General Assembly House Joint Resolution No. 25
February Session, 2016 LCO No. 1472
*01472_______VA_*
Referred to Committee on VETERANS' AFFAIRS
Introduced by:
(VA)
General Assembly
House Joint
Resolution No. 25
February Session, 2016
LCO No. 1472
*01472_______VA_*
Referred to Committee on VETERANS' AFFAIRS
Introduced by:
(VA)
RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING BLUE WATER NAVY VETERANS.
Resolved by this Assembly:
WHEREAS, during the Vietnam War, the United States military sprayed approximately twenty-two million gallons of agent orange and other herbicides over Vietnam to reduce forest cover and crops used by the enemy; and
WHEREAS, these herbicides contained dioxin, which has since been identified as carcinogenic and has been linked to 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 Vietnam by amending Title 38 of the United States Code to presumptively recognize as service connected certain diseases among military personnel who so served between 1962 and 1975; and
WHEREAS, presumptive status provides expedited claims processing for 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, soft tissue carcinomas and other diseases yet to be identified; and
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Claims Adjudication Manual, more commonly known as the M21-1 Manual, originally allowed the presumption to be extended to all veterans who received the Vietnam Service Medal; and
WHEREAS, in a February 2002 revision to the M21-1 Manual, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs added a requirement that a veteran prove that he or she had set foot on land or entered an internal river or stream in Vietnam during the war in order to receive presumptive status; and
WHEREAS, since February 2002, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs has accordingly denied the presumption of a service connection for herbicide-related illnesses to Vietnam veterans who served in the waters off the Vietnamese coast or in bays and harbors and who cannot furnish documentation that they had "boots on the ground" in-country, making it virtually impossible for countless United States Navy and Marine veterans to acquire federal veterans' benefits; and
WHEREAS, personnel who served on ships in the "Blue Water Navy" in Vietnamese territorial waters were exposed to dangerous airborne and waterborne toxins that did not merely drift offshore in the air but also washed into streams and rivers draining into the South China Sea; and
WHEREAS, ships positioned off the Vietnamese coast routinely distilled sea water to obtain potable water, and a 2002 Australian study found that such distillation process, rather than removing toxins, concentrated and enhanced the dioxin in water used for drinking, cooking and washing; and
WHEREAS, such study was conducted by the Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs after it found 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; and
WHEREAS, when the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted its own study of specific cancers among Vietnam veterans, it also found a higher incidence of certain cancers among United States Navy veterans; and
WHEREAS, additional studies, including those conducted by the Institute of Medicine, show plausible pathways for agent orange to have entered the South China Sea through contaminated dirt and debris from rivers and streams; and
WHEREAS, the 2009 study by the Institute of Medicine Committee, "Review of the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides (Seventh Biennial Update)", recommended that veterans who served on ships off the coast of Vietnam during the war not be excluded from the presumption of exposure; and
WHEREAS, herbicides containing dioxin did not discriminate between soldiers on the ground and sailors on ships offshore; and
WHEREAS, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2015 was introduced through identical companion legislation in the United States House of Representatives, by Representative Christopher Gibson on March 6, 2015, as House Resolution 969, and the United States Senate, by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on March 19, 2015, as Senate Bill 681; and
WHEREAS, more than thirty national veterans service organizations support the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2015; and
WHEREAS, various agencies of the federal government have recently demonstrated awareness of the hazards of agent orange exposure through participation and funding of 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 its veterans by directing the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to properly administer the Agent Orange Act of 1991 by passing House Resolution 969 and Senate Bill 681, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2015, and thereby reallow the presumption that herbicide exposure in Vietnam during the war includes service in the coastal waters.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Connecticut General Assembly hereby respectfully encourages the United States Congress to restore the presumption of service connection for agent orange exposure to United States veterans who served in the coastal waters of Vietnam during the war; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the clerks of the House of Representatives and the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States; the Vice President of the United States in his capacity as presiding officer of the United States Senate; the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs; the Chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Veterans Affairs; the Chairperson of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs; and each Senator and Representative from Connecticut in the Congress of the United States.