When It Comes to Burn Pits, Veterans Might Be On Their Own

http://taskandpurpose.com/comes-burn-pits-veterans-might/

As Congress defunds research into the health effects of burn pits, veterans are forced to be their own advocates.

By now you’ve probably heard of former Marine and Army Sergeant Joseph Hickman’s new incendiary book, “The Burn Pits: The Poisoning of America’s Soldiers.” It’s a provocative look behind the massive burn pits of Iraq and Afghanistan, detailing a chilling history of sickness and systemic neglect from higher ups.

If you’ve never heard of burn pits before, the name reveals everything. Instead of using more expensive incinerators to dispose of waste, everything from “tires, lithium batteries, asbestos insulation, pesticide containers, Styrofoam, metals, paints, plastic, medical waste and even human corpses,” according to Hickman, were thrown into holes in the ground and set on fire. More than 250 burn pits were in operation during the past decade, spewing toxic fumes into the lungs of service members and civilians alike. The Department of Defense has said that each pit on larger bases burned on average 30 to 40 tons of solid waste per day. Hickman asserts that the health effects were so dangerous that they were even passed down through the generations, writing in his book, “The rate of having a child with birth defects is three times higher for service members who served in those countries.” 

Hickman’s account is probably the most thorough and expansive take on burn pits so far, going so far as to implicate KBR, who ran the burn pits, and Gen. David Petraeus, who initially denied that burn pits were harmful. But it isn’t the first attention that’s been paid to the phenomenon. Journalists have been writing about the burn pits for years. There have been multiple television specials about the burn pits. Hickman even makes the allegation that Beau Biden, the vice president’s son, might have died because of cancer caused by exposure to burn pits. 

Related: Despite health concerns, the military still uses burn pits » 

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Secret Finances of psuedo-science group The American Council on Science and Health defends fracking, BPA, and pesticides. Guess who their funders are.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/10/american-council-science-health-leaked-documents-fundraising

The American Council on Science and Health bills itself as an independent research and advocacy organization devoted to debunking "junk science." It's a controversial outfit—a "group of scientists…concerned that many important public policies related to health and the environment did not have a sound scientific basis," it says—that often does battle with environmentalists and consumer safety advocates, wading into public health debates to defend fracking, to fight New York City's big sugary sodas, and to dismiss concerns about the potential harms of the chemical bisphenol-A (better known at BPA) and the pesticide atrazine. The group insists that its conclusions are driven purely by science. It acknowledges that it receives some financial support from corporations and industry groups, but ACSH, which reportedly stopped disclosing its corporate donors two decades ago, maintains that these contributions don't influence its work and agenda.

attempt to ban

Yet internal financial documents (read them here) provided to Mother Jones show that ACSH depends heavily on funding from corporations that have a financial stake in the scientific debates it aims to shape. The group also directly solicits donations from these industry sources around specific issues. ACSH's financial links to corporations involved in hot-button health and safety controversies have been highlighted in the past, but these documents offer a more extensive accounting of ACSH's reliance on industry money—giving a rare window into the operations of a prominent and frequent defender of industry in the science wars.

According to the ACSH documents, from July 1, 2012, to December 20, 2012, 58 percent of donations to the council came from corporations and large private foundations. ACSH's donors and the potential backers the group has been targeting comprise a who's-who of energy, agriculture, cosmetics, food, soda, chemical, pharmaceutical, and tobacco corporations. ACSH donors in the second half of 2012 included Chevron ($18,500), Coca-Cola ($50,000), the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation ($15,000), Dr. Pepper/Snapple ($5,000), Bayer Cropscience ($30,000), Procter and Gamble ($6,000), agribusiness giant Syngenta ($22,500), 3M ($30,000), McDonald's ($30,000), and tobacco conglomerate Altria ($25,000). Among the corporations and foundations that ACSH has pursued for financial support since July 2012 are Pepsi, Monsanto, British American Tobacco, DowAgro, ExxonMobil Foundation, Phillip Morris International, Reynolds American, the Koch family-controlled Claude R. Lambe Foundation, the Dow-linked Gerstacker Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, and the Searle Freedom Trust.

