Good Afternoon,

Chairman Hall, Ranking Member Lamborn and Members of the VA Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs. I appreciate this opportunity to speak on two of my bills pending before the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, H.R. 3795 , “You Were There, You Get Care Act” which would help radiation-exposed and H.R. 6032, which would grant a presumption of service connection for Parkinson’s disease for Vietnam veterans.  I thank you for convening this hearing to examine these long-standing and important issues affecting our veterans.

Depleted uranium is an incredibly effective weapon, but its residue has a half-life of 4 billion years, and evidence indicates that it is a carcinogen. 

I do believe that in the past, many exposures were due to a lack of knowledge of the effect they would have on service members who were exposed, but that is not the case now.  We know that health problems can result from exposure to depleted uranium, and we know that if veterans have been exposed, we have a responsibility to care for them.

My first bill, “You Were There, You Get Care,” would ensure that veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War and subsequent conflicts will be rated “service-connected disabled” for any illnesses currently covered by the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act or RECA,  the program passed by Congress in 1990 (P.L. 101-426) to provide compassionate payments to individuals who contract cancers and other serious diseases as a result of their exposure to radiation from above ground tests of nuclear weapons or from employment in underground uranium mines.)

and other diseases found to result from DU exposure.

If my bill was to be enacted, veterans serving in the 1991 Gulf War or those providing clean-up or servicing of vehicles or equipment that had been in the Persian Gulf would be considered exposed.  If the veteran is ill, this bill would ensure that the illness(es) will be deemed “service-connected” and VA health care and compensation will be provided.

Approximately 20 million gallons of herbicides were used in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to remove unwanted defoliation and vegetation that provided cover for enemy forces during the Vietnam War.  Shortly following their military service in Vietnam, some veterans reported a variety of health problems and concerns due to exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides and pesticides.  My bill, H.R. 6032, would establish a presumption of service-connection for Parkinson’s disease due to exposure to Agent Orange for Vietnam veterans afflicted with this degenerative and incurable condition.

As we all know, the Department of Veterans Affairs has developed a comprehensive program to respond to the Agent Orange-related medical problems and concerns.  There is a lengthy list of diseases that are presumed service-connected under title 38, Section 1116, that currently does not include Parkinson’s,  which is updated as evidence examined by the IOM dictates. 

Recently, the IOM produced a report entitled Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2006 in which it indicated that the evidence is inadequate or insufficient to establish an association between Parkinson’s disease and exposure to herbicides.  Nonetheless, two studies presented to the Committee from Stanford University and the Iowa Agriculture Health Study Update of 2007 seem to indicate that Vietnam veterans are 2.6 times more at risk for contracting Parkinson’s than the general population, and connects Agent Orange to an increase in contracting the disease, respectively.   I believe that there is an association between the degenerative effects of Parkinson’s disease and Agent Orange and I urge the IOM to consider the findings of these studies.

At the very least, as pointed out by Mr. Hall,  I believe we need to examine the disconnect between modern medicine and the current provisions  under Section 1110 which only allow service-connection for chronic conditions that manifest within one-year of service. Modern science clearly establishes that the symptoms of these many degenerative diseases can take decades to onset.  Today, I look forward to further exploring these discrepancies.   I also look forward to exploring the issue of exposures to insecticides, namely Malathion, used by “bug birds” during military spray operations to control mosquitoes and stop casualty rates due to malaria.

Mr. Chairman, both H.R. 3795 and H.R. 6032 make a bold statement--when our men and women volunteer for service, they can count on their government to compensate them and to care for them if their service leads to illness. 

I urge my colleagues to support both H.R. 3795 and H.R. 6032.

Thank You