Dithering on Agent Orange a national disgrace

Half a century since the United States began unleashing Agent Orange on Vietnam, the effects still are being felt throughout the nation. The best word to describe the government’s handling of the issue is disgraceful.

Between 1962 and 1971, nearly 11 million gallons of Agent Orange was sprayed from planes, helicopters, trucks and backpack sprayers to kill vegetation that might give cover to enemy troops, according to Vietnam Veterans of America. Smaller amounts were used in 14 other nations, including the United States.

At the time, our service members were assured that Agent Orange posed no danger to them. Not so. Agent Orange contains high levels of dioxin, a chemical that can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems and damage to the immune system.

The Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes about 50 chronic diseases as connected to Agent Orange, including Hodgkin’s disease, ischemic heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and several cancers.

“When you were over there, it was, ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s going to kill the foliage, but it’s not going to hurt you,’” said Herb Worthington, the Vietnam Veterans of America national committee chair for Agent Orange. “Some guys were covered in it.”

“I could see it, I was in it, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time,” said Asheville resident Trevor Nash, a Vietnam veteran who volunteered for the Army in 1968 and spent a year in Vietnam. “We never gave it a thought. I don’t even think we knew what it was.”

Nash has not shown any effects of his exposure, but Worthington has. He is disabled and has two children with medical conditions that he believes are related to his exposure. He says he knows of veterans who could not have children and others who chose not to for fear of passing on a problem.

There’s no way to get an exact reading on Agent Orange’s toll. Nearly three million men and women served in Vietnam and there’s no way to tell how many of them were exposed to the defoliant. And then there are the Vietnamese affected. The Hanoi government puts that figure at three million.

Those affected got no relief until 1984, when settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the manufacturers of Agent Orange resulted in a fund that distributed nearly $200 million to veterans between 1988 and 1996. In 1991, Congress finally recognized the link between Agent Orange and some diseases with the Agent Orange Act, authorizing treatment and compensation.

But, two decades later, many veterans still do not know what is covered or how to seek relief, Worthington said. “We’re finding a lot of them really don’t know anything about it, which really surprised me because I thought it was one of the top priorities of the war,” Worthington said.

VVA is holding a series of town hall meetings, one of which will be Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. at the Haynes Building of A-B Tech’s Enka campus, 1459 Sand Hill Road. Information is available by visiting http://ashvva124.org or calling Allan Perkal at 828-383-7877.

“What we’re hoping is to get Vietnam veterans information about their health to let them know if they want to go to the VA, they can go and get health care,” Perkal said.

For the long term, veterans are asking Congress to set up a center to research, diagnose and treat the descendants of veterans exposed to toxic substances during service.

If you are a veteran who may have been exposed to Agent Orange and are experiencing health problems, Saturday’s meeting is your chance to learn what you can do. Don’t miss it.