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Researchers call for more study on Agent Orange’s effects on veterans — and their kids

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/researchers-call-for-more-study-on-agent-oranges-effects-on-veterans-and-their-kids/

More than two decades of studying Agent Orange exposure hasn’t produced a solid understanding of how the toxic herbicide has harmed Vietnam War veterans and possibly their children, according to a report released Thursday.

Additional research is long overdue, the report said, but the federal government hasn’t done it.

Those are among the conclusions of a committee of researchers that, since 1991, has been charged by Congress with reviewing all available research into the effects of Agent Orange, which the U.S. military sprayed by the millions of gallons in Vietnam to kill forests and destroy enemy cover.

Over the years, the biennial reports produced by the committee have identified numerous illnesses linked to the herbicide, in some cases leading the Department of Veterans Affairs to extend disability compensation to thousands more veterans.

But in its tenth and final Agent Orange report — with most Vietnam vets now well into their 60s or older — the committee concluded there’s still much to learn and not enough research underway, especially related to potential health consequences for the children and grandchildren of veterans who were exposed.

“Although progress has been made in understanding the health effects of exposure to the chemicals,” the committee members wrote near the end of the 1,115-page report, there are still “significant gaps in our knowledge.”

Some 2.6 million Vietnam veterans were potentially exposed to Agent Orange, which contained the chemical dioxin. Calls from veterans to extend the research committee’s work for at least a few more years have so far gone unanswered in Congress. The provision of the 1991 Agent Orange Act that established the committee expired last fall.

The panel, working under the auspices of the federal Institute of Medicine, reviewed scientific literature on Agent Orange released between October 2012 and September 2014 for its final review.

Even in their final report, the researchers cited a new study of veterans from Korea who served in Vietnam, leading them to conclude that Agent Orange exposure may be linked to bladder cancer and hypothyroidism — two conditions not currently covered by the VA. If certain conditions are linked to Agent Orange exposure, the VA assumes anyone with those conditions got them from their exposure and therefore makes them eligible for disability payments.

The decision over whether to begin compensating Vietnam veterans with those ailments rests with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald. The VA is not bound by the committee’s recommendations, a point made clear in report’s final pages. The researchers listed more than 30 past suggestions — including calls for additional government-led studies — that apparently haven’t been pursued by the VA or other agencies.

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Agent Orange exposure linked to bladder cancer, hypothyroidism

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/veterans/2016/03/10/agent-orange-exposure-linked-bladder-cancer-hypothyroidism/81583512/

A new review of Agent Orange research found evidence that bladder cancer and hypothyroidism are more strongly linked to exposure to the herbicide than previously thought, but the science does not support a previously held belief that spina bifida occurs in the offspring of exposed veterans at higher rates.

A report released Thursday by the Institute of Medicine on the health effects of Agent Orange also recommended the Veterans Affairs Department grant service-connected presumption to veterans with “Parkinson’s-like symptoms,” not just those diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease related to Agent Orange exposure.

“There is no rational basis for exclusion of individuals with Parkinson’s-like symptoms from the service-related category denoted as Parkinson’s disease," members of the IOM panel wrote in the report.

The 1,115-page review is the final in a series conducted by the IOM on health problems related to Agent Orange and other herbicide use during the Vietnam War.

“There is no rational basis for exclusion of individuals with Parkinson’s-like symptoms from the service-related category denoted as Parkinson’s disease.”

Institute of Medicine report

The panel, chaired by Kenneth Ramos, professor of medicine at the Arizona Health Sciences Center, University of Arizona, reviewed the scientific literature on Agent Orange released between October 2012 and September 2014 for its review.

The decision on bladder cancer and hypothyroidism was tied to results of a large study of Korean War veterans who served in the Vietnam War suggested an association, while the choice to downgrade spina bifida was based on a lack of data, panel members said.

