How do Agent Orange and Spina Bifida go together?

Answer 1

On May 28, 1996, President Bill Clinton announced Agent-Orange Related Disability Benefits for Vietnam Veterans including prostate cancer and the neurological disorder peripheral neuropathy are entitled to disability payments based upon their exposure to Agent Orange. He went on to say his administration will also propose to congress, legislation to meet the needs of veterans' children afflicted with the birth defect spina bifida-the first time the children of American soldiers have received benefits for combat-related health problems.

October 1, 1997, the Spina Bifida Health Care Programprovides health benefits for Vietnam veterans' birth children diagnosed with spina bifida. Only 22 years after the conflict came to an end and 28 years after studies linked chemicals in Agent Orange to birth defects in laboratory animals.

This was followed by coverage for children born to female members of the Armed Forces who were stationed in Vietnam the same years their male counterparts. The coverage offers a wider variety of birth defects as long as there is no family history and they are not caused by alcohol abuse. Sadly this is still excluding a very large number of children born missing limbs, with severe deformities and a high rate of childhood cancers, whose parents are convinced was do to the fathers being exposed to Agent Orange, dioxins and similar chemicals.

December 16, 2003, the Spina Bifida Health Care Program provides health benefits for Korea veterans' birth children diagnosed with spina bifida."

"The birth defects of children of women Vietnam veteransthat 1) are associated with Vietnam service; and 2) result in permanent physical or mental disability. Birth defects not included in this benefit program as those abnormalities that result from the following: 1) a familial disorder; 2) a birth-related injury, 3) a fetal or neonatal infirmity with well-established causes. The law defines the term "child" as an individual, regardless of age or marital status that is the natural child of a woman Vietnam veteran, and was conceived after the veteran first entered Vietnam."

Beginning in 1962, about 19 million gallons of herbicides were sprayed over South Vietnam to defoliate vegetation used as cover by enemy troops. In 1969, studies linked chemicals in Agent Orange to birth defects in laboratory animals use of all the defoliants was halted by 1971. However, tens of thousands of the three million Americans who served in Southeast Asia are thought to have been exposed to the chemicals.

In 1990, an independent scientific review of the literature was sponsored by Vietnam Veterans of America, the American Legion, and the National Veterans Legal Services Project. Seven independent scientists and physicians on this Agent Orange Scientific Task Force concluded that elevated incidences of birth defects in the children of Vietnam veterans were found in several studies. These included spina bifida, oral clefts, cardiovascular defects, hip dislocations, and malformations of the urinary tract. In addition, defects of the digestive tract and other neoplasms such as neuroblastoma also were higher in Vietnam veterans' children. The same defects are also found in children born to the Vietnamese who were subjected to the same exposures of dioxins.

When compared to non-veterans' children the children of Vietnam veterans have shown consistent and chronic increases in ADD, LD and behavioral disorders; immune system disorders including chronic infections and childhood cancers, Allergies and asthma, childhood diabetes, thyroid disorders, multiple skin disorders and abnormalities of the palate and tooth development. Ongoing studies of prenatal exposures to dioxins and similar chemicals continue to support these associations.

The following links are intended for people wanting more information on herbicides and the long term damage still being discovered and families who are in need of these services.

http://www.va.gov/

http://www4.va.gov/HAC/forbeneficiaries/spina/handbook/cwvhandbook. pdf


http://www4.va.gov/HAC/forbeneficiaries/spina/handbook/sbhandbook. pdf

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.phppid=52876&st=spina+bifida&st1=veterans

http://www4.va.gov/hac/factsheets/spina/FactSheet01-06.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=16914479

The Veterans' Benefits Act of 1997 (38 U.S.C. §1805).

Public Law 110-387, Section 408

Public Law 106-419 VA