Veterans Day, 2014

Happy 239th

Deja vu All Over Again, Again - How Many Soldiers Were Exposed to Chemical Weapons in Iraq?

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/how-many-soldiers-were-exposed-to-chemical-weapons-in-iraq/?_r=0

One of the more scandalous secrets from America’s decade in Iraq is coming to light.

Defense officials have now acknowledged that, since 2003, more than 600 American service members have reported that they believe they were exposed to chemical warfare agents in Iraq. The Pentagon failed to recognize the scope of the problem, track it adequately or offer proper treatment to those who may have been injured. In fact the problem only became public when The Times’s Chris Chivers reported last month on the cases of 17 American service members who were injured by sarin or sulfur mustard agent. Since then, he has learned of eight more cases. Meanwhile the Pentagon, at Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s urging, has done an internal review of its records, suggesting the scope of the problem is far greater.

The stories of service members who believed they were exposed to chemical weapons, and ignored by their own military, are heartbreaking. A former Army sergeant was exposed to a sulfar mustard agent when he helped destroy buried chemical artillery shells in 2008. When he later developed health problems and raised a possible connection to chemical weapons, he said no one believed him and the link was dismissed.

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U.S. Former US Rep Lane Evans, Veterans Advocate, Dies

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-rep-lane-evans-veterans-advocate-dies-26730389
Former U.S. Rep. Lane Evans of Illinois died late Wednesday after a long battle with Parkinson's disease, said his legal guardian, Mike Malmstrom. Evans was 63.

Malmstrom, who served on the Rock Island Democrat's staff, said Evans  died at a nursing home in East Moline, where he had been living for nearly two years.
Evans was a partner in a private legal aid service in Rock Island when he was elected to the House in 1982. He served in Congress until 2006.
Evans served in the Marines from 1969 to 1971 and then got a law degree from Georgetown University in Washington.
Rep. Cheri Bustos said Evans "represented everything that is right about public service. He was a champion for our region in the halls of Congress and a strong advocate for veterans and working families across the country. Lane will be sorely missed by all who he touched, but his legacy of service will never be forgotten."
Sen. Dick Durbin said Illinois "lost one of its kindest, most caring public servants."
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A personal message from Betty Mekdeci

Each year, Birth Defect Research for Children has helped more and more families with more services.  We have also collected more data through our National Birth Defect Registry that have been used on national birth defect issues.  Each year, however, funding is harder to find.  Many foundations that used to fund environmental health work do not fund in that area anymore or have become spend-down foundations that have gone out of business.  Funding from the Combined Federation Campaign in the federal workplace has also been drastically reduced because of downsizing of the military and many federal programs. 

We depend on donations from the public to continue.

This is why I am appealing to you for your support.  We are running a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, called “Name our Kitty, Save a Baby”.  
Walt Disney World has donated some wonderful perks…Furry Friends Collectibles and My First Disney Bear.  These would make great holiday gifts.

If you can make a donation, we would appreciate it so much.  If you can’t make a donation at this time, please share our campaign with friends, families and colleagues who may be able to help.

Thanking you for your help,

Betty

Betty Mekdeci

Executive Director

Birth Defect Research for Children

Upcoming Agent Orange Town Hall Meetings November 2014

We update our meetings regularly on our Faces of Agent Orange Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Faces-of-Agent-Orange/187669911280144

and the VVA Calendar

http://www.vva.org/calendar.html

Okinawa Residents Sickened By Agent Orange Still Want Justice

http://www.care2.com/causes/okinawa-residents-sickened-by-agent-orange-still-want-justice.html
Dang Hong Nhut was just 29 when she joined the Vietnamese resistance working to expel the US army. Along the way, she endured brutal conditions, but when the war ended, she attempted to return to normal life. However, almost immediately, tragedy struck. She had a series of miscarriages, and when she finally managed to carry a pregnancy to five months, she miscarried again, with the doctors telling her that the fetus had severe congenital deformities as a result of her exposure to Agent Orange during the war.
She was advised to avoid pregnancies in the future — and now, decades later, she’s fighting multiple cancers, also possibly linked to the infamous herbicide. She, like many Vietnamese, was saddled with the legacy of a war that should have ended long ago.
In the Vietnam War, Operation Ranch Hand dumped untold amounts of defoliating chemicals on Vietnam in an attempt to remove the heavy jungle that made it easy for opposing forces to appear and disappear, engaging U.S. soldiers in vicious and devastating firefights. Unconcerned with the potential environmental impacts or human health effects, the United States used products like Herbicide Orange, also known as Agent Orange — and, thanks to the lack of international precedent, the United States did so largely without scrutiny. It wasn’t until 1977 that the UN opened the Environmental Modification Convention for signatures and ratification, inviting member nations to reconsider the use of chemicals like Agent Orange.
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FOOD SCANDAL: Dioxin tests delay draws criticisms