“[The inclusion of] spina bifida in the limited or suggestive category of association was based on preliminary findings from [an ongoing Air Force study]. However, to date, a complete analysis of the data from that study for neural tube defects has not been published … [and] no subsequent studies have found increases in spina bifida with exposure to components of the herbicides sprayed in Vietnam," they wrote.

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Landmark Report: Glyphosate is Most Heavily Used Herbicide in History

http://naturalsociety.com/monsanto-glyphosate-most-used-herbicide-history-69035/

It’s no wonder that Monsanto is trying to fight “rumors” that its pesticide products are causing serious health damage to unborn children and to people of all ages. Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, has been named the most widely used herbicide in history.

A paper recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Sciences Europe states that 18.9 billion pounds (8.6 billion kilograms) of glyphosate have been used globally. The herbicide’s use has risen almost 15-fold since the introduction of so-called “Roundup Ready” genetically engineered crops in the 90’s.

The author of the paper, Charles Benbrook, Ph.D., states:

“The dramatic and rapid growth in overall use of glyphosate will likely contribute to a host of adverse environmental and public health consequences.”

Enough glyphosate was applied in 2014 to cover every harvested acre of cropland worldwide several times over, with estimates of its use coming in at (minimally) 0.53 kilogram/hectare. This makes glyphosate the most commonly used and widely sprayed herbicide in history.

Accurate pesticide use data are essential when studying the environmental and public health impacts of pesticide use. Since the mid-1990s, significant changes have occurred in when and how glyphosate herbicides are applied, and there has been a dramatic increase in the total volume applied.

Since 1974 in the U.S., over 1.6 billion kilograms of glyphosate active ingredient have been applied, or 19 % of estimated global use of glyphosate (8.6 billion kilograms). Globally, glyphosate use has risen almost 15-fold since so-called “Roundup Ready,” genetically engineered glyphosate-tolerant crops were introduced in 1996.

Monsanto clearly doesn’t want its product, so widely in use, to be named as ‘probably carcinogenic’ or an ‘endocrine disruptor’ as so many scientific studies suggest. Mounting evidence and alarm bells are being sounded around the globe that this toxic chemical brew, Roundup, is killing our pollinators, causing serious health damage, yet still being sprayed heavily. The Big Ag company has billions to lose if its mainstay is no longer a best seller.
Dr. Benbrook cautions that many studies have linked exposure to glyphosate with degeneration of the liver and kidney. When given at high doses, glyphosate has also been linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in animal tests.
Opposing his arguments are agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, which suggests that it is impossible to get realistic exposure past the No Effect Level in humans, except by using gavage (direct dosing) and surfactants. Such gavage has been performed in laboratory rats and basically amounts to sticking a tube of pesticide directly into the stomach to increase uptake.

Others join Benbrook in his warning, stating that glyphosate exposure is much higher and much more dangerous than any government agencies have disclosed. The FDA now may even test for glyphosate in food, a move that is long overdue.

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Offshore Vietnam vets exposed to Agent Orange should get benefits, Colorado Senate says

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29607424/state-senate-asks-us-congress-grant-offshore-vietnam

The state Senate passed a resolution Monday meant to highlight the lack of benefits for some Vietnam veterans possibly exposed to Agent Orange.

Sponsored by state Sen. Laura Woods, R-Arvada, the non-binding resolution encourages Congress to pass legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the U.S. Senate last year.
The resolution argues that during the Vietnam War, the U.S. military sprayed approximately 22 million gallons of Agent Orange and other harmful herbicides that later were linked to causing disabling diseases.
Congress passed the federal "Agent Orange Act of 1991" to presumptively recognize eligible military personnel as those who served in Vietnam between 1962 and 1975. That status gave access to disability compensation and medical care to veterans diagnosed to herbicide-related illnesses.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs originally allowed the presumption to include all veterans of Vietnam but in 2002 made a revision that required a veteran prove "that he or she had set foot on the land or entered an internal river or stream," to receive benefits.
The change made those benefits virtually inaccessible for veterans who couldn't prove they had "boots on the ground," namely Navy and Marine veterans who served off the coast or in bays and harbors.
John Rossie, executive director for Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association, said those offshore military personnel were within miles of the coastline and came in contact with Agent Orange either by air or from river run-off into the ocean that often was desalinated and used as drinking water.

