Justice Dept. Faces Pressure to Resist Appealing Vietnam Vets' Landmark Victory

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Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans recently won the support of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie for a court ruling that could make tens of thousands of former service members and their survivors eligible for benefits stemming from exposure to Agent Orange decades ago. But now they are awaiting the Trump administration’s decision whether to challenge the ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Justice Department’s solicitor general’s office is weighing a challenge to the court ruling, issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Any decision to appeal the court ruling would put the Trump administration at odds with Vietnam veterans—and the head of the Veterans Affairs office. The benefits have been estimated to cost Veterans Affairs more than $1 billion over 10 years.

The so-called “blue water” Navy vets served in the territorial waters offshore of the Republic of Vietnam. Until the Jan. 29 ruling by the full Federal Circuit, those veterans had been denied the presumption of Agent Orange exposure during the Vietnam War. The Justice Department, supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs’s interpretation, had argued that the Agent Orange Act covered only those veterans who served on the ground or inland waterways of Vietnam.

Agent Orange lawsuit ready for federal court

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EGLIN AFB — A local attorney and the attorney who argued the case of Vietnam veterans exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange that led to a $180 million settlement in 1984 — the largest settlement of its kind at the time — are joining forces on behalf of civilian workers exposed to the chemical compound on Eglin Air Force Base ranges in the 1960s.

The two attorneys have drafted a complaint, but have not yet filed it in federal court, according to Santa Rosa Beach attorney Rusty Sanders. Sanders was approached some months ago by civilian workers for defense contractor Vitro Corporation, which was involved in applications of Agent Orange on the Eglin ranges.

Sanders subsequently brought in Upstate New York attorney Victor Yannacone, who took the Vietnam veterans’ case and in the process, became an expert on Agent Orange.

The civilian workers’ case “is the same thing all over again,” Yannacone said Monday. One thing that’s different this time around, though, is that the 200-page potential court filing includes documentation indicating that manufacturers of Agent Orange knew that it was dangerous to humans, Yannacone said.

According to Yannacone and Sanders, the potential filing targets those manufacturers, including Monsanto, Dow, Diamond Shamrock and others, along with contractors including the successor company to Vitro Corporation.

Their effort is hampered, however, both men say, by a lack of resources. When the lawsuit is filed, Yannacone said, he and Sanders will be lined up against “seven major corporate law firms, and seven major corporations.”

Burn Pits: Lawmakers working to make life easier for veterans suffering from exposure

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There is some good news for veterans suffering from illnesses from their deployments to Southwest Asia: Some members of Congress are taking notice and working to get them and their families the assistance they need.

While the bills still need to pass the full Congress before being signed into law by the president, congressmen such as U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, say broad support from both the Republican and Democratic parties on behalf of the nation’s veterans is offering some measure of hope for the future.

Castro is currently sponsoring two bills: H.R. 1001, Family Member Access to Burn Pit Registry Act and H.R. 1005, Burn Pit Veterans Revision Act.

H.R. 1001 would allow family members of service members who have died from illnesses and cancers believed to be linked to exposure to the trash-burning pits to update the Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pits Registry with their service member’s death and cause.

H.R. 1005 would allow for constrictive bronchiolitis to be considered presumed as service connected to exposure to open burn pits while deployed by the VA for care and benefits.

More than 3.7 million active-duty service members and veterans have been exposed to the toxic smoke from trash burning pits while serving in areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan during the War on Terror, and many of them are getting sick with illnesses and cancers they can’t explain.

Burn pits were used to destroy plastics, batteries, medical waste, ammunition and everything in between. They were a common way to get rid of waste and helped ensure some items — such as military uniforms and items that could potentially be used against military troops — did not fall into enemy hands. Burn pits have been in use in Southwest Asia since August 1990 at the beginning of Operation Desert Shield and used throughout the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, is also working on the issues.

