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The Battle Goes Forward: Agent Orange

By Mike Sutton

The four-day National Salute, although attended by only a small portion of the 2.7 million Vietnam vets, brought together a surprisingly broad cross-section of our former comrades. Several hundred vets took the forms necessary to join the Agent Orange class-action lawsuit from a VVAW booth manned by members of four VVAW chapters. Other hundreds stopped by the booth to pick up Agent Orange information and say hello.

On November 30 the Washington DC VVAW Chapter held an information picket in front of the VA before the beginning of the quarterly meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Health-Related Effects of Herbicides (ACHREH). The newspapers have begun carrying more and more articles on Agent Orange and its toxic component, dioxin—including news of stateside dioxin contamination. But we are not satisfied that our work is now done. And we sure as hell aren't satisfied with a belated parade in our greens, beer glasses raise in toasts by war survivors or the dedication of a memorial to the dead. 1983 must be the year of the veterans' Agent Orange offensive.

The battle goes forward on many fronts. This year, in June, the federal class-action lawsuit against the chemical manufacturers of Agent Orange begins trial in New York, and the epidemiological study ordered by Congress (Public Law 96-151) over three years ago should (finally!) begin. Some 16 states have now established Agent Orange or dioxin commissions. Legal efforts have begun in a number of veterans' organizations and members of Congress are calling for recognition of and compensation for at least some of the symptoms of Agent Orange poisoning.

Despite some action, however, the battle is far from won. The lawsuits, even if vets initially win, will drag on for years. The Agent Orange epidemiological study, although now to be done by the Center for Disease control (specialists in this type of investigation) will be delayed while the protocol is redesigned.

Some state Agent Orange commissions have better funding, more substantial support services for vets or more ambitious projects than others. Texas and Minnesota, for example, will be conducting their own smaller epidemiological studies. Current statutes of limitations will hinder veterans' legal efforts in both state and federal courts and the increasingly supportive stands taken by some veterans' organizations and members of Congress remain a long step away from being translated into law. Moreover, chloracne and soft-tissue sarcomas (the only "recognized" symptoms of Agent Orange exposure) are only two of the potential medical problems (not to mention the necessary work on health effects of other herbicides, Dapsone, tropical diseases, etc).

What has happened regarding Agent Orange in the last few months?

Under bright lights and C-SPAN TV cameras, the 13th quarterly meeting of the ACHREH was held in August, 1982. It was quite a show. More people in the audience, more charm generated by VA spokespersons—and some very bad news for Vietnam vets. The VA under questioning by Hugh Walkup of the National Veterans' Task Force on Agent Orange, admitted that they would not complete the epidemiological study until 1988 or 89, making a full decade of foot-dragging on this crucial assignment! Perhaps they thought that the extraordinary delay wouldn't be noticed since some 20 other projects had been funded. These included monographs, an updated AO bibliography, fat biopsy studies and an interesting—if exotic—study of some 400 sets of identical twins, one twin serving in Vietnam. Some of the projects should have been done right the first time, but weren't' because the VA was so damned slow to move on AO. These later include cleaning up the flawed AO registry.

Some members of Congress reacted with concern over the delayed epidemiological study. In mid September, Rep. Thomas Daschle, chairman of the Congressional Vietnam-era vets caucus, suggested that the delay results from "the VA's inability to face the ultimate decision of compensating veterans and their families." Rep. Margaret M. Heckler pointed out that the $5 million AO research budget of $140 million. Daschle went on to suggest that adequate justification now exists (from studies of Dioxin-contaminated civilians) to provide compensation to AO-exposed vets for chlorachne and soft-tissue sarcomas, and that the epidemiological study should be done by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.

In October, Robert Nimmo—who had referred to Vietnam veterans as wanting to be "coddled" and who had compared the effect of AO to "teenage acne" —resigned to be replaced by Harry N. Walters. Walters, a West Point graduate and non-combat vet who served only 3 and a half years on active duty, is an unknown quantity on the question of Agent Orange.

