VA Expands List of Conditions Caused by Agent Orange

[babylonsister]

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3251

VA Expands List of Conditions Caused by Agent Orange
by: Richard Allen Smith
Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 16:07:52 PM EDT

Good news for Vietnam Vets who have had trouble getting their due:

WASHINGTON -- Veterans Affairs officials added three new illnesses Tuesday to the list of diagnoses connected to Agent Orange, allowing quicker health care claims for Vietnam veterans suffering from Parkinson's disease, hairy cell leukemia, and ischemic heart disease.

The move follows a study by the nongovernmental Institute of Medicine. The group has been studying the effects of Agent Orange since the early 1990s and this summer suggested a link between those diseases and the toxic Agent Orange chemicals.

In a statement, VA secretary Eric Shinseki said the additions bring to 12 the number of "presumed" sicknesses linked to Agent Orange. Others include prostate cancer and Hodgkin's disease.

I can't say enough how nice it is to see the VA fixing its short comings of the past, be they from the past eight years or the past 40.