“As the top Republican on the VA Appropriations Subcommittee, I’ve been working to address burn pit issues through the appropriations process, including providing $10 million for burn-pit related research in the last year. I anticipate that additional funding will be made available in the FY20 legislation for research too,” Carter said in an email.

“The Burn Pit Registration is a critical tool for researchers and it’s imperative to track veterans that are experiencing symptoms linked to burn pits. As the bill stands, I would vote for the Family Member Access to Burn Pit Registry Act, to give family member’s the ability to participate in the registry on behalf of a deceased veteran. The more research we have access to, the better we can address this issue,” Carter said.

Volatile pesticide to be sprayed on soybeans and cotton this season

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A volatile weed killer linked to cancer and endocrine issues will likely be sprayed on millions more acres of soybeans and cotton across the Midwest and South starting this year.

In January, China approved imports of a new genetically modified soybean variety – Enlist E3 soybeans  jointly made by Corteva Agriscience, a division of DowDupont and seed company MS Technologies– that can withstand the herbicide 2,4-D.

“This is great news for U.S. soybean growers,” said Joseph Merschman, president of MS Technologies in a February press release. “This announcement clears the way for even more soybean growers to experience the high-yielding elite genetics and exceptional weed control offered by the Enlist E3™ soybean system.”

DowAgrosciences declined to comment for this story.

The herbicide – 2,4-D – was one of the active ingredients in Agent Orange and has been shown to drift miles away from where it’s applied. The U.S. used Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to eliminate crops and forest covers for enemy troops.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer named the weed killer a possible human carcinogen. Studies have also linked 2,4-D to endocrine disruption, disturbing estrogen, androgen and thyroid hormones.

Over the past two decades, a growing number of weeds have become resistant to glyphosate, the most popular weed killer in the world, sold as Monsanto’s Roundup.

Vietnam points to US court verdict, demands Agent Orange compensation from Monsanto

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Vietnam's Foreign Ministry has called attention to the link between a recent U.S. judicial verdict against Monsanto and dioxin victims in Vietnam.

The ministry's spokeswoman, Le Thi Thu Hang, stressed in a statement on Thursday that the March 19 verdict by a San Francisco jury is yet more evidence that weedicides could cause direct damage to the human body.

In the judgment, the court concluded that exposure to the agrochemical giant Monsanto's weed killer Roundup was a "substantial factor" in giving Edwin Hardeman, 70, of California non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and ordered the firm to pay him nearly $81 million in damages, compensation and medical expenses.

"As a nation that had suffered the heavy consequences of war, including Agent Orange, Vietnam demands that the companies that had provided the U.S. military with defoliants during the war must have the responsibility to help and assist in overcoming the damage caused by Agent Orange to Vietnam's people and environment," Hang said.

She also welcomed the U.S. Congress and government for assisting in resolving the consequences of war in Vietnam, saying this is widely supported by the people of both countries.

Hang said Vietnam wishes for these efforts to be continued with the participation of the companies responsible, including Monsanto.

Founded in 1901 in Missouri, Monsanto began producing agrochemicals in the 1940s. It was acquired by Bayer for more than $62 billion last June.

AGENT ORANGE TOWN HALL MEETING SCHEDULE

We update our meetings regularly on the Town Hall Meeting Calendar:

https://vva.org/AOTownHall.html

March 23, 2019

Portland, Oregon

Contact: Steve Carr 503-558-2970

vva392@outlook.com

April 13, 2019

Waverly, Iowa

Lyman and Cindy Campbell 319-230-4375

Maynard Kaderlik 507-581-6402

April 26- 27, 2019

Deadwood, South Dakota

Contact: Jack Dean 605-393-0444

Martin Anderson 605-645-0055

Maynard Kaderlik 507-581-6402

May 10, 2019

London, Kentucky

Contact: David Cowherd 270-312-0463

herd437@gmail.com

June 8, 2019

Tucson, Arizona

Contact: George Ross 520-730-6069

danvet22@gmail.com

VA to Announce Decision on New Agent Orange Presumptive Conditions

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Three years after a scientific body recommended that the Department of Veterans Affairs consider adding three conditions -- bladder cancer, hypothyroidism and Parkinson's-like symptoms -- to the list of qualifying diseases tied to Agent Orange, affected veterans may soon find out whether they are eligible for disability compensation and VA health care.

