Enacted 06/05/14
H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N
Introduced By: Representatives Abney, Malik, McNamara, Martin, and Casey
Date Introduced: May 14, 2014
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 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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LC005644
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