Parkinson's Action Network

Submit Comments on Draft Rule by Friday, February 8

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) issued a proposed rule to make it easier for veterans to receive health care and compensation for certain illnesses, including parkinsonism, dementia, and depression, which have been linked to traumatic brain injury (TBI).  

The proposed rule cites an Institute of Medicine report referencing three research studies supporting a connection between the development of parkinsonisms and TBI.  PAN applauds the VA's effort to keep up on the latest science in this dynamic area and will be submitting comments to support the proposal.

The Parkinson's community has a successful track record in weighing in on expanded access to VA benefits and many of you have already demonstrated your support for veterans by submitting comments on this proposal.  If you have not already done so, please do before the February 8 deadline.  Each comment will be recorded and counted!

Why this is Important:
More than 80,000 veterans living with Parkinson's disease receive care and assistance from the VA. Research supports a link between head injury and the development of parkinsonisms.

GO TO: http://www.parkinsonsaction.org/

EPA Releases New Report on Children's Health and the Environment in America

WASHINGTON – EPA today released “America’s Children and the Environment, Third Edition,” a comprehensive compilation of information from a variety of sources on children’s health and the environment. The report shows trends for contaminants in air, water, food, and soil that may affect children; concentrations of contaminants in the bodies of children and women of child-bearing age; and childhood illnesses and health conditions. The report incorporates revisions to address peer review and public comments on draft materials released in 2011.

 “This latest report provides important information for protecting America’s most vulnerable – our children. It shows good progress on some issues, such as reducing children’s blood lead levels and exposure to tobacco smoke in the home, and points to the need for continued focus on other issues”, said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Although we are encouraged by these findings, there is still much work to be done. By monitoring trends, identifying successes, and shedding light on areas that need further evaluation, we can continue to improve the health of our children and all Americans.”

For the full press release: http://go.usa.gov/4nGx

'America's Safest City' has a toxic, dirty secret that local press ignores

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january272013/el-bull-tk.php

(IRVINE, CA) - There has to be a term for people who write at length about a subject without addressing the core root of the matter. I know money is important in Southern California, but if you're dead from cancer it means little.

Case at hand - they call it 'America's Safest City', yet Irvine has a terribly contaminated closed Marine Corps base on its hands, that is leaching toxic contaminants into the soil and groundwater, and God knows what else. But local media in Orange County barely touches the subject, even when they are writing specifically about El Toro. What type of a process is this?

A new article in the Orange County Register Guard, about the old base and plans to transform it into a park and housing community, completely fails to address El Toro's deadly contamination that has claimed the health and lives of so many Marines, Marine family members, and former civilian employees of the base. The list potentially extends to housing communities near the base today and those residents. Lest we forget there is another closed Marine base, MCAS(H) Tustin, only a couple of miles away.

READ MORE: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january272013/el-bull-tk.php

Updated links on the VA Public Health website

Review info in VA Public Health web site

http://www.publiche alth.va.gov/ index.asp

http://www.publiche alth.va.gov/ exposures/ wars-operations/ cold-war. asp

Veterans who served during the Cold War Era may have been exposed to a range
of environmental and chemical hazards that carried potential health risks.

Ionizing Radiation
http://www.publiche alth.va.gov/ exposures/ radiation/ military- exposure. asp>
Exposure from atmospheric and underground nuclear weapons tests
Herbicide Tests and Storage
http://www.publiche alth.va.gov/ exposures/ agentorange/ tests-storage. asp>
Agent Orange and other herbicides used in Vietnam, tested or stored
elsewhere
Project 112/Project SHAD
http://www.publiche alth.va.gov/ exposures/ shad/index. asp>
Military tests of chemical/biological warfare materials conducted in the
1960s to early 1970s
Edgewood/Aberdeen Experiments
http://www.publiche alth.va.gov/ exposures/ edgewood- aberdeen/ index.asp>
Classified medical studies of low-dose chemical agents conducted from
1955-1975
Mustard Gas http://www.publiche alth.va.gov/ exposures/ mustardgas/ index.asp>
Military tests of mustard agents in the 1940s
Camp Lejeune Water Supplies
http://www.publiche alth.va.gov/ exposures/ camp-lejeune/ index.asp>
Tap water contaminated by industrial chemicals at Marine Corps Base Camp in
the 1950s to 1980s
Atsugi Waste Incinerator
http://www.publiche alth.va.gov/ exposures/ sand-dust- particulates/ atsugi.asp>
Atsugi, Japan: Combustion waste disposal that burned industrial and medical
waste
Noise http://www.publiche alth.va.gov/ exposures/ noise/index. asp>
Harmful sounds from guns, equipment, and machinery that is often experienced
during military service
Occupational Hazards
http://www.publiche alth.va.gov/ exposures/ categories/ occupational- hazards.as
p>
Exposures from working with chemicals, paints, and machinery during service
http://www.publiche alth.va.gov/ diseases- conditions. asp
The Office of Public Health focuses on certain medical conditions that may
affect Veterans. Find out more about these diseases and conditions.