Also in October, the Government Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the Congress, released a study of VA procedures regarding AO resulting from a study of 2 years and 14 selected VA hospitals. The GAO found exams to often be incomplete, the AO registry severely flawed, and an unrealistic time limitation placed by the VA on AO claims. But the GAO was not the only federal agency critical of the VA. The National Academy of Sciences, in early November, called for major revisions in the controversial protocol for the epidemiological study. The VFW, also in November, broke ranks with other "traditional" veterans' organizations to endorse Re. Daschle's proposal for compensation.

With all of this activity going on, when the ACHREH met for the 14th time on November 30th, 1982, there were fewer self-satisfied smiles; but unfortunately, not TV cameras were present to record the change of aspect. Dr Donald Custis, Chief Medical Director of the VA, admitted during preliminary comments that the VA deserved some criticism. The GAO then presented a summary of its critical report and an AMVETS representative urged that the VA speed up the AO examinations by also scheduling them on evenings and weekends as well as during the workday, and also whenever a Vietnam vet is hospitalized in a VA hospital.

Representatives of 6 of the state AO (or dioxin) commissions made these recommendations: 1) that the Rep. Daschle's proposed legislation is appropriate; 2) that the VA's exams be concerned with the "total Vietnam experience" (including other chemicals and diseases); 3) that the exams be expanded with more attention to liver function and the condition of sperm cells, and 4) that the CDC should conduct the epidemiological study.

Two recently widowed wives of Vietnam vets, who believed that their husbands' health problems may have been AO related, spoke to the human concerns of the problem, namely that speed is as essential as scientific accuracy to studying AO. The VA for its part, announced that negotiations with the CDC were underway for the CDC to take responsibility for the epidemiological study early this year, but that the VA will remain the conduit for funding, and that the VA will remain responsible for the other projects it has begun.

It is up to us, however, to keep up the pressure this coming year and this is how it can be done:

1. Apply for an AO examination and be placed on the Registry. Contact your nearest VA health-care facility. Approximately 100,000 are now on the registry and 15, 867 vets have filed AO claims(as of late Dec, 1982). And since the GAO report indicated that some exams and registry data was incomplete, if would be wise to recheck with the VA, if you have already had an exam, to insure that they have your current address and that your exam was complete.
2. Apply to the VA for healthcare if you have any possibly AO-related symptoms. With the exception of certain health problems that cannot by AO-related (TB, appendicitis, trauma injuries, etc) Public Law 97-72 authorizes the VA to "provide certain health care services to any veteran of the Vietnam Era (August 5, 1964 through May 7, 1975) who, while serving in Vietnam, may have been exposed to dioxin or to a toxic substance in a herbicide or defoliant used for military purposes."
3. Contact the VA if you have had any skin disorders in 'Nam or since. The VA Dermatology Departments will test you and send you, at their expense, to an independent clinic if your condition might be chlorachne. The VA has established a chlorachne task force for this effort, and chlorachne is not joke. VA representatives found out at an international conference in Salzburg, Austria back in October that "Chlorachne may persist in 25-50% of cases, up to 30 years" when it had been "previously believed that it cleared in a few years."
4. Join the federal class action lawsuit. Beginning this June, Yannacone & Yannacone as lead attorneys will begin their presentation in New York on this suit. Contact your nearest VVAW chapter or the VVAW National Office for information.
5. State AO commissions. Several states are well advanced in various aspects of work around AO or dioxin—check with your state health department or vets affairs department. If your state has nothing, do some proding. Things are moving in: Illinois, New York, Texas, Conn, Minn, New Jersey, Penn, West Virginia, Okla, Mass, Maine, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas and Ohio.
6. Urge your representatives and senators to support AO legislation.

TEST, TREAT AND COMPENSATE AGENT ORANGE!

Mike Sutton
VVAW Washington