Air Force Report - A Glimmer of Hope?

Sometimes, writers say what must be said in oblique phrases when more direct wording cannot be used. Reading carefully, perhaps we can find a glimmer of hopeful news in the USAFSAM April 27, 2012 report, which was briefed to Senator Burr's staff and C-123 veterans on Wednesday, 11 July.

The Air Force said in the Executive Summary that USAFSAM was unable to make accurate quantitative estimates of individual exposures. They also concluded the two groups dealt with (occupational and general population) were "unlikely to have exceeded acceptable regulatory standards for dioxin exposure."

We can work with this. Very importantly, both the report and the briefers from the AF Surgeon's office stress that USAFSAM was unable to quantify individual exposure...but they allow us hope from two perspectives:

• individuals can actually use elements of this report to establish one's probable individual dioxin exposure
• individuals can further use the report to stablish both cumulative and simultaneous exposure to dioxin by all three routes (ingestion, inhalation and dermal), and then reference several supporting reports (Weisman/Porter, Conway, ATSDR) to establish contamination, then reference ATSDR, Stellman, Berman, and Dr. John Doull. Doull's "Acceptable Levels of Dioxin Contamination in an Office Building Following a Transformer Fire, Doull makes the point that exposures can be cumulative, and can be simultaneous (dermal at the same time as inhalation and ingestion). If exposures are simultaneous such as while aboard the C-123, Doull states "the associated risks will increase by a factor of 2 with the assumption of a linear dose-response relation at low doses." This means the Air Force report and its opinion that crews "were unlikely to have exceeded acceptable regulatory standards for dioxin exposure" can be argued with the fact that we've actually had TWICE the dosage the AF estimates.

As this writer sees it, we presently cannot seek presumptive connection as a group of aircrew, maintenance or aerial port veterans. But...we can and should proceed with individual claims for Agent Orange benefits. The important thing is to reach the threshold of "as likely to as not", and to stress that the benefit of the doubt is supposed to rest in the veteran's favor.

This might be the formula by which we can proceed with our claims. And remember, you will do much better if represented by one of the dedicated professionals from the American Legion, VFW, Vietnam Veterans of America, etc. Veterans need not be members of any group - these service organizations represent any and all veterans who approach them for assistance and do so expertly, without charge!

• establish proof of diagnosis for a typical Agent Orange illness(s)
• establish the contamination of the aircraft (Weisman/Porter, Porter, etc all do that)
• provide nexus letters from your physician stating the illness is "as likely to as not" to be associated with your dioxin exposure(s)
• provide numerous scientific and medical opinions as to the likelihood of your individual exposure to the dioxin-contaminated C-123 (remember: both contamination and exposure must be proved to at least a 50% possibility)
• try to obtain expert Independent Scientific Opinions from toxicologists or epidemiologists in your own state; approach medical schools and universities in your area
• try to obtain support from state-level professional societies, such as the Society of Toxicologists, state medical board, etc.
• And Most Importantly - get a claim in as soon as possible! Any benefits will likely date from the date your application is received by the VA. 

Have faith. We have friends working on our behalf!

More Support for C-123 Veterans' Agent Orange Claims

We learned this week that another major university (not to be specified but it sits along the Charles River in Boston) has brought its expertise to bear on our claims for Agent Orange exposure. Experts from that university in Boston fully endorsed Dr. Jeannie Stellman's perspective - C-123 veterans WERE exposed to deadly TCDD (the toxic element of Agent Orange) in the years 1972-1982. Further, their professional opinion is that our veterans were exposed at a greater rate than ground troops of the Vietnam War.

And they have a great faculty club!

Like Dr. Stellman, this university's experts have previously been acknowledged by the National Academy of Sciences as the go-to source for Agent Orange research.

We still hope for a peer-reviewed article addressing the inadequacies of the VA and AF reports about the C-123, likely focusing on the unscientific assumptions made, the obvious predetermined conclusion, and the fact...the fact...that aircrews and maintenance personnel assigned to this aircraft are due fair consideration by the VA for our Agent Orange exposure claims. Several researchers have utilized our blog's extensive data collection, but we need to get more of the materials gathered by the Air Force during their investigation of the C-123 contamination. Personally, I'd like to know who exactly wrote the report because it was signed by Colonel Benjamin, commander of the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, and I can't see that a physician or major unit commander did this work himself. Typically, such reports are released oner the signatures of the researchers involved. And typically, Air Force reports such as this can be relied upon but in this case it has failed the sniff test.

Jeanne Mager Stellman  Professor and Director of Environmental Health Sciences, SUNY-Downstate "Agent Orange was an important tool that could be used to save the lives of thousands of soldiers who could fight in the jungle more clearly. But at the same time it introduced serious toxic chemicals into the environment and one could also say caused huge ecological disaster by this massive deforestation of a jungle area.

So, fellow veterans, keep calm and await developments. We expect the Air Force to brief Senator Burr on July 11, and our Association's leadership has been invited to attend or participate via teleconference.

Make sure your own VA claims for Agent Orange-type illness are submitted, and thus far the best advice from the American Legion's National Service Officers is to address individual medical issues with specific, expert medical opinions that the issue is "as likely to as not" have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange while an aircrew member (or maintainer, or aerial port) of the C-123.