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Vets Groups Take VA to Court

For More information contact: Military-Veterans Advocacy Executive Director
Commander John B Wells, USN Retired
985 641-1855 (o) 985-290-6940 (c)
On March 10, 2016, at 9:30 am. Military-Veterans Advocacy, in concert with the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association, will ask the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to recognize that a federal district court has jurisdiction to ascertain whether or not the Department of Veterans Affairs acted arbitrarily and capriciously in excluding tens of thousands of Navy Vietnam veterans from the presumption of exposure to Agent Orange. In 2002, the VA unilaterally stripped those benefits from Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who served in the bays, harbors and territorial seas of the Republic of Vietnam. Known as "Blue Water Navy" veterans they have been deprived of earned benefits because they cannot show that they set foot in Vietnam or sailed into an inland river.
On March 11, 2015, federal Judge Tonya S. Chutkan ruled that while "[t]he Court is sympathetic to the many challenges faced by Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans and their families" that her court did not have jurisdiction to hear the case.
Hydrologist studies have shown that the river water, which was heavily sprayed with Agent Orange, mixed with the salt water in the harbors and territorial seas. One study confirmed that the river water, known as the discharge plume, extended for several hundred kilometers into the South China Sea off the Mekong River. The Agent Orange, which was mixed with diesel fuel to enhance its ability to adhere to plant life, was sprayed throughout South Vietnam, including the coast line and the river banks.
"It’s a tough concept for the VA to grasp," Military-Veterans Advocacy Executive Director John B Wells said in testimony before the United States Senate on September 29, 2015. "Petroleum floats and rivers run out to sea."
In a statement, Wells noted. "There was no magic, invisible Agent Orange filter at the mouth of the rivers." The Agent Orange entered the bays, harbors and territorial seas of Vietnam. We have documented proof of its presence in Nha Trang Harbor, 20 years after the war. That evidence has been presented to the VA. The distillation system which produced drinking water and water for the boilers did not remove the dioxin - it enriched it." Wells, a retired Navy Commander, served as Chief Engineer officer on several Navy ships. His area of responsibility included the water distillation and distribution system. The distillation effect on the Agent Orange Dioxin has been verified by the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia and by two committees of the United States’ Institute of Medicine. At the September 29 Senate hearing, Mr. David R. McLenachen, Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Disability Assistance, Veterans Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs conceded that the shipboard evaporation distillation system would have enriched the Agent Orange dioxin if it was present in the water.
The March 10, 2016 oral argument will be held at the federal courthouse, 333 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington DC.
Commander J. B. Wells U. S. Navy (Retired)
Attorney at Law
Executive Director
Military-Veterans Advocacy, Inc.
PO Box 5235
Slidell, LA 70469-5235 985-641-1855985-641-1855 985-649-1536 (fax)

Thousands of Vets Who Claim They Were Sickened by Tainted Water at Marine Base Denied Disability

http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2016/03/3/thousands-of-vets--sick-from-tainted-water-at-marine-base--denied-disability-by-veterans-affairs.html

Thousands of sick veterans — including many from New York — who believe they've fallen ill because of contaminated water at one of the nation's legendary Marine bases say the Department of Veterans Affairs is turning a deaf ear to their plight. Our Michael Herzenberg has the results of his exclusive NY1 investigation.

Mark and Rene Cifelli just got married, but they are truly living each day together as if it will be their last.

Mark is dying.

"The doctor said there's nothing we can do for you," Cifelli explains. "He was really just giving me comfort drugs."

