2014 -- H 8195

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2014

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

RESPECTFULLY REQUESTING THAT THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS DIRECT THE

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS TO ADMINISTER THE

AGENT ORANGE ACT UNDER THE PRESUMPTION THAT HERBICIDE EXPOSURE IN

THE REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM INCLUDES THE COUNTRY'S INLAND WATERWAYS,

OFFSHORE WATERS, AND AIRSPACE ENCOMPASSING THE ENTIRE COMBAT ZONE

     Introduced By: Representatives Abney, Malik, McNamara, Martin, and Casey

     Date Introduced: May 14, 2014

     Referred To: House Veterans` Affairs

     WHEREAS, During the Vietnam War, the United States military sprayed 22 million

gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides over Vietnam to reduce forest cover and crops used

by the enemy. These herbicides contained dioxin, which has since been identified as carcinogenic

and has been linked with a number of serious and disabling illnesses affecting thousands of

veterans; and

     WHEREAS, The United States Congress passed the Agent Orange Act of 1991, to

address the plight of veterans exposed to herbicides while serving in the Republic of Vietnam.

The Act amended Title 38 of the United States Code to presumptively recognize as service-

connected certain diseases among military personnel who served in Vietnam between 1962 and

1975. This presumption has provided access to appropriate disability compensation and medical

care for Vietnam veterans diagnosed with such illnesses as Type II diabetes, Hodgkin's disease,

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, prostate cancer, Parkinson's disease, multiple myeloma, peripheral

neuropathy, AL amyloidosis respiratory cancers, and soft tissue sarcomas and other illnesses and

diseases yet to be identified; and

     WHEREAS, Pursuant to a 2001 directive, the United States Department of Veterans'

Affairs policy has denied the presumption of a service connection for herbicide-related illnesses

to Vietnam veterans who cannot furnish written documentation that they had "boots on the

ground" in-country, making it virtually impossible for countless United States Navy, Marine and

Air Force veterans to pursue their claims for benefits. Personnel who served on ships in the "Blue

Water Navy" in Vietnamese territorial waters were, in fact, exposed to dangerous airborne toxins,

which not only drifted offshore but washed into streams and rivers draining into the South China

Seas; and

     WHEREAS, United States Navy veterans who served in the "Blue Water Navy" in

Vietnam have been excluded ever since, despite the fact that Agent Orange has been verified

through various studies and reports as a wide-spreading chemical that was able to reach Navy

ships through the air and waterborne distribution routes; and

     WHEREAS, Warships positioned off the Vietnamese shore routinely distilled seawater to

obtain potable water. A 2002 Australian study found that the distillation process, rather than

removing toxins, in fact concentrated dioxin in water used for drinking, cooking, and washing.

This study was conducted by the Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs after it found that

Vietnam veterans of the Royal Australian Navy had a higher rate of mortality from Agent

Orange-associated diseases than did Vietnam veterans from other branches of the military. When

the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied specific cancers among

Vietnam veterans, it found a higher risk of cancer among United States Navy veterans; and

     WHEREAS, Herbicides containing TCDD did not discriminate between soldiers on the

ground and sailors on ships offshore; and

     WHEREAS, More than 30 veterans service organizations support the Agent Blue Water

Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2013. By not passing HR 543, a precedent could be set to

selectively provide certain groups with injury-related medical care while denying other groups

without any financial, scientific or consistent reasoning; and

     WHEREAS, When the Agent Orange Act passed in 1991 with no dissenting votes,

congressional leaders stressed the importance of responding to the health concerns of Vietnam

veterans and ending the bitterness and anxiety that had surrounded the issue of herbicide

exposure. The Federal government has also demonstrated its awareness of the hazards of Agent

Orange exposure through its involvement in the identification, containment, and mitigation of

dioxin "hot spots" in Vietnam; and

     WHEREAS, The United States Congress should reaffirm the nation's commitment to the

well-being of all of its veterans and direct the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs to

administer the Agent Orange Act under the presumption that herbicide exposure in the Republic

of Vietnam includes the country's inland waterways, offshore waters, and airspace thereby

encompassing the entire Combat Zone; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

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Providence Plantations hereby respectfully urges the United States Congress to restore the

presumption of a service connection for Agent Orange exposure to the United States Vietnam

veterans who served in the waters defined by the combat zone, and in the airspace over the

combat zone; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, Majority and

Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and

the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation. We further request that this resolution be officially

entered into the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of

America.

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