Air Force vets and reservists who were exposed to the toxic Agent
Orange herbicide during and after the Vietnam War are now eligible for
federal compensation for their related illnesses and disabilities, the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced.
The VA published a new regulation Thursday, expanding eligibility for benefits related to Agent Orange exposure to “a select group of Air Force Veterans and Air Force Reserve personnel” who were exposed to the cancer-causing herbicide “through
regular and repeated contact with contaminated C-123 aircraft that had
been used in Vietnam as part of Operation Ranch Hand (ORH).”
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert A. McDonald made the decision to
expand benefits following a 2015 report by the National Academy of
Sciences’ Institute of Medicine (IOM), commissioned by the department,
on Agent Orange exposure in C-123 aircraft.
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