Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 6, 1 June 1990 — VA to allow benefits for Vietnam service connected non-Hodgkin's lymphoma [ARTICLE]

VA to allow benefits for Vietnam service connected non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Vietnam veterans stricken with a rare form of cancer are entitled to disability payments based on their service in Vietnam. Sam Tiano, director of the Honolulu Veterans Administration regiōnal office said the new ruling was made after VA Secretary Edward J. Derwinski consulted President Bush. The VA will extend as mueh latitude as possible in awarding retroactive benefits to veterans, Derwinski said, and in assisting spouses and children of veterans who died as a result of nonHodgin's lymphoma. Just before Derwinski's announced action, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released studies whieh showed an increased risk of the disease among veterans who had served in Vietnam. The CDC reported that the risk of nonHodgkin's lymphoma is 50 percent greater among Vietnam veterans than among those who served elsewhere. The CED did not point to Agent Orange or to any other factor as a cause of the increased risk to Vietnam vets. (The herbicide Agent Orange was sprayed in Vietnam from 1965 to 1970 to destroy ground cover and enemy crops.) Derwinski said there was enough information for him to decide to give "the benefit of the doubt" to Vietnam veterans and to direct the VA to act on the conclusion there is a basis that non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is service-connected to duty in Vietnam. In May 1989, a federal court ruled that the cause and effect standards of the VA were too strict and

did not comply with the 1984 law governing dioxin and radiation claims. Dioxin is a poison found in Agent Orange. After conducting its own review of over 31 studies the VA announced it will begin to identify and reopen claims filed by veterans who served in Southeast Asia and who elaim their nonHodgkin's lymphoma resulted from exposure to Agent Orange. Veterans do not have to prove actual exposure as long as their service records confirms they served in-country Vietnam. According to recent announcements, the VA offered free physical exams to veterans who believed their health was affected by exposure to Agent Orange. More than 230,000 took the exams. A registry containing their names will be used to make follow-up contact about the new ruling.