Air Force Reservists "were exposed" to Agent Orange

Agent Orange-Contaminated Planes Could Have Sickened Vets After The War: Federal Report
Huffington Post
Lynne Peeples
Posted: 01/09/2015

Retired Maj. Wes Carter, who served aboard C-123s after Vietnam, has been leading the effort on behalf of this group of post-war veterans for the past few years. He said there were "hugs all around" with the release of the findings on Friday.

"This is a big deal," he said. "This is a giant step closer to justice."

U.S. Air Force Reserve Fairchild C-123K Provider crew members stand in front of their aircraft during opening ceremonies for exercise "Volant Rodeo '79" at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, on June 3, 1979.
(Sgt. Rozalyn Dorsey, USAF) | Sgt. Rozalyn Dorsey, USAF

Lingering amounts of the herbicide Agent Orange aboard repurposed airplanes after the Vietnam War could have sickened military veterans, according to a new federal report.

In findings released Friday, an Institute of Medicine committee "emphatically" refutes a recurrent argument made by the U.S. Air Force and Department of Veteran Affairs that any carcinogenic dioxin or other components of Agent Orange contaminating its fleet of C-123 cargo planes would have been "dried residues" and therefore unlikely to pose any meaningful exposure risks to the 1,500 to 2,100 Air Force Reserve personnel who served aboard the planes between 1972 and 1982.

That contention has been the basis for the VA's denial of benefits to sick veterans, and remains reflected on the agency's website today. But in the new report, the committee states "with confidence" that these dried residues in fact could have posed dangers: the Air Force Reservists "were exposed," write the Institute of Medicine authors.

"That website should be taken down immediately," said Jeanne Stellman, an Agent Orange expert at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, who was not involved in the new report.

"I can't imagine a harder slap in the face to the VA than what this committee delivered," she added.

"This is justice, delayed. The VA Secretary will have to change the policy now. The veterans have won."
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