[CPEO-MEF] Sick Agent Orange vets owed benefits

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Sick Agent Orange vets owed benefits, rules U.S. court 

Tuesday, April 02, 2002
By Reuters


SAN FRANCISCO ? A U.S. appeals court ruled Monday that Vietnam veterans 
who contracted prostate cancer and diabetes after exposure to Agent 
Orange should get retroactive disability payments, setting legal 
precedent that could cover a wide range of illnesses associated with the 
toxic defoliant. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court 
ruling that held the Veterans Administration incorrectly interpreted 
rules to deny retroactive payments to veterans who filed claims after 
early 1994. 

The court's three-judge panel held that the VA was bound under the terms 
of a 1991 consent decree to pay the benefits, in many cases back to the 
date the veteran first claimed them. The ruling marked a victory for 
activists who have been seeking compensation and care for tens of 
thousands of Vietnam veterans who have fallen sick after battlefield 
exposure to Agent Orange, an herbicide that contains the known 
carcinogen dioxin. 

The National Veterans Legal Services Program, which filed the initial 
Agent Orange suit in 1986, said the court's decision would guarantee 
payments to an estimated 1,200 veterans with Agent Orange?related 
prostate cancer as well as thousands more who suffer from adult-onset 
diabetes

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/04/04022002/reu_46825.asp