![]() The new law codified coverage for veterans who served in the 12 nautical mile territorial sea of the Republic of Vietnam and expanded presumptive benefits to also include veterans who served in the Korean Demilitarized Zone. 299, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019. Wilkie that veterans who served in the ships offshore of Vietnam are entitled to a presumption of service connection for illnesses linked to Agent Orange exposure in disability claims.įive months later, President Donald Trump signed into law H.R. ![]() That changed in January when a federal court ruled in Procopio v. As a result, servicemembers who served in the waters off of Vietnam, often called the “Blue Water Navy,” did not qualify for presumptive coverage, if they developed PD. That meant veterans filing disability claims for PD who were exposed to the chemical did not have to prove an association between their disease and military service.īut, based on a restrictive reading of the law providing benefits for servicemembers exposed to Agent Orange, the VA limited disability compensation to veterans who could demonstrate “boots on the ground” in Vietnam or its inland waterways. The VA recognized PD as a presumptive illness arising from Agent Orange exposure in 2010. Agent Orange-exposed veterans had less facial expression, worse motor symptoms and notably different brain imaging, researchers found, suggesting “the possibility of different pathophysiology of PD in patients exposed to Agent Orange from idiopathic PD.”1 ![]() A study of Korean veterans exposed to the defoliant during the Vietnam War recently found a number of significant differences between Parkinson’s patients with Agent Orange exposure and those without it. More evidence linking the two has emerged since that report. The Institute of Medicine, now the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, determined in its report Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2008 that “suggestive but limited evidence that exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used during the Vietnam War is associated with an increased chance of developing Parkinson’s disease.” WASHINGTON – A recent political development, more than 50 years in the coming, has the potential to significantly change who receives benefits for Parkinson’s disease through the VA.Ībout 2.6 million veterans who served during the Vietnam War were potentially exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 2,4-dechlorophenoxyacetic acid), according to the VA. Blue Water veterans lobby in Washington for VA benefits related to Agent Orange exposure.
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