VA Watchdog Stuff
cups, hats, shirts
click here to
support the site





Be sure to get all five
VA Watchdog dot Org
RSS feeds --
Daily VA
News Flashes
House CVA
Veterans' News
Senate CVA
Veterans' News
VA Press
Releases
VSO Press
Releases

Download your
free copy of the
2007 VA benefits
handbook here...

Printer-Friendly Version

GUAM RESIDENTS SPEAK OUT ON AGENT ORANGE --

"I served 20 years in the Air Force but I don't

like the way I'm being treated now."

For more about veterans and Agent Orange, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=agent+orange&op=ph

Story here... http://www.guampdn.com/apps/
pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071218/NEWS01/712180305/1002

Story below:

-------------------------

Residents speak out on Agent Orange

Act would compensate those exposed

By Brett Kelman
Pacific Daily News
bmkelman@guampdn.com

About a dozen residents testified at a Guam Legislature public hearing yesterday to support a resolution that would elicit compensation for military employees who were exposed to Agent Orange, a toxic substance used during the Vietnam War.

The Legislature will vote on the bill during its next session. If it passes, the Legislature will request that Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo pursue an amendment to the "Civilian Agent Orange Act of 2007," which compensates civilian employees who were exposed to the herbicide while working in Vietnam.

The amendment would change the act to include employees on Guam also.

Manny Cruz, the local American Federation of Government Employees Union president, said the evidence that civilians were exposed is strong, since Agent Orange was stored and loaded onto bombers at Andersen Air Force Base.

Agent Orange is a chemical that was sprayed during Vietnam War defoliation missions, mostly from planes that were housed at Andersen. It has been proven to cause many diseases -- including leukemia and Hodgkin's disease -- and several of the testifiers at yesterday's suggested it had caused their type-2 diabetes.

According to the Guam Diabetes Association, a quarter of the island's population has type-2 diabetes. The disease is predominately caused by bad diet and lack of exercise.

"Since there is no test for Agent Orange, if you were exposed it must be presumed that is the cause (of your ailments,)" Cruz said after the hearing, citing previous settlements against the government.

Residents Gregorio Perez, Pedro Mendiola and Jo Quinata all said that they had been exposed to the chemical while working in warehouses at Andersen during the Vietnam War.

Perez, a veteran who also thinks he was exposed while in Vietnam, said the military was treating Guam's residents like "second-class citizens" by denying that they were exposed by outgoing bombers.

"Where does that flight start? Andersen. Where does it end? Andersen," he said, adding that many of the chemical containers were rusted and smelled as if they were leaking. "I served 20 years in the Air Force but I don't like the way I'm being treated now."

Quinata recalled smelling fumes when the Agent Orange was sprayed around the base's perimeter fence. All the speakers said they supported the amendment because the military should be responsible for compensating employees who may have been exposed on base.

Resident Ben Garrido thought the military's responsibility was even larger.

Garrido argued that the act should be extended to compensate all of Guam's citizens, since he believed the entire island had been affected. He cited the disappearance of Guam's bird population -- which he felt has only been blamed on the brown tree snake -- and reports of toxic fish in Cocos Lagoon and Orote Point as evidence of islandwide contamination.

"Maybe its time for the Air Force to admit they sprayed Agent Orange on this island," he said. "I'm sure we're all affected."

-------------------------

Larry Scott  --

Don't forget to read all of today's VA News Flashes (click here)

Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage

email Larry

(go back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home Page)

VA Watchdog Stuff
cups, hats, shirts
click here to
support the site