Stanley Karnow, journalist and Vietnam historian, dies

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/stanley-karnow-journalist-and-vietnam-historian-dies/2013/01/27/53cefb74-1c50-11e1-967a-d7f5eed205d7_story.html

By Stephanie Hanes and — Special to The Washington Post, Sunday, January 27, 12:15 PM

Stanley Karnow, an author and journalist who wrote one of the seminal histories of the Vietnam War and won the Pulitzer Prize for his sweeping historical narrative of U.S. involvement in the Philippines, died Jan. 27 at his home in Potomac. He was 87.
He had congestive heart failure, said his son, Michael Karnow.

The New York-born Karnow launched his career as a foreign correspondent after setting sail for Europe on a coal freighter a week after graduating in 1947 from Harvard University. He subsequently became known for his distinguished coverage of the Vietnam War, first for Time magazine and later for news outlets that included the Saturday Evening Post, The Washington Post and NBC News.
Filing dispatches from the Far East for nearly 15 years — from the earliest days of American casualties in Vietnam — he became one of an elite handful of influential journalists who challenged the official stance in Washington that the United States was easily controlling the “struggle.”
His Emmy-winning 13-part PBS series “Vietnam: A Television History” was one of the most widely viewed public-television documentaries ever when it first aired in 1983; his companion book, “Vietnam: A History,” sold millions of copies and was praised for its insight and comprehensiveness.
“In Our Image: America’s Empire in the Philippines,” the book for which he received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize in history, earned praise as the best popular history of America’s relationship with the Philippines. Mr. Karnow synthesized three centuries of Filipino foreign relations into what critics described as a compelling read, with vivid portraits of the Spanish, American and Filipino leaders who shaped the country that would be the United States’ only colony. 
READ MORE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/stanley-karnow-journalist-and-vietnam-historian-dies/2013/01/27/53cefb74-1c50-11e1-967a-d7f5eed205d7_story.html
 

Putnam judge approves Monsanto settlement

http://www.statejournal.com/story/20706586/putnam-judge-approves-monsanto-settlement#.UQMnUS6BiA8.facebook

By Andrea Lannom

A Putnam County Circuit Court judge approved a settlement reached in the massive Monsanto Co. Case seeking medical monitoring, authorities recently confirmed.
Plant workers and thousands of West Virginia residents filed the suit in 2004 against Monsanto, Pharmacia Corp., Akzo Nobel Chemicals Inc., Akzo Chemicals Inc., Flexsys America Co., Flexsys America LP, Flexsys International LP and Flexsys International Co.
The workers and residents alleged herbicides Monsanto manufactured at its Nitro chemical plant between 1948 and 1969 created dioxin as a byproduct. That dioxin was released into the air when waste material was burned at the old Monsanto plant, the lawsuit alleged.
In February 2012, the company and the residents reached a potential $93 million settlement, which was preliminary approved. Terms of the settlement resolved all claims in pending litigation, as well as the class action suit.
At the time of the preliminary settlement, Presiding Circuit Judge Derek Swope also noted all personal injury cases filed by Charleston-based The Calwell Practice involving Monsanto have been settled.
Parties agreed to provide a 30-year medical monitoring program at a local hospital. Preliminary funds of $21 million will pay for medical testing, and if certain conditions are met, $63 million in additional funds will go for 30 years worth of medical screenings.
The settlement also granted $9 million as part of a program to offer free cleaning of affected homes. Authorities estimate there are 4,500 homes in the remediation area.

Hi Everyone,

 

I wanted you to be among the first to see our new animated video about the increase in birth defects and diabilities in the children of Vietnam and Gulf War veterans. I think it makes a very powerful statement.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tmbm9mIJwA

 

We are getting close to 10,000 signatures on Causes supporting the Center to diagnose and treat the children of Vietnam veterans. http://www.causes.com/honoravet

 

If everyone who has signed could get 3 more people to sign, we would more than reach our goal of 25,000 signatures.

