Vietnam Vets and Agent Orange

(Excerpt from the November/December 2003 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

Vietnam Veterans are now at an age where many have or will develop "adult-onset" or Type II diabetes.

In 2002, the Veteran's Administration recognized diabetes mellitus (Type II) as a "presumptive condition" related to exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used as defoliants during the Vietnam War. Because the VA has declared Type II to be a presumptive condition, any veteran with diabetes who served in Vietnam (most Vietnam vets were there during U.S. combat involvement from 1965 to 1973) may be eligible for compensation and medical assistance. Your doctor does not have to prove a relationship between the disease and possible exposure to Agent Orange!

To find out more, contact your local Veterans Administration office or visit www.va.gov. Click on "Compensation and Pension Benefits," and then go down the column on the left and click on "Veteran Services/Outreach." On that page, under "Outreach Topics," you will find "Agent Orange (Diabetes)."

You can even a file a claim on the Internet. Of course, the sooner you file, the sooner you will be entitled to benefits.

The following are other diseases that the VA reports could have resulted from exposure to Agent Orange:

• Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
• Hodgkin's Disease
• Multiple Myeloma
• Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
• Acute and Subacute Peripheral Neuropathy
• Porphyria Cutenea Tarda
• Respiratory cancers
• Soft-tissue Sarcoma

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