Well hmm... was told that dear old... they claimed way back when... wont hurt no one agent orange has now been related to a certain type of heart attack... so went to DAV to maybe lodge a claim... they said go get the medical records from the hospital where I received the care when it happened... (damn that hurt!) anyways... picked up the records and took em in to the DAV... she looked them over tryin to find the words/type that linked it to agent orange... and FOUND the words/type and highlighted it for the VA.. thing is the Dr. at the VA seemed very concerned about my cholesterol... kept watching it and talkin to me about it... and... it was except for maybe once always low... and they would say that's good... IIRC it was only a little over what was considered healthy... now I gotta take something called simbastatin every night... I wonder if that shit is doing any good... thinkin on it.... hmmmm..... all of a sudden with no high cholesterol numbers on record... bam... hmmmm.... anyways you know a viet vet WARN em to get checked for it!!!!
Friend of mine after many years of denial and different illnesses finally got payments and retro pay for agent orange and went out and bought a motorcycle as he had always wanted to do, it is a 3 wheeler and he can get from his wheelchair to it without any help. Most of those who had the medical problems from Vietnam died while everything was being denied. Thank you for your service and stay on top of it as long as you can.
Dad had been denied several years, first if was because he was Navy at sea, those guys didn' do any fighting. Then it was because he had a decent income. Then they claimed his 11 combat cruises didn't count, he never stepped foot on the sand. Finally, they found most Navy ships take in sea water to make fresh water, and during his cruises his ship traversed the delta area where they took on water that had run off containing agent orange, finally got approved! Damn V.A. and the broken system! God bless you sir, and thank you and all the others who answered the call!
In my case the AO was not allowed, it seems that Congress (not VA) does not understand Physics and that what is sprayed on land will flow to the sea.
Interesting how Vets are getting compensation for even slight exposure, and I worked on a USFS TSI (timber stand improvement) crew for a year using 2,4,5T poured from 5 gallon cans into hand held tubes with a sharp shovel like head on it. You'd ring a 'wolf' tree left by loggers with the sharp point, pull a lanyard on the tube to release a slosh of herbicide into the cut to make sure the tree died, then move on to the next one. We spent all day, including our lunch time w/o washing, soaked in the stuff.
Not sure what you consider slight exposure? Any Dioxin is dangerous to the human DNA. In the case of some ships they handled and trans shipped 55 gallon drums that had been handled many times and have confirmed leaks in transit. Due to a spill on one ship both the Captain and Chaplin became exposed and drenched while helping other crew members. The ship had picked up the AO from another ship. This is online as a Citation aka Court Case that went full tilt boggy and the sailors won the case. The Aussies have proven beyond any doubt that in the Blue Water Navy Dioxin was passed from the seawater to the distilled water and then consumed as drinking water, and used for bathing and general cleanup and washing of clothes ad bedding. The Dioxin became concentrated to an unknown degree and caused harm. Any ship that crossed certain areas, deltas etc became fully compromised. There is a list of US Ships that were in the same zones as brown water Navy and Boots on the Ground Troops.. Others that might have been on Top Secret Ops are SOL. If you think you were contaminated then checkout with any disease you might have that relate to Herbicide Poisoning..
By "slight exposure" I mean guys getting a check that were never directly exposed to it. My buddy was a SeeBe in Vietnam and freely admits he was never anywhere near AO, and cashes his check every month in spite of that. Apparently all that is required is proof of time in country during the period AO was used. Assuming I have a disease related to my use as a kid of 2,4,5T.....so what ? It was civilian use, and the odds of proving that from 50 years ago are nil.....much less getting Dow Chemical or the US Forest Service to pay anything over it.
"Apparently all that is required is proof of time in country during the period AO was used." Not so. If he gets a check then he has a disease related to AO. The check size depends on the severity of his disease. No disease, no check. If he gets a check someone had to prove he was in a place that was sprayed. If he lied, well he just sucks. And if the VA finds him lying then they will get what ever he stole back and he may go to jail. In fact a stolen valor dude, drawing disability payments is in hospice and the VA has gone after his assets. He is just one of many that have been caught.
BTW there is no such thing as "slight exposure". The maximum approved exposure level to AO is zero! The Dioxin AO is categorized as on of the most deadly products known to man. It originates as a byproduct of the deliberately accelerated manufacture of the weed killer 2,4,5-T. It acts on humans by altering the transcription of specific genes. And the results aren’t pretty. Often, when we are talking about the long-term impacts of Agent Orange on human health and the environment, we are actually talking about dioxin. Specifically, the 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD),which was an unnecessary contaminant in the 2,4,5-T component of Agent Orange, and several of the other herbicides (Pink, Purple, and Green). Therefore, it is important to have clarity on two terms used throughout this website: Agent Orange — (aka Herbicide Orange) was one of a class of color-coded herbicides that US forces sprayed over the rural landscape in Vietnam to kill trees, shrubs and food crops over large areas. Agent Orange was a 50/50 mixture of two individual herbicides, 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. It remained toxic over a short period—a scale of days or weeks—and then degraded. The production of Agent Orange was halted in the 1970s, existing stocks were destroyed and it is no longer used. Production of the 2,4,5-T component of Agent Orange was also halted in the 1980s in most countries. However, 2,4-D is still produced by Dow Agroscience and is a common component of over 70 products, including Scott’s Weed and Feed, Miracle-Grow Weed and Feed, Weed B Gone and many others. The effects of Agent Orange do, however, persist in the form of ecologically degraded landscapes in parts of the hilly and mountainous areas of Vietnam. The pre-war forests that existed in most of these areas took hundreds of years to reach an ecologically-balanced mixture of large numbers of species of flora and fauna. Natural regeneration would take centuries to reproduce those landscapes. In addition, in some of the sprayed areas soil erosion and landslides have sharply lowered soil nutrient levels and altered thetopographical features of the landscape. These changes have encouraged a few species of invasive grasses of low value. Active replanting with species of trees and shrubs which are ecologically viable and have economic value will require substantial and sustained long term investment. Dioxin — is a member of the class of persistent organic pollutants that is produced through combustion, in the bleaching of paper/pulp or in the chemical manufacturing process. In regards to Agent Orange dioxin was a by-product of the deliberately accelerated production of the herbicide 2,4,5-T, one of the components of Agent Orange. Specifically the dioxin contaminating Agent Orange was 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD)which is the most toxic of all the dioxins and dioxin-like compounds. The US National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the International Agency for the Research on Cancer list TCDD as a known human carcinogen. Dioxin has been found to be an endocrine disrupter, it can cause chloracne, certain cancers, and reproductive and developmental effects (at least in animals). Dioxin is not absorbed by plants nor is it water soluble. It can attach to fine soil particles or sediment, which are then carried by water downstream and settle in the bottoms of ponds and lakes. It continues to adversely affect people who eat dioxin-contaminated fish, molluscs and fowl produced around point sources of dioxin called dioxin "hot spots." The good news is that for the most part as environmental restriction on emissions of dioxin and dioxin – like compounds have been tightened the levels of dioxin in the environment has decreased over the past 30 years. However, dioxin is toxic over a long period – a scale of many decades – and does not degrade readily. The half-life of dioxin varies depending on where it is found, in humans the half life is between 11 and 15 years, in surface soil that has been fully exposed to sunlight the half-life is between 1 and 3 years and in sediment the half-life can be more than 100 years. “A few grains of salt dissolved in an olympic-size swimming pool.” – Philip Jones Griffiths, “Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Viet Nam,” 2004. The average person in an industrialized nation has 3-7 pg/g (picograms/gram) of TCDD in their blood, primarily through environmental exposure to dioxin from combustion, and by eating dioxin contaminated meat, dairy and fish. In comparison, the average Ranch Hander, the type of veteran who handled the contaminated chemicals, had an estimated 12.2 pg/g of dioxin in his blood when it was measured twenty-years after his exposure in Vietnam. Those at most risk to adverse health effects of dioxin are those who were exposed to high levels through industrial accidents, by frequently eating fish and animals that have been feeding in dioxin hotspots, or who were exposed to dioxin-contaminated herbicides such as Agent Orange. Dioxin's continuing impact can be slowed or halted by cutting the dioxin exposure pathways in the human food chain, and by environmental remediation of contaminated sites. Unfortunately there is no known "safe–level" of dioxin exposure; if dioxin permanently alters the intricate internal cellular and chemical balances involved in maintaining good human health, there is serious risk of life-long health problems, which may ultimately lead to mortality. Scientists are still trying to understand how dioxin may adversely affect health or cause reproductive and developmental abnormalities in humans. It is hoped that as epigenetic research continues to evolve, answers may finally be found as to how dioxin may alter the expression of genes.
Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product. These products are often proteins, but in non-protein coding genes such as transfer RNA (tRNA) or small nuclear RNA (snRNA) genes, the product is a functional RNA.
Just plucked this fresh of the eBenefits site. In the Spotlight Agent Orange, My HealtheVet and Online Help During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military used Agent Orange, a tactical herbicide used to reduce vegetation and tree cover in Vietnam. It was also used between April 1, 1968, and August 31, 1971, in the DMZ in Korea. Years later, some Veterans experience health effects potentially related to Agent Orange. Effects of Agent Orange VA recognizes certain health conditions (known as presumptive conditions) as associated with Agent Orange exposure, including Parkinson's disease, Type 2 Diabetes, Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and several forms of cancer. The fourteen presumptive conditions are listed below: AL Amyloidosis Porphyria Cutanea Tarda Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Hodgkin's Disease Chronic B-cell Leukemias Prostate Cancer Parkinson's Disease Ischemic Heart Disease Peripheral Neuropathy, Early-Onset Respiratory Cancers Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 Multiple Myeloma Chloracne Soft Tissue Sarcomas Note: some conditions such as chloracne and peripheral neuropathy (early onset) have to occur within certain time periods after possible Agent Orange exposure to be considered presumptive conditions. Benefits for Children of Vietnam Veterans and Other Veterans VA also recognizes spina bifida in Veterans' children as associated with Agent Orange exposure. In such cases, VA may provide health care, disability compensation, and other assistance for children of Vietnam Veterans who served during the Vietnam Era or children of Veterans who served in or near the Korean DMZ from April 1, 1968, to August 31, 1971. In addition, VA provides benefits for children of women Vietnam Veterans born of certain birth defects. Track Your Health By becoming a registered user of My HealtheVet, those affected by Agent Orange have access to the Track Health tool. Veterans can better manage their conditions by keeping track of their blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol and view lab or test results online. They can access and update their self-entered VA health records, then share this information with their health care team using the Blue Button report or a VA Health Summary. Some of the tools available in Track Health are: Vitals (blood pressure, blood sugar, weight, etc) Food and Activity Journals Labs + Tests HealtheLiving Assessment Health History Reach Out and Log In If you or a family member suffers from Agent Orange sicknesses, VA assistance may be available. VA offers eligible Veterans a free Agent Orange Registry health exam for possible long-term health problems related to exposure. You can also stay on top of your health by registering for a My HealtheVet account today and tracking your health care online. Read More Veterans' Diseases Associated with Agent Orange 10 things every Veteran should know about Agent Orange Updated February 12, 2018
Ya I've read that but it is not up to date... the heart condition is fairly recent and I only found out about it while reading some articles somewhere else... the VA often updates things kinda slow... give it another year or so and they might have that listed too... at any rate my heart attack type was listed as related... can't remember the term at the moment...
Ischemic Heart Disease A disease characterized by a reduced supply of blood to the heart, that leads to chest pain Same here, reduced blood supply lets the heart muscles die. Congress is what is not up to date, the VA Knows and is not allowed to move on a disease until approved by Congress. That's what is so phony about the Politicos, they stomp and bitch about the inefficiencies of the VA and yet Congress has caused the problem. There is a bill on approving AO for a wider group of Vets, the same Vets that was covered for two years and then Congress changed the law, the bill has been on hold for at least 3years. How do I know? Because I have Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 Peripheral Neuropathy, Early-Onset Ischemic Heart Disease On the Ischemic Heart Disease The VA knows and have listed it on my disabilities. But the VA can do nothing about it until Congress passes the law. On the heart disease, I provided the latest research on Mitral Valve damage to a VA C&P Doc. This is research on how Hyper vigilance damages the valve, this connected to PTSD/Combat. I had purchased the report/white paper, all peer reviewed, and then got permission to use it from the Research Center. I provided the information and up loaded to my eBenefits. The VA now has it as an official document and is now part of my permanent medical record.. When I had my exam I could tell the Doc knew the research was right but could not approve my requested disability as service connected. Yet another Doc that has to act stupid in front of a VET because her hands are tied by Congress. It didn't matter for me,I was fighting the battle for others anyway I can. After all, Live or Die ,my path was set as I was already at 100%. One step at a time.