 

With best regards,

Betty Mekdeci

Executive Director

Birth Defect Research for Children

http://www.birthdefects.org

976 Lake Baldwin Lane, Suite 104

Orlando FL 32814

407-895-0802

https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?CID=510 

Deployment Health News for 23 January 2013 - Udall-Corker Burn Pit Registry Signed Into Law

PoliticalNews.me, 11 January 2013

“U.S. Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) announced that President Obama signed their bill to establish a registry of service members and veterans who were exposed to toxic chemicals and fumes from open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan into law. ‘We celebrate the conclusion of our bipartisan effort to improve the health and well-being of our veterans,’ Udall said, ‘This is a victory for our men and women in uniform across the globe, and I am proud to say it was made possible by the strong advocacy of Master Sergeant Jessey and Maria Baca of New Mexico,’ Udall said. "Just as our veterans have answered the call of duty for our country, we have answered their call for better information and today brings us closer to insuring this special population receives the care and treatment they deserve."

Agency: N.C. Camp Lejeune water contaminated in 1953

 http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/18/lejeune-water-contaminated/1846971/
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Tens of thousands more Marines and their relatives could be eligible for government health care for their illnesses now that a federal agency determined that the water at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune was contaminated four years earlier than previously thought.
In a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said computer modeling shows that drinking water in the residential Hadnot Point area was unsafe for human consumption as far back as 1953. President Barack Obama signed a law last year granting health care and screening to Marines and their dependents on the base between 1957 and 1987.
"This is yet another piece of the puzzle that's coming together and slowly exposing the extent of the contamination at Camp Lejeune — and the Marine Corps' culpability and negligence," said Mike Partain, a Marine's son who was born at the southeast North Carolina base and who says he is one of at least 82 men diagnosed with breast cancer. "This is four years overdue."
The Marines were slow to react after groundwater sampling first showed contamination on the base in the early 1980s. Some drinking water wells were closed in 1984 and 1985, after further testing confirmed contamination from leaking fuel tanks and an off-base dry cleaner.
READ MORE: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/18/lejeune-water-contaminated/1846971/

BULLETIN!

Word on the street is Vietnam Veterans of America has declared the toxic legacy of combat exposure on future generations (aka Faces of Agent Orange) its number #1 legislative priority.

'71 Pentagon paper says Agent Orange was stored on Kadena Air Base

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/rss/nn20130112a2.html

By JON MITCHELL

Special to The Japan Times

A single sentence buried among 7,000 pages of documents recently released by the Pentagon might well be the needle in the haystack that conclusively proves the U.S. military stored toxic herbicides, including Agent Orange, in Okinawa during the Vietnam War.

American veterans have long claimed that large volumes of these chemicals were present on Okinawa Island and hundreds of them are suffering serious illnesses they believe were triggered by their exposure. But the U.S. government has repeatedly denied the allegations by insisting it has no records related to the issue.

The latest discovery in a 1971 report titled "Historical, logistical, political and technical aspects of the herbicide/defoliant program" indicates the Pentagon's denials might not have been entirely correct.

The document, produced in September 1971 by U.S. Army Fort Detrick, Maryland, the center for the Pentagon's biochemical weapons research, summarized the military's usage of these chemicals during the Vietnam War and among the locations cited is a reference to "Herbicide stockpiles elsewhere in PACOM-U.S. (Pacific Command) government restricted materials Thailand and Okinawa (Kadena)."

The U.S. government already admits that it stored military herbicides in Thailand during the Vietnam War but it denies their presence in Okinawa. At the time, Kadena Air Base (near the city of Okinawa) served as the Pentagon's key supply hub through which weapons and ammunition were flown to the conflict in Southeast Asia.

READ MORE: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/rss/nn20130112a2.html 

READ MORE: http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/11/agent-orange-on-okinawa-2/

EPA to outline plans for removal of dioxin-laden mud from Passaic River

http://www.northjersey.com/news/environment/EPA_to_outline_plans_for_removal_of_dioxin-laden_mud_from_Passaic_River.html
LYNDHURST — Federal environmental officials will explain plans to remove dioxin-laden mud from the Passaic River near the banks of Riverside County Park at a public meeting Thursday night at the town’s senior center.
The meeting will center on a recently released report that details the $20 million cleanup project — a complex operation that will involve dredging enough contaminated river mud to fill 1,500 large dump trucks, shipping it downriver in barges low enough to get under 17 small bridges and finally putting a barrier over the remaining mud strong enough to stand up to major storms.
“We want to make sure the public has an opportunity to review these plans and offer input,” said David Kluesner, a spokesman for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which is overseeing the project.
The Passaic River is one of the most polluted waterways in the nation and a federal Superfund site for 17 miles, from the Dundee Dam that spans Garfield and Clifton to Newark Bay.
For decades, the only large amount of dioxin — a highly toxic industrial chemical and a known carcinogen — in the river was next to the former Diamond Alkali plant in Newark where the infamous Vietnam War-era defoliant Agent Orange was manufactured and dioxin was discharged.
READ MORE:  http://www.northjersey.com/news/environment/EPA_to_outline_plans_for_removal_of_dioxin-laden_mud_from_Passaic_River.html