has worked with Ensminger for well over a decade and has testified before
Congress on the subject. He says he plans to drive 11 hours from Florida to attend
the ceremony.
“When a congressional office is interested in the issue, you
have to go and talk to them, and that’s exactly what we are doing,” Partain
said. “Our government doesn't work by getting on Facebook and writing a couple
posts or making a phone call. It works by meeting people, talking to them,
interacting with them, presenting your evidence and then asking for action.”
Monsanto’s Big Lie About Roundup and the System That Enabled It
Just after midnight on August 1, 2017, attorney Brent Wisner gave his legal team the go-ahead to start publishing a series of internal memos and documents from the Monsanto corporation. The internal communications made clear that Monsanto—the company that created saccharine and went on to develop DDT and Agent Orange—was not only aware that independent scientific studies had found that its blockbuster weed killer, Roundup, and the primary ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, were probably
Decades of research connected the weed killer to cancer.
According to the internal documents Wisner and his team published,
Monsanto—instead of doing the right thing and pulling the product off the
market given all it knew—did everything in its power to cover it up.
“This is a function of a system where we allow money to
wield influence in Washington, DC,” Carey Gillam, author of The Monsanto
Papers: Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man’s Search for Justice
(Island Press, 2021), told Sierra. “Scientists are trying to do the work to
protect public health, but if their research interferes with the profit motives
of a multibillion-dollar corporation, those scientists can see their work
limited or even censored. Corporate influence digs deep.”
The Monsanto Papers is essential reading for anyone who
wants to understand the dangers of glyphosate to human health and the corrupt
system of corporate and political influence that enabled Monsanto to sell its
toxic weed killer for decades.
Thursday, March 4, 2021
a Message from Paul Sutton
The People vs. Agent Orange documentary will be screening from March 5th to the 18th on the virtual cinema platforms of 37 cinemas around the country. You can access the film’s link at: https://www.thepeoplevsagentorange.com/screenings-1
The film, which has already won two major awards including the Jury Prize at the Eugene Environmental Film Festival, takes a deep dive into Operation Ranch Hand in Vietnam, the contamination of US troops and the illnesses and deformities that were passed down to their children and now grandchildren.
Two heroic women, one Vietnamese, the other American, crusade to advance the movements to help the victims and hold the American chemical manufacturers accountable.
The film's tag line, on the poster here, declares "We have the right to protect ourselves from being poisoned." That right is still widely denied to today's victims of toxic herbicides and to those who will sadly fall victims as well because of the epigenetic damages of the chemicals.
Veterans and environmental groups are offering discounted "tickets" for people to book viewings in their homes and in organizational settings. There are extensive details on the film's website including a list through which folks can choose what theater they would like to support with their bookings, how to request discounts, and to view related panels involving veterans, scientists and community activists.
Susan Hammond, the founder and Executive Director of the War Legacies Project, is working with us as the film's outreach and impact director. We are organizing community-based forums to be recorded and posted on the film's website as the program of cinema screenings continues.
I have not been as moved by any documentary film as I was by this one. Despite nearly 45 years of involvement in advocacy and activism on all matters related to herbicide exposure, primarily exposure in Vietnam to our troops and the Vietnamese; I have unfortunately paid little attention to exposures here in the US. That, despite a huge, never-ending exposure in Newark and other places along the Passaic River here in NJ.
Yes, I knew of the exposures in Oregon and other places in the Pacific northwest. I even met and talked with Carol Van Strum at an Agent Orange conference in Roseburg, OR in 2003.
This film needs to be seen by everyone in the world, especially in the US. Folks have no idea what toxic exposures they live with, day in and day out, especially schoolchildren, because they are our future and they need to know what our generation has done to our earth.
I was particularly taken by the juxtaposition of the Oregon exposures and those in Vietnam. You only need one visit to a Peace Village in Vietnam to know what we did to that country. And, coupled with the exposures in the US, we all need to become aware of the dangers of these on-going exposures.
We Americans - in the words of John Lewis - need to "..make good trouble..." There is much yet to do!
I’ve had the signal honor of being able to preview this riveting film. This film will be in my mind and dreams for months to come.
Paul Sutton
Lessening Exposure To Dioxins May Help Protect the Immune System
According to experts, dioxins slowly decompose in the environment and may travel or be transported long distances.
(Newswire.net -- March 3, 2021) Orlando, FL --
The pandemic has undeniably made it extremely important to protect and enhance
immune system health.
According to experts, having a strong immunity
may improve the body’s ability to combat the potentially dangerous effects of
Covid-19.
Researchers have long recommended making
dietary and lifestyle improvements , but there are actually other factors
helpful in protecting and boosting immunity. These include keeping the body
from toxins.
Dioxins have long been one of the toxins
experts warn exposure against. It is often produced in burning processes, such
as those involving oil, coal, or wood.
There are also some human activities that
produce this health hazard, such as burning household trash, dismantling and
recycling electronic products, chlorine bleaching of pulp and paper, and
production of pesticides and herbicides.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reveals
that the most reported causes of dioxin contamination happen in industrialized
nations, and in other places, high dioxin levels often go unreported.
Low level dioxin exposure is often through
contact with water, soil, or air that usually happens when breathing in air
containing trace amounts, accidentally ingesting soil with dioxins, and using
tampons and water bottles with dioxins.
According to experts, dioxins slowly decompose
in the environment and may travel or be transported long distances.
