Free Republic

There’s no deadline to apply for PACT Act benefits. But if you file your PACT Act claim—or quickly submit your intent to file—by August 9, 2023, you may receive benefits backdated to August 10, 2022. So don’t wait, apply today. The PACT Act and your VA benefits The PACT Act is a new law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. The PACT Act adds to the list of health conditions that we assume (or “presume”) are caused by exposure to these substances. This law helps us provide...

— Increased risk described as "modest," and no association seen with aggressiveness of cancer i> Exposure to Agent Orange was associated with a modestly increased risk of bladder cancer among Vietnam War veterans, according to a retrospective cohort study. Among over 2.5 million male veterans, exposure to Agent Orange was associated with a relative 4% higher risk of bladder cancer (HR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02-1.06, P<0.001), reported Stephen Williams, MD, MBA, of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and colleagues. "These results support prior investigations and further support bladder cancer to be designated as an Agent Orange-associated disease,"...

The situation in East Palestine, Ohio, is much worse than the media is letting on, particularly as it pertains to the widespread release of chemical dioxins. The 14 some-odd tanker cars carrying vinyl chloride that were intentionally blown up released a massive plume of these deadly chemicals, which were spread far and wide, including up the eastern seaboard through Pennsylvania, New York and beyond.Tens of millions of people stand to be affected by this dioxin release, which by and large appears to be the most disastrous dioxin incident to have ever occurred in world history. Water supplies, food crops, city...

The first question is, what was causing the pressure to build? Physically, there is no difference between a tank sitting on its wheels on a track and a tank lying on its side on the ground. There is nothing about a tank lying on the ground that would cause pressure to build. Was there a fire around the rail cars? I've seen nothing indicating that this was the case, nor is it likely there was a wild land fire in the middle of winter in Ohio. How did they know pressure was building? Were they monitoring a pressure gauge on...

President Biden’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is gearing up to spend millions of taxpayer dollars fighting the “serious public health threat” posed by gun violence. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky referenced gun crime in various cities and said, “Something has to be done about this. Now is the time — it’s pedal to the metal time,” CNN reported. “The scope of the problem is just bigger than we’re even hearing about, and when your heart wrenches every day you turn on the news, you’re only hearing the tip of the iceberg. We haven’t spent the time, energy...

Reminder all Vietnam vets! The Veterans Administration has a list of illnesses that they presume were caused by Agent Orange exposure. If you have Type II Diabetes, Parkinson's or any of the other ailments listed you do not have to prove anything. You just need to show you served in Vietnam. This includes many vets who served in the Navy in waters off of Vietnam. You may be eligible for $$ disability payments and medical care if you want it.

Bill Nutter was very sick. Not only had he just lost his second leg to diabetes, but he also suffered from a condition that could cause his heart to stop beating without warning.... At first, Waible insisted she had made the required checks on Nutter, even initialing paperwork that purported to document her visits. But she eventually confessed when an OIG investigator told her the hospital’s cameras showed she never left her computer for her entire shift, according to someone with direct knowledge. None of these facts were shared with the Nutters, family members said.

House Speaker John Boehner said today that he found it painful to be described as "spineless or a squish," but said the worst comments about him was that he was "the establishment." Boehner's comments came during a news conference where he was touting his conservative credentials and rebutting criticism from the right that he has become too willing to work with President Obama.

It appears that very few members of the military-veteran community or the general public are aware of problems still faced by veterans of the Vietnam War. Nearly half the surviving 100,000 members of the U.S. Navy and Fleet Marines who fought in Vietnam between 1962 and 1975 may be suffering disabilities from the effects of Agent Orange/dioxin. Yet, these veterans are being denied all service-connected health care and disability compensation for these diseases.

GM Debate Not Settled, Say European Scientists Controversy erupts after World Food Prize awarded to Monsanto By Justina Reichel, Epoch Times | October 24, 2013 In the wake of biotech giants Monsanto and Syngenta being awarded the World Food Prize, a European coalition of scientists is challenging claims that the debate around genetically modified foods is settled and that GM foods are safe. The European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility, which consists of more than 90 scientists, academics, and physicians, released a statement Monday in response to “sweeping claims” that GM products are safe. “We strongly reject...