During a Senate Veterans Affairs hearing Tuesday on the VA budget, Dr. Richard Stone, the executive in charge of the Veterans Health Administration, said a decision on the three illnesses likely would come in the next 90 days.

Responding to a question from Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Stone said the VA is working "through this right now, and it would be my hope" to have a decision within three months. He added that the recommendation will go to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie for final approval.

"It's took this country far too long to come to terms with Agent Orange," Brown said.

In March 2016, the National Academy of Medicine found evidence that two conditions, bladder cancer and hypothyroidism, are likely linked to Agent Orange exposure and that a third condition, Parkinson-like symptoms, also should be included on the list of diseases presumed to be related to contact with the herbicide.

The announcement brought hope to thousands of veterans living with bladder cancer and thyroid problems, as well as those who have essential tremors and other symptoms similar to Parkinson's, but who haven't been diagnosed with the disease.

In late 2017, former VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin said he had made a decision on whether to add the three conditions to the list of 14 Agent Orange-related illnesses, but it was never announced.

VA recommends dropping legal challenge over ‘blue water’ Navy veterans benefits

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Veterans Affairs leaders will not recommend appealing a federal court ruling to award disability benefits to thousands of Vietnam veterans who claim exposure to cancer-causing chemical defoliants during ship deployments off that country’s coastline, officials confirmed Tuesday.

During an appearance before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said he will not ask the Department of Justice to continue to fight the legal issue. Federal officials have until late April to appeal the decision, issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in January.

Wilkie emphasized that other federal officials could still offer arguments in favor of filing an appeal. But his recommendation is likely to be an oversized factor in any decision, given the potential impact on his department.

The decision could affect up to 90,000 veterans who have been petitioning VA officials for disability payouts for years.

Letting the decision stand would give advocates for so-called "blue water” Navy veterans the victory they have been pursuing for more than a decade, arguing that thousands of ailing and aging Vietnam veterans have been unfairly blocked from collecting disability benefits for their on-duty injuries.

Under current department rules, the blue water veterans — an estimated 90,000 individuals — can receive medical care for their illnesses through VA. But to receive disability benefits worth up to several thousand dollars a month, they must prove that their ailments are directly connected to toxic exposure while on duty.

That’s not the case for other Vietnam veterans, who are presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange and other defoliants known to cause serious and rare cancers.

So while a veteran who served on the shoreline can receive disability payouts after contracting Parkinson’s disease or prostate cancer, a veteran who served on a ship a few miles away would have to provide evidence of direct contact with hazardous chemicals.

New Documentary Explores Agent Orange's Little-Known Medical Legacy For Civilians

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Agent Orange, the chemical herbicide used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War to deforest the land, deprived combatants of food and the ability to conceal themselves.

But as we now know, the toxic chemicals did much more than that. Agent Orange caused devastating health consequences for millions of people — the Vietnamese on the ground and the American troops serving there. In 1979, there was legal action that won a historic settlement.

What's not commonly known is that American civilians working stateside were also exposed to the harsh herbicide. Among them were workers at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

Radio producer Jon Kalish (@kalishjon) tells their stories in his new documentary, "The Forgotten Civilians of Eglin Air Force Base,” commissioned by Living Downstream. The environmental justice podcast series is from Northern California Public Media. Kalish joins Here & Now’s Robin Young to discuss the documentary.

The workers at Eglin were known as range technicians. Some of them went out and collected cardboard placards that had been sprayed, bringing them back to a lab to be analyzed. Others were cameramen operating massive refrigerator-sized color film cameras. As the cameramen filmed, they were also being sprayed.