It is also found that when this toxin enters
the food chain, they tend to accumulate in fat. There have been many studies
finding that dioxins can produce adverse health effects, and these include
infertility, cancer, hormonal problems, and diabetes.
Senators urge VA to take 'decisive action' for 160,000 veterans with Agent Orange-linked hypertension
Senators are once again urging Department of Veterans Affairs leaders to expand care and benefits to thousands more veterans ill from Agent Orange exposure. This time, for veterans with high blood pressure linked to the toxic herbicide.
Last
year, Congress approved adding three new illnesses to a list of conditions VA
recognizes as connected to Agent Orange and therefore provides care and
benefits for -- bladder cancer, hypothyroidism and Parkinson's-like symptoms.
But just before leaving office in January, Trump administration VA officials
said the about 34,000 veterans affected may not see benefits from Congress'
action for months or even years.
VA
disagrees with scientists’ findings linking 4 more diseases to Agent Orange
exposure
Hypertension,
or high blood pressure, had been a fourth condition lawmakers, advocates and
veterans pushed for Congress to include, but ultimately was left out, and
Congressional staff with knowledge of those negotiations told Connecting Vets
cost was a leading factor. Estimates suggest the expansion of benefits could
cost as much as $11 billion to $15 billion over the first 10 years.
VA
officials under the Trump administration argued against adding hypertension to
the list because of continued doubts about its link to Agent Orange, despite
the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in 2018 finding
"sufficient" evidence to connect the two. VA argued it needed to
continue to conduct its own studies on all four conditions before making a
decision, and the results of those studies (due by the end of 2020, then
delayed by the coronavirus pandemic to mid-2021) have not yet been publicly
released.
Monday, March 1, 2021
Pentagon says reported sexual assaults at academies dropped
The report,
which is required by law annually, comes as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has
said that reducing sexual assault is one of his top priorities. He was recently
briefed on the military service's programs to counter the problem.
“We have been
working at this for a long time in earnest, but we haven’t gotten it right,”
Austin said last week at his first Pentagon news conference. He promised
stronger efforts.
“You can look
for us to take additional steps in looking in detail at ourselves and what has
worked, what hasn’t worked and what measures we need to take going forward to
ensure that we provide for a safe and secure and productive environment for our
teammates,” he said. “Any other approach is, in my view, irresponsible.”
Thursday's
Pentagon report said the number of reported sexual assault cases at the U.S.
Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy fell to
129 from 149 in the previous academic year. Sexual harassment reports dropped
to 12 from 17.
The report said
the reason for the declines is unclear, but it noted that in-person classes at
the military academies were suspended in March because of the coronavirus
pandemic. Officials altered most academy activities, including holding
graduations virtually and postponing commissioning ceremonies. Thus, it said,
the academies offered only about three-quarters of normal levels of
interaction.
Separately, an in-person survey of military academy students that is normally conducted to give the Pentagon a better understanding of the sexual assault problem and its prevalence was canceled because of the pandemic.
VAOIG - VA Needs Better Internal Communication and Data Sharing to Strengthen the Administration of Spina Bifida Benefits
The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed key aspects of VA’s spina bifida program in response to wide-ranging concerns raised by Senator Michael K. Braun and by Vietnam Veterans of America. The concerns were about whether eligible individuals are receiving the compensation, health care, home services, and other related benefits to which they are entitled.
Regular monthly payments under this small but critical program serving more than 1,000 beneficiaries with disabilities exceeded $20.8 million in 2019, and medical reimbursements topped $45 million.
Spina bifida is a birth defect that occurs when a fetus’s spine and spinal cord do not form properly. An individual with spina bifida may suffer from nerve damage, paralysis, and bowel or bladder problems.
Children born with spina bifida may receive benefits from VA if one of their biological parents is a veteran presumed to have been exposed to herbicides during the Vietnam War.
Benefits can include monthly payments, vocational training and rehabilitation, and health care with services such as home care and case management.
The spina bifida program is jointly managed. The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) determines eligibility for benefits and issues monthly payments. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) covers all medically necessary health care, which includes all medical services and supplies, not just those related to spina bifida. The OIG assessed how effectively VBA and VHA carried out their respective responsibilities in managing the spina bifida program.
Water near Arizona Air Force base is tainted in latest case
PHOENIX (AP) — The U.S. Air Force says it will be distributing bottled water to thousands of residents and business owners near its base in suburban Phoenix until at least April, marking the latest case of chemicals from military firefighting efforts contaminating the water supply in a nearby community.
A contractor is
scheduling deliveries of drinking water to the homes of people who picked up
their first bottles this week, said Sean Clements, chief of public affairs for
the 56th Fighter Wing at the base. Those deliveries will go on until a
long-term filtration facility can be set up in April, Clements said Thursday.
The base has
recommended people use bottled water for drinking and cooking but deemed tap
water safe for bathing and laundry.
Similar
contamination tied to the use of firefighting foam has been found in water
supplies near dozens of military sites in Arizona, Colorado and other states
and has triggered hundreds of lawsuits. Growing evidence that it's dangerous to
be exposed to the chemicals found in the foam has prompted the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency to consider setting a maximum level for those
chemicals in drinking water nationwide.
But they aren’t
regulated now, meaning the base can't be punished even though the EPA says the
chemicals stay in the body for long periods and may cause adverse health
effects.
The Arizona
Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities, is scheduling an emergency
meeting next week with five water companies to discuss concerns about the
contamination, said Caroline Oppleman, spokeswoman for the Arizona Department
of Environmental Quality.