Cifelli, who lives in North Tonawanda, N.Y., outside of Buffalo, has stage four colon, lung and liver cancer. He says his doctors blame exposure to chemicals when he was a Marine at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in the 1980s.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is providing him with medical care, but it has rejected his application for disability benefits three times.

"I am angry," Cifelli told NY1. "Semper Fi, always faithful. That wasn't being faithful to the Marines that served."

Cifelli is among thousands of Camp Lejeune veterans who have filed disability claims alleging they got sick because of exposure to the toxic chemicals, including trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), vinyl chloride, and other contaminants.

The VA acknowledges that in 7,300 of the claims, there is "limited or suggestive evidence of an association with the contaminants in the water." But NY1 has learned that VA medical experts denied nearly 6,500 of those claims, an 89% rejection rate.

"I've been outraged," said New York City attorney Craig Unterberg, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer last year.

He lived at Camp Lejeune in the early 1970s when he was a toddler, drinking and playing in the water. Now he’s working with veterans and other civilians from the base, fighting for the VA to better help those who have fallen ill.

"We need the VA to act quicker, we need them to lower the burden that is on people to try to get their claims approved."

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Give the Vietnam Blue Water Navy Veterans their presumptive rights.

https://www.change.org/organizations/the_blue_water_navy_vietnam_veterans_association

In 1977, the first claims of Agent Orange exposure came flooding into the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). But it took 14 years for Congress to actually listen, take action and give our Vietnam veterans the benefits they deserved.

The Agent Orange Act of 1991 was implemented to provide much-needed care to veterans who were exposed to the harmful chemical cocktail Agent Orange. Many of us thought the fight to get the medical attention we deserved was over, but that wasn’t the case. In 2002, the VA amended its initial plan and excluded thousands of “Blue Water” Navy vets -- vets who served right off the coast -- from receiving  our rightful benefits. Because we hadn’t served on land, the VA tried to say we were unlikely to suffer the effects of Agent Orange poisoning.

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EPA Finalizes Passaic River Cleanup

One of the Largest Superfund Projects in EPA History Will Protect People’s Health and the Environment 

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/db3d10f149c262cc85257f6c005ee7f1?OpenDocument

(New York, N.Y.) In an action that will protect people’s health and the environment, and benefit riverfront communities, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today finalized a plan to remove 3.5 million cubic yards of toxic sediment from the lower eight miles of the Passaic River in New Jersey, followed by capping that entire stretch of river bottom. The sediment in the Passaic River is severely contaminated with dioxin, PCBs, heavy metals, pesticides and other contaminants from more than a century of industrial activity. The lower eight miles of the Passaic is the most heavily contaminated section of the river. Ninety percent of the volume of contaminated sediments in the river are in the lower eight miles.
Key elements of the EPA cleanup plan:

• 3.5 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment will be removed by dredging the river bottom, bank-to-bank, from Newark Bay to the Belleville/Newark border.
• Over 100 pollutants identified
• Approximately 100 companies are potentially responsible for generating and releasing the pollution
• Sediment will be dewatered and transported likely by train for disposal. Dredged sediment will be sent to licensed, permitted facilities designed to accept the type of contaminants in the sediment.
• After dredging, the entire lower eight miles of the river will be capped bank-to-bank. The cap will isolate the remaining contaminated sediment, effectively eliminating the movement of a major source of contamination to the rest of the river and Newark Bay.
• The cleanup is estimated to cost $1.38 billion

“The Passaic River has been seriously damaged by over a century of pollution. Extraordinarily high concentrations of dioxin, PCBs, heavy metals and pesticides have robbed the people of New Jersey from being able to use this natural resource. The EPA’s cleanup plan will improve water quality, protect public health, revitalize waterfront areas and create hundreds of new jobs. This plan is one of the most comprehensive in the nation and will help restore a badly damaged river,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator.