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2014/11/05/2003603731

WAR LEGACY?A Vietnam-based businessman told officials that animal feed oils imported from Vietnam might have been tainted by traces of the herbicide

The cooking oil scandal involving several of Ting Hsin International Group’s (頂新國際集團) subsidiaries could intensify as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) awaits results of tests on the firms’ oil products for dioxin, amid criticism that the agency dragged its feet on the testing.
The Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office collected samples of cooking oils at Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co’s (頂新製油) Pingtung factory on Oct. 10 and Oct. 23.
The second set of samples was reportedly prompted by an anonymous tip-off from a Vietnam-based Taiwanese businessman that the animal feed oils Ting Hsin Oil had imported from oil manufacturer Dai Hanh Phuc Co (大幸福公司) in that country were contaminated with ingredients of “Agent Orange.” 
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USFK sprayed defoliant from 1955 to 1995, new testimony suggests

https://in.news.yahoo.com/usfk-sprayed-defoliant-from-1955-to-1995-new-045010399.html
Other USFK veterans and S.Koreans attest to spraying defoliants, damaging the environment and health

An official U.S. government document confirms that the country’s military sprayed defoliant in South Korea for a far longer period than had previously been officially stated.

According to a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) document obtained by the Hankyoreh on Sunday (local time), the period during which defoliant was sprayed in South Korea was recorded internally as being from 1962 to 1970.
In an official document sent in 2009 to a former U.S. soldier suffering from after-effects of defoliant exposure to explain about compensation and other matters, the department wrote that the defoliants Agent Orange, Agent Blue, and monuron were sprayed between 1962 and 1970 over an area extending from below the South Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone to the area of the 1st U.S. Corps command and the First ROK Army.

The department further noted that this was confirmed by a document sent to it by the U.S. Army Center for Unit Records Research on July 23, 2008, and that the defoliant was delivered by sprayers and by spraying devices mounted on trailers. At the time, the 1st U.S. Corps was positioned in the West over the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division, which oversaw the northern side of the Han River, while the 1st ROK Amy had authority over the eastern front in Gangwon. This is leading experts to surmise that defoliant was sprayed over a wide area of the DMZ during the entire decade of the 1960s.

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Former Pro-GMO Biotech Scientist Admits GMOs Aren’t Safe, Refutes Claims by Monsanto

http://www.nationofchange.org/2014/11/01/former-pro-gmo-biotech-scientist-admits-gmos-arent-safe-refutes-claims-monsanto/

Former Biotech Scientist Speaks Out

In comes Dr. Thierry Vrain, a former GMO biotechnologist who has come out with a lot of information that should open people’s eyes about the real dangers of genetically modified foods and crops.
Vrain will be the first to admit that Monsanto has conducted a lot of studies showing that GMOs are safe, but he changed his own tune about ten years ago when he started reading scientific journals from other countries.
Vrain explains:

“I started paying attention to the flow of published studies coming from Europe, some from prestigious labs and published in prestigious scientific journals, that questioned the impact and safety of engineered food.”

Vrain was so much a supporter of GMOs (as well as a former biotech scientist for Agriculture Canada) that he used to conduct tours and tell large groups of people all about the greatness of genetically altered crops – but not anymore. Here is what he thinks about his former industry now:

“I refute the claims of the biotechnology companies that their engineered crops yield more, that they require less pesticide applications, that they have no impact on the environment and of course that they are safe to eat.
There are a number of scientific studies that have been done for Monsanto by universities in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. Most of these studies are concerned with the field performance of the engineered crops, and of course they find GMOs safe for the environment and therefore safe to eat.”