WASHINGTON, DC - President Barack Obama signed a spending bill, HR 933, into law, the "Monsanto Protection Act," that strips federal courts of the authority to immediately halt the planting and sale of genetically modified (GMO) seed crop regardless of any consumer health concerns. "The provision would strip federal courts of the authority to halt the sale and planting of an illegal, potentially hazardous GE crop while the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) assesses those potential hazards," explains a letter to the House that has been signed by dozens of food businesses and retailers, as well as interest groups and...

Just announced on Jacksonville, Fl local news Christ tittered he has joined the Dem Party! Shocked! I tell you I am shocked....yeah.

Rick is an old friend who was there for me when my husband died. He even installed some garage shelving for me when I moved into my condo. Last week, the pneumonia and bronchitis got him and he was admitted to the hospital. Hospice stepped into the picture and took all the meds away because they thought he was going to die. They don't know Rick, or should I say they don't know the determination of a Navy Seal that served in Vietnam. He is so determined to live. But I have a request for prayer for him since he...

The proposed Da Nang Airport clean-up project today took another step toward commencing, as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) alerted potential contractors to a planned “site visit and pre-proposal conference” that the agency will hold May 25 in Vietnam.

Retired Master Sergeant LeRoy Foster is haunted by the job that launched his 20-year career in the US Air Force—spraying herbicides along perimeter fences and fuel pipelines at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. This duty seemed inconsequential, field maintenance work done amid B-52 bombers thundering in and out to refuel for bombing raids over Vietnam and a beehive of other military operations buzzing at Navy bases on the small island in the mid-Pacific Ocean. Despite nasty outbreaks of acne that a military doctor recorded in a 1968 medical report, he couldn’t imagine that the government-issued weed-killers might be planting...

The cost of war — on veterans’ health and taxpayer wallets — will loom a little larger in the new year. The Department of Veterans Affairs will issue a final rule to claim adjudicators to presume three more diseases of Vietnam veterans, including heart disease, were caused by exposure to Agent Orange. The rule, expected to be published soon, will make almost any veteran who set foot in Vietnam, and is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, B cell leukemia or ischemic heart disease (known also as coronary artery disease) eligible for disability compensation and VA medical care. The exception would be...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2009 – A new Department of Veterans Affairs ruling will soon relieve Vietnam veterans suffering from three specific illnesses from the burden of proving their ailments are linked to Agent Orange exposure to receive VA health care and disability payments. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki's decision, announced today, establishes a service connection for Vietnam vets stricken with hairy-cell leukemia and other B-cell leukemias, Parkinson's disease and ischemic heart disease, VA chief of staff John Gingrich told American Forces Press Service. Shinseki made the decision based on a recent report by the National Academy of Science's Institute...

HANOI (AFP) — US wartime use of the defoliant Agent Orange in Vietnam remains an issue between the two countries despite remarkable progress in relations, Senator John McCain said Tuesday. "I think it remains an issue both in Vietnam and the United States," McCain told reporters. . . . . . McCain said the United States has spent about 46 million dollars in Vietnam compensating victims and attempting to find areas that are contaminated by dioxin. "But I believe that it remains an irritant, and perhaps more than that, for some of the people of Vietnam. But I think we...

Environmental groups are blasting a U.S. Border Patrol project to kill invasive plant life along the Mexican border with what herbicide activists are calling the next Agent Orange — the Vietnam War-era deforesting chemical later found to cause cancer. But scientists say the chemical, a relatively common herbicide named Imazapyr, poses little threat to humans or native wildlife. The Border Patrol plans to spray the herbicide to kill Carrizo cane, which grows in dense thickets along vast stretches of the Rio Grande, which separates the United States and Mexico. Border Patrol supervisor Roque Sarinana calls the plant "a safety hazard...

The Supreme Court has turned down American and Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange who wanted to pursue lawsuits against companies that made the toxic chemical defoliant used in the Vietnam War. The justices offer no comment on their action Monday, rejecting appeals in three separate cases, in favor of Dow Chemical, Monsanto and other companies that made Agent Orange and other herbicides used by the military in Vietnam. Agent Orange has been linked to cancer, diabetes and birth defects among Vietnamese soldiers and civilians and American veterans. The American plaintiffs blame their cancer on exposure to Agent Orange during the...