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Blumenthal - Extend Presumption of AO Exposure to More Veterans Who Served in Korean DMZ

http://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-calls-on-va-to-extend-presumption-of-agent-orange-exposure-to-more-veterans-who-served-in-korean-dmz

Currently, Only Veterans Who Served in the Korean DMZ During Specific Dates Are Granted a Presumption of Exposure to Agent Orange, Which Allows Easier Access to Health Care and Benefits For Conditions Caused By the Toxins. In a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Hearing, Blumenthal Stood With Veterans of Foreign Wars in Calling on VA to Extend the Timeframe of the Presumption to Include Veterans Affected During the Initial Herbicide Spraying.

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, is calling on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to extend the presumption of exposure to Agent Orange to provide more veterans who served in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) access to critical health care benefits. Currently, only veterans who served in the Korean DMZ during specific dates are granted a presumption of exposure to Agent Orange, which allows easier access to health care and benefits for conditions caused by the toxins. In a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, Blumenthal stood with the Veterans of Foreign Wars in calling on VA to extend the timeframe of the presumption to include veterans affected during the initial herbicide spraying.

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Sick Navy vets hunt for decades-old records to prove they should get Agent Orange benefits

http://pilotonline.com/news/military/veterans/vietnam/ailing-navy-vets-race-against-time-to-prove-they-should/article_70d4c333-01b9-5dbb-80ff-dd2f061368c1.html

During the Vietnam War, hundreds of U.S. Navy ships crossed into Vietnam’s rivers or sent crew members ashore, possibly exposing their sailors to the toxic herbicide Agent Orange. But more than 40 years after the war’s end, the U.S. government doesn’t have a full accounting of which ships traveled where, adding

hurdles and delays for sick Navy veterans seeking compensation.

The Navy could find out where each of its ships operated during the war, but it hasn’t. The Department of Veterans Affairs says it won’t either, instead choosing to research ship locations on a case-by-case basis, an extra step that veterans say can add months – even years – to an already cumbersome claims process. Bills that would have forced the Navy to create a comprehensive list have failed in Congress.

As a result, many ailing vets, in a frustrating race against time as they battle cancer or other life-threatening diseases, have taken it upon themselves to prove their ships served in areas where Agent Orange was sprayed. That often means locating and sifting through stacks of deck logs, finding former shipmates who can attest to their movements, or tracking down a ship's command history from the Navy's archive.

“It's hell,” said Ed Marciniak of Pensacola, Fla., who served aboard the Norfolk-based USS Jamestown during the war. “The Navy should be going to the VA and telling them, ‘This is how people got aboard the ship, this is where they got off, this is how they operated.’ Instead, they put that burden on old, sick, dying veterans, or worse – their widows.”

Some 2.6 million Vietnam veterans are thought to have been exposed to – and possibly harmed by – Agent Orange, which the U.S. military used to defoliate dense forests, making it easier to spot enemy troops. But vets are eligible for VA compensation only if they went on land – earning a status called “boots on the ground” – or if their ships entered Vietnam’s rivers, however briefly.

The VA says veterans aren’t required to prove where their ships patrolled: “Veterans simply need to state approximately when and where they were in Vietnam waterways or went ashore, and the name of the vessel they were aboard, and VA will obtain the official Navy records necessary to substantiate the claimed service,” VA spokesman Randal Noller wrote in an email.

Once the VA has that documentation, the vessel is added to a list of ships eligible for compensation, streamlining future claims from other crew members. But proactively searching thousands of naval records to build a comprehensive list of eligible ships – as some veterans have demanded – “would be an inefficient use of VA’s resources,” Noller said.

Because the records searched by the VA are sometimes missing or incomplete, veterans groups say the fastest and surest way to obtain benefits is for vets to gather records themselves and submit them as part of their initial claims.

More than 700 Navy ships deployed to Vietnam between 1962 and 1975. Veterans have produced records to get about half of them onto the VA’s working list, with new ships being added every year. Still, veterans advocacy groups estimate about 90,000 Navy vets are not eligible to receive benefits related to Agent Orange exposure, either because their ships never entered inland waters, or because they have yet to prove they did.

This story was prepared in partnership with ProPublica.

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