Vrain thinks the public is being swindled. He believes we should all demand that government agencies replicate tests showing that GMOs are safe rather than rely on studies paid for by the biotech companies. He continues:

“The Bt corn and soya plants that are now everywhere in our environment are registered as insecticides. But are these insecticidal plants regulated and have their proteins been tested for safety? Not by the federal departments in charge of food safety, not in Canada and not in the U.S.
There are no long-term feeding studies performed in these countries to demonstrate the claims that engineered corn and soya are safe. All we have are scientific studies out of Europe and Russia, showing that rats fed engineered food die prematurely.
These studies show that proteins produced by engineered plants are different than what they should be. Inserting a gene in a genome using this technology can and does result in damaged proteins. The scientific literature is full of studies showing that engineered corn and soya contain toxic or allergenic proteins.”

This science is actually only about 40 years old. It is all based on a theory of genetic manipulation hypothesized around 70 years ago – of the ONE GENE – meaning that each gene codes for one single protein. The Human Genome project proved this totally wrong.
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Japan, U.S. accused of failing Okinawa residents, veterans allegedly sickened by Agent Orange

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/10/31/national/japan-u-s-accused-of-failing-okinawa-residents-veterans-allegedly-sickened-by-agent-orange/#.VFeeIMmKWSo
A journalist who has documented the alleged existence of Agent Orange on Okinawa has accused Tokyo and Washington of side-stepping their responsibilities to local residents and military personnel who may have been exposed to the toxic defoliant.
Jon Mitchell, a research associate at Meiji Gakuin University’s International Peace Research Institute, said the Japanese government has failed to investigate whether military toxins contaminated local seafood farms, and U.S. authorities have dodged the truth about what happened to the more than 250 veterans who reported ill health.
“These people, they deserve better. These people deserve justice,” Mitchell told a press conference Thursday at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo. He was speaking a day before a Japanese translation of his book on the subject hit the stores.
“The usage of Agent Orange and military defoliants is one of the best-kept secrets of the Cold War,” he said.
Mitchell has written extensively for The Japan Times about Agent Orange, often focusing on Pentagon negligence. He also documented the discovery this summer on former military land in Okinawa dozens of barrels containing traces of the chemical precursors to Agent Orange.
“Some of the local residents in Nago, they believe Agent Orange wiped out the seaweed farms in the area. In addition, it may have poisoned clam collectors,” Mitchell said, referring to the city selected to become the new home of unpopular U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
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More Toxic Breed Of GE Crops Get Approved

http://www.livetradingnews.com/toxic-breed-ge-crops-get-approved-80055.htm#.VFecVsmKWSo
There currently 2 major categories of GE (genetically engineered) seeds that account for 99% of all acreage dedicated to GE crops in the US:

1. Those engineered to withstand high amounts of herbicide, such as Monsanto’s (NYSE:MON)Roundup-Ready varieties
2. Those engineered to produce their own internal insecticide (so-called Bt crops)

The widespread use of these GE crops has led to chemical resistance among weeds and insects alike, despite initial assurances from the chemical technology industry that such an outcome was not unlikely.
The results are now much to visable to ignore.

Weed resistance has been documented on 60-M acres on farms across the US, and Bt resistant rootworm is being reported in the US and Brazil.
As GE seeds became the norm, chemical resistance emerged. As a result, farmers have been applying increasingly higher amounts of pesticides in an effort to keep up with rising resistance.
The United States now uses about 1.1-B lbs of pesticides each year, and growing research links pesticides to a number of serious health problems. What we need is not a new breed of chemical-resistant crops.
Instead of taking a proactive approach to save the environment and human life, the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) recently decided to deregulate Dow Chemical’s (NYSE:DOW) next-generation GE crops.
These crops are not only resistant to glyphosate, but also carry resistance to toxins like 2,4-D, a component of Agent Orange, and Dicamba, which has been linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The chemical 2,4-D and other herbicides of this class have also been linked to the following diseases;

• Immune system cancers
• Parkinson’s disease
• Endocrine disruption
• Reproductive problems

On 15 October 2014, the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) announced³its final decision to register Enlist Duo—a new herbicide manufactured by Dow Chemical, to be used on Corn and Soybean genetically engineered  to tolerate both 2,4-D and glyphosate.
This was the final barrier standing between this new generation of GE crops and their widespread commercialization.
According to the EPA: “The agency’s decision reflects a large body of science and an understanding of the risk of pesticides to human health and the environment… EPA scientists used highly conservative and protective assumptions to evaluate human health and ecological risks for the new uses of 2,4-D in Enlist Duo.
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