Agent Orange and Veterans
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Since being exposed to Agent Orange while fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, American military veterans have not been silent about the health problems related to their exposure. Instead, veterans' groups have worked tirelessly to educate their fellow soldiers on the hazards that were posed by this chemical and what they can do to ensure their health care is fully addressed as part of their veterans' benefits.
Vietnam and Agent Orange
In 1978, the first Vietnam veteran filed a $10 million lawsuit when it was discovered that his ill health was directly connected to his exposure to Agent Orange. Though he died of lung cancer later that year, the case did not disappear. Instead, the following year, the case was amended to incorporate all those individuals who had been injured as a result of exposure to Agent Orange and dioxin, its primary component. This was worded in such a way that it encompassed soldiers' wives and children, as they could have suffered ill effects as well. Though the case underwent some dramatic changes throughout its duration, in 1984, a settlement of $180 million was awarded to the numerous veterans included in the suit.
The Agent Orange Veteran Payment Program
To distribute this settlement, the Agent Orange Veteran Payment Program was created; this would award disability compensation and death benefits to soldiers and their families. With the investment of monies that had not been distributed, the sum total of funds available in late 1989 was over $300 million. Those individuals that had suffered as a result of the government's inability to consider the potential long-term negative health effects of a dangerous chemical were now given some sort of peace; for those who had lost a loved one to a health disorder brought on by this drug, the financial payment at least served as some sort of compensation for the time lost with them and the expenditures of their healthcare.
It was not until 1994 when the National Institute of Medicine finally ordered a review of Agent Orange and linked the defoliant to the following:
- Skin rashes, called choracne
- Soft-tissue and lymphatic cancers
- Prostate cancer
- Multiple myeloma
- Respiratory cancers