Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2021

From 1961 to 1971, approximately 19,000,000 gallons of 15 different herbicides were sprayed over the southern region of Vietnam.

The herbicides included 13,000,000 gallons of Agent Orange, 4,500,000 gallons of Agent White, 1,000,000 gallons of Agent Blue, 420,000 gallons of Agent Purple, and relatively smaller quantities of the other herbicides. Many of the herbicides, including Agents Orange, Purple, Green, Pink, Dinoxol, and Trinoxol contained the toxic contaminant dioxin (TCDD). Agent Blue contained high levels of arsenic. The aforementioned 15 herbicides, including the contaminant dioxin, are usually collectively referred to as Agent Orange.

Between 1968 and 1971, a total of 6,500 spraying missions were carried out in an area of about 1,500,000 hectares, which represented about 12 percent of South Vietnam and portions of Laos and Cambodia.

Studies show that between 2,100,000 and 4,800,000 Vietnamese and tens of thousands of Americans were exposed to Agent Orange during the spraying. Many other Vietnamese were or continue to be exposed to Agent Orange through contact with the environment and food that was contaminated. Many offspring of those who were exposed have birth defects, developmental disabilities, and other diseases.

Today, there are still dozens of environmental hot spots that continue to contaminate the food, soil, sediment, livestock, and wildlife with Agent Orange. Concentrations of TCDD as high as 1,000 mg/kg have been found in soil and sediment samples more than 50 years after Agent Orange was sprayed in Vietnam.

The United States has provided some assistance to Vietnam in remediating Agent Orange contamination at the largest of these hotspots, which are the airbases that handled the spray missions. The Da Nang Airport has been fully cleaned up, and the United States has committed funds to contribute to cleaning up the Bien Hoa Airbase, which is the most contaminated site in Vietnam. There are at least two dozen other smaller hotspots scattered throughout southern and central Vietnam that also must be remediated, since they continue to expose local populations to dioxin and arsenic.

Agent Orange exposure continues to negatively affect the lives of veterans of the United States Armed Forces, Vietnamese people, Vietnamese Americans, and their children. The lives of many victims are cut short and others live with disease, disabilities, and pain, often untreated or unrecognized.

The Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes 15 illnesses and diseases, including AL amyloidosis, chronic B-cell leukemia, chloracne, diabetes mellitus type 2, Hodgkin’s disease, ischemic heart disease, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Parkinson’s disease, acute and sub-acute peripheral neuropathy, porphyria cutanea tarda, prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, and soft-tissue sarcomas as associated with the spraying and use of Agent Orange by the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam era.

No similar consideration has been given to affected Vietnamese or Vietnamese Americans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs provides compensation for many severe birth defects among the children of American women veterans who served in Vietnam. The list of birth defects covered includes but is not limited to: Achondroplasia, cleft lip, cleft palate, congenital heart disease, congenital talipes equinovarus (clubfoot), esophageal and intestinal atresia, Hallerman-Streiff syndrome, hip dysplasia, Hirschsprung's disease (congenital megacolon), hydrocephalus due to aqueductal stenosis, hypospadias, imperforate anus, neural tube defects, Poland syndrome, pyloric stenosis, syndactyly (fused digits), tracheoesophageal fistula, undescended testes, and Williams syndrome. Affected children of these women veterans receive medical care and other benefits. However, the care and compensation provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs to the covered children of United States veterans is insufficient to meet their needs.

The only birth defect recognized for the children of male American veterans is spina bifida (but not occulta). However, many children of male Vietnam War veterans have the same range of birth defects and diseases, resulting in most affected children of United States veterans receiving no care or benefits.

No assistance has been given to the children of male or female Vietnamese or Vietnamese Americans connected with their exposure, or their parents’ or grandparents’ exposure.

The Institute of Medicine for the past several years has noted that “it is considerably more plausible than previously believed that exposure to the herbicides sprayed in Vietnam might have caused paternally mediated transgenerational effects … attributable to the TCCD contaminant in Agent Orange.”. In recent years, scientific studies have identified likely epigenetic links between exposure to toxins and birth defects and developmental disorders in subsequent generations. Some of the children and grandchildren of exposed persons (Americans, Vietnamese, and Vietnamese Americans) who were in southern Vietnam during the Vietnam era likely suffer from disorders, birth defects, and illnesses related to Agent Orange.

Since 2007, the United States has engaged in environmental remediation of contamination at the Da Nang airport, and more recently the Bien Hoa airport, and has provided funds for public health and disabilities activities for individuals residing in some affected areas.

Laos and Cambodia were also sprayed with Agent Orange during the Vietnam era. At least 527,000 gallons of Agent Orange were sprayed in Laos and significant amounts were sprayed in Cambodia. Affected Lao and Cambodian people over several generations suffer from medical conditions, birth defects and disabilities similar to those seen in Vietnam and in the United States. The United States has the responsibility to take action to mitigate and provide compensations for those effects. Further action will be needed to ascertain and effectively address this legacy of the Vietnam War.

medicines and medical equipment;

custodial care, home care, respite care, and daycare programs;

training programs for caregivers;

medical, physical rehabilitation, and counseling services and equipment for illnesses and deformities associated with exposure to Agent Orange; and

reconstructive surgical programs.

provide assistance under this section (other than assistance under subsection (d)) through appropriate Vietnamese community and nongovernmental organizations and, where necessary, public agencies;

provide assistance under this section to affected persons in all areas of Vietnam, including rural, mountainous, and urban areas;

encourage strategic alliances between private and public sector partners as a business model for achieving the goals of this section; and

seek out and actively encourage other bilateral donors as well as United States and foreign business enterprises in Vietnam to support the goals of this section through development assistance and corporate philanthropy programs.

is a resident of Vietnam; and

by striking “woman Vietnam veteran” each place it appears and inserting “Vietnam veteran”;

by striking “women Vietnam veterans” each place it appears and inserting “Vietnam veterans”; and

in the heading of such subchapter, by striking “Women”.

by striking “The Secretary” and inserting “(1) The Secretary”; and

by adding at the end the following new paragraph: