Submitted by
joessoft on Sun, 12/05/2004
-
Facts About Agent Orange |
Korea
Some To Get Agent Orange
Testing
By PAULINE JELINEK
(c)The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
government is offering to
examine Cold War American
troops who served in Korea
three decades ago for
possible exposure to the
defoliant Agent Orange.
In a little-publicized
initiative, the Veterans
Affairs Department expanded
a program previously offered
to Vietnam War veterans to
include people who served in
Korea in 1968-69.
The rule change follows by a
year the Pentagon's
disclosure that South Korean
troops sprayed Agent Orange,
which contained the toxic
herbicide dioxin, during
that time along the
demilitarized zone between
North and South Korea.
The decision to give vets
free Agent Orange Registry
exams, for diseases and
medical conditions
associated with exposure to
the herbicide, is set out in
a directive issued Sept. 5
and posted on the
department's http://www.va.gov
World Wide Web site.
Agent Orange and other
similar herbicides were used
during the Vietnam War to
eliminate forest cover by
defoliating broad sections
of jungle mainly to
facilitate pursuit of
infiltrators and supplies
moving into South Vietnam
from the north. After it
appeared probable that the
defoliant caused numerous
serious illnesses and birth
defects, the VA set up the
Agent Orange Registry in
1978, three years after the
war ended, for U.S. veterans
with in-country Vietnam War
military service. More than
300,000 veterans have
participated so far.
``Now that we understand
that it was sprayed there,''
said VA spokesman Jim
Benson, ``we can say, `If
you were in Korea, you may
be exposed, and we would
like you to come in.'''
The Defense Department has
always known it was used
along the Korean DMZ, but it
wasn't until last December
that the information was
publicly known.
Following news reports
quoting unclassified U.S.
documents about the usage,
the Pentagon and South
Korea's government admitted
that the chemical and two
others were used in 1968-69
to kill dense foliage that
North Korean infiltrators
used for cover heading
south.
Around 50,000 South Korean
soldiers did the spraying by
hand.
``However, it is plausible
that U.S. service members in
the area near spraying
operations may have been
exposed,'' the directive
said, adding that as many as
80,000 troops served in the
country during the two
years. A smaller number
would have been near the
DMZ.
The new directive does not
entitle veterans to
compensation for diseases,
offering mainly physical
examinations and counseling.
Specifically, it opens to
Korean veterans registration
on the registry's
computerized index of all
examinations taken by
Vietnam vets who worried
they had illnesses caused by
exposure to the chemical.
Like Vietnam vets in the
registry, the Korea-based
veterans will be tracked in
Agent Orange research and
get newsletters and other
information that Vietnam
vets get, Benson said.
A law passed a decade ago
assumes exposure for any
American who served in
Vietnam during a certain
period. The VA has
compensated veterans who
have some forms of cancer
and a limited number of
other diseases presumed,
although not proven, to have
been caused by the exposure.
After Korean vets register
and are examined, the
government would have to
take further action to add
their names to the list of
people eligible for
compensation, Benson said.
Under the law governing
Agent Orange, Vietnam
veterans need not prove a
direct causal relationship
to receive service-based
compensation for certain
diseases. The diseases
currently on the list
include Hodgkin's disease,
multiple myeloma,
respiratory cancers,
soft-tissue sarcoma and
prostate cancer. Veterans'
children with spina bifida,
a congenital birth defect of
the spine, are also eligible
for benefits and health
care.
POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL
BOARD
The U.S. government has a
couple of presents for some
of those who served in
uniform under its flag in
years past, just in time for
Veterans Day. But these
presents come wrapped with
black ribbon.
For 30 years, the Pentagon
knew that the same defoliant
linked to illness in
thousands of Vietnam War
veterans, and birth
abnormalities in their
offspring, was used in Korea
during 1968 and '69. But
they didn't tell the men and
women who served there that
they might have been exposed
to the infamous Agent Orange
while stationed near the
demilitarized zone between
North and South Korea.
That nasty secret was kept
until late last year. And it
probably would have been
kept longer if it hadn't
been for news leaks quoting
U.S. documents.
Now the government is
extending to former Korean
duty vets the same
eligibility it provided to
Vietnam War vets, including
free medical exams under the
Agent Orange Registry.
Agent Orange was used in
Korea, as it was in Vietnam,
to defoliate large tracks of
jungle to expose enemy
troops and possible supply
routes.
On Thursday, the Department
of Veterans Affairs
announced that Vietnam
veterans with Type-II
diabetes will now be
eligible for disability
compensation based on their
presumed exposure to Agent
Orange or other herbicides
used during the war.
Although it will take
several months to complete
the rule-writing for this
directive, affected vets are
encouraged to enroll in the
VA's health care system
immediately so they can
begin receiving medical
care.
This form of diabetes is
added to the existing list
of ailments connected with
Agent Orange exposure,
including a number of skin,
nerve and respiratory
conditions, as well as
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma,
Hodgkin's disease, prostate
cancer and the birth defect
spina bifida.
The Pentagon fought tooth
and nail for years to
discredit allegations that
at times indiscriminate use
of the defoliants had left
American soldiers with
medical problems, including
cancer and birth defects in
their offspring.
Mother-Margaret