[CPEO-MEF] Court rules for Agent Orange veterans

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

VA rebuked for balking on Agent Orange care
A court says the agency must provide benefits to Vietnam veterans with a 
type of leukemia.

By Henry Weinstein
Los Angeles Times
July 20, 2007

In a stinging ruling, a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals 
in San Francisco ripped into the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on 
Thursday for its continued resistance to paying benefits to veterans 
suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia because of their exposure to 
Agent Orange.

Thursday's 3-0 decision marked the sixth major ruling against the 
government by the appeals court or a federal trial judge in a case that 
started in 1986. It stemmed from a clash between Vietnam veterans and 
the government over a chemical defoliant used by U.S. armed forces to 
clear dense jungle in Southeast Asia.

"What is difficult for us to comprehend is why the Department of 
Veterans Affairs, having entered into a settlement agreement and agreed 
to a consent order some 16 years ago, continues to resist its 
implementation so vigorously, as well as to resist equally vigorously 
the payment of desperately needed benefits to Vietnam War veterans who 
fought for their country and suffered grievous injury as a result of our 
government's own conduct," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in the opinion.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-orange20jul20,1,3647366.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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