[JJ_BPK]

FYI,, for those that might be interested..

Get to your local VA and get tested...

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/news....aspx?id=56205

American Forces Press Service

VA to Short-cut Some Agent Orange Rulings
By Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2009 - A new Department of Veterans Affairs
ruling will soon relieve Vietnam veterans suffering from three specific
illnesses from the burden of proving their ailments are linked to Agent
Orange exposure to receive VA health care and disability payments.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki's decision, announced
today, establishes a service connection for Vietnam vets stricken with
hairy-cell leukemia and other B-cell leukemias, Parkinson's disease and
ischemic heart disease, VA chief of staff John Gingrich told American Forces
Press Service.

Shinseki made the decision based on a recent report by the National
Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine. The report cited new scientific
studies pointing to a strong connection between the illnesses and Agent
Orange exposure.

Shinseki determined that evidence was compelling enough to establish a
presumption that affected veterans' illnesses are service-related, Gingrich
said.

This determination will short-cut the process for them to receive
services through what Shinseki called "a world-class health care system," as
well as monthly disability payments.

But before the ruling takes effect, it must be published in the
Federal Register and opened for final comment, Gingrich explained. He
predicted that the process would be completed early next year.

It's unclear exactly how many of the 2.1 million Vietnam veterans the
ruling will affect, Gingrich said. If 10 percent have the presumed
illnesses, that could result in some 200,000 new VA claims.

Agent Orange, named for the orange-colored barrels in which it was
stored, was sprayed widely during the Vietnam War to defoliate trees and
remove concealment for the enemy. Veterans have long blamed the herbicide
for causing a variety of illnesses, but until now, there's been no official
recognition of a link. That put the burden on veterans to prove an
association - a process Shinseki conceded too often has created an
adversarial relationship between the VA and veterans.

Shinseki, a retired Army general and a Vietnam veteran himself,
lamented this situation this summer at
a medical symposium in San Antonio.

"I have asked why, 40 years after Agent Orange was last used in
Vietnam, this secretary is still adjudicating claims for presumption of
service-connected disabilities tied to its toxic effects," he told attendees
at the Association of the U.S. Army's Institute of Land Warfare Army Medical
Symposium.

Shinseki also questioned why the debilitating effects of Gulf War
illnesses still are being debated 20 years after Operation Desert Storm.

"Why weren't conclusive studies conducted by [the Department of
Defense] and VA to render presumption of service-connected disability
resulting from exposure to toxic environments associated with these
operations?" Shinseki asked. "Such findings would have facilitated VA's
settling of service-connected disability claims in far less time. The
scientific method, and the failure to advocate for the veteran, got in the
way of our processes."

Veterans deserve better, he said.

"We must do better reviews of illnesses that may be connected to
service, and we will," he said. "Veterans who endure health problems deserve
timely decisions based on solid evidence."

Shinseki's decision brings to 15 the number of presumed illnesses VA
recognizes. Others are:

-- Acute and subacute transient peripheral neuropathy;

-- AL amyloidosis;

-- Chloracne;

-- Chronic lymphocytic leukemia;

-- Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2);

-- Hodgkin's disease;

-- Multiple myeloma;

-- Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma;

-- Porphyria cutanea tarda;

-- Prostate cancer;

-- Respiratory cancers; and

-- Soft-tissue sarcoma other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma or mesothelioma.