Vietnam, US should work harder to overcome war consequences: US official

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Washington (VNA) – Although Vietnam and the US have seen encouraging outcomes of cooperation in dealing with war aftermath, there are much for them to do in the field, said Timothy Lieser, senior advisor at the US Senate Appropriations Committee.

In an interview with Vietnam News Agency’s correspondents in the US, Lieser, who is also foreign policy assistant at Senator Patrick Leahy’s Office, said he understood the war pain through what he witnessed during his visits to Vietnam.

Like some US Senators such as Patrick Leahy and late Senator John McCain, he saw the need to work to support both sides in overcoming consequences of the war and help Vietnamese people who still are suffering from the war pain.

Lieser shared difficulties in the beginning as not every American understands the huge damage that the war left in Vietnam as well as the significance of reconciliation.

Furthermore, some members of the US administration even opposed the implementation of the work, and argued that it was necessary to focus on US matters and the demands of US war veterans rather than that of other country.

However, that was the right time to help the community and US people to get better understanding in historical matters between the two countries as well as the need to put aside the past to build trust and bilateral cooperation, he stated.

Transgender veteran clashes with Shreveport VA over medical records

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Elizabeth Hardy is a woman.

She’s not a man, a male, a him or a he, but a woman.

“Mr. Elizabeth Hardy? MISTER Elizabeth Hardy?” the nurse yelled in the waiting room while Hardy bowed her head in humiliation.

Hardy said if she were in the Overton Brooks VA waiting room that day with a friend who didn’t know about her surgery, it could have caused both her and her friend a great deal of pain.

Hardy said staff has referred to her using the wrong gender pronoun multiple times and repeatedly mentioned her reassignment surgery in medical records since 2017.

Every time Hardy visits the doctor, she said, staff notes her gender.

“If I go in there for a Band-Aid, they’re going to put in their notes that I’m transgender,” she said.

Also, sprinkled throughout Hardy's records was the term "gender dysphoria," the distress a person experiences as a result of the gender they were assigned at birth that doesn't match the gender they identify with. Hardy said gender dysphoria is a condition she had before she went through surgery. She said surgery cured the condition.

"It should not be repeated and repeated and repeated over and over and over again in my records," Hardy wrote. "I don’t see anywhere where you put, 'Symptom: Broken arm. Cure: Placed a cast on it,' over and over and over and over again."

Hardy said she’s corrected staff members and requested to have her records amended but some requests have been denied.

She said it's important all mentions of her surgery and previous gender be removed because transgender people have increasingly been targets of violence.

In September, USA Today reported 2018 was the deadliest year for transgender people since 2013, according to records tracked by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a civil rights organization for LGBTQ Americans.

Lack of leadership to blame for the VA's botched 'Forever GI Bill' rollout, report says

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The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs failed to modify its electronic systems and lacked an accountable official to oversee implementation of the "Forever GI Bill," resulting in a bungled rollout last year that affected thousands of college students, a new report from the agency's Inspector General says.

The Forever GI Bill, officially called the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017, was approved unanimously in both chambers of Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump in the summer of 2017.

The law changed how education benefits are to be applied for veterans, revising the formula that determines students' stipend amounts and removing a 15-year expiration date included in the previous version of the law.

However, beginning in August, the VA's system could not handle the intricacies of those changes across more than 400,000 claims, the report said. The result was that some students were underpaid and, in some cases, not paid at all.

In November, the VA decided to delay full implementation until Dec. 1, 2019.

According to the Inspector General's report, the VA's failure to appoint an accountable official to lead implementation of the program resulted in "unclear communication of implementation progress and inadequately defined expectations, roles and responsibilities of the various VA business lines and contractors involved."

Additionally, investigators found that the VA's Office of Information and Technology and the Veterans Benefits Administration Education Service did not agree on how to solve problems once they arose.

Investigators found a 10-month gap from the time the Forever GI Bill became law and when the VA received the computer software to implement it. During those months, the VA worked with contractor Booz Allen Hamilton to develop the program.