Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 2, 1990 TAG: 9005020148
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
The report, released on the eve of a congressional hearing on a bill to pay benefits to Agent Orange victims, produced no new evidence. Rather, it reviewed existing studies.
Lawmakers pushing the benefits praised the study by the Agent Orange Task Force, seven scientists assembled by the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America and the National Veterans Legal Services Program.
The report said proof exists of a "significant statistical association" between herbicide exposure and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; soft-tissue sarcoma; chloracne and other skin disorders; early liver disease; and porphyria cutanea tarda, a metabolic disorder.
The scientists also said there was enough evidence to give the benefit of the doubt in awarding compensation to veterans who were exposed and suffer from Hodgkin's disease, neurologic and reproductive problems and developmental problems with their offspring.
A Senate bill has been passed and a House bill introduced to provide benefits to veterans who claim their diseases were a result of exposure.
A Veterans Affairs subcommittee was scheduled to hear testimony today on the House bill sponsored by Rep. Lane Evans, D-Ill., a co-chairman of the Vietnam-Era Veterans in Congress.
by CNB