More former military personnel may be entitled to benefits after the list of medical conditions related to exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam was expanded.

Sam Jarvis, director of the VA Regional Office, said the Department of Veterans Affairs will have people at a meeting here Wednesday to answer questions about Agent Orange benefits for those who served in Vietnam.

Their widows may also be entitled to some benefits for some conditions, Jarvis said.

Anyone needing claims information or to file a claim may be helped in individual sessions after the group meeting, Jarvis said.

The meeting is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, who plans to hold similar sessions throughout the Second District, said Phil Driskill, chairman of Boren’s Veterans Affairs Committee.

American Legion Post 15 is also is a sponsor of the meeting in Muskogee.

Used in Vietnam to defoliate trees and remove concealment for the enemy, Agent Orange left a legacy of suffering and disability that continues to the present, a news release from the Department of Veterans Affairs states. Between January 1965 and April 1970, an estimated 2.6 million military personnel who served in Vietnam were potentially exposed to sprayed Agent Orange.

The government recently added three more conditions: B cell leukemia, ischemic heart disease and Parkinson’s disease to its list of conditions recognized as being related to Agent Orange, Driskill said.



If you go

WHO: All veterans who had service-connected exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides. Widows may also be eligible for benefits.

WHAT: Information on disability benefits associated with Agent Orange.

WHEN: 10 a.m. Wednesday.

WHERE: American Legion Post 15, 44th and West Broadway.

ETC.: Department of Veterans Affairs representatives will be available to talk with individuals after a group meeting.



Diseases associated with Agent Orange



Veterans may be eligible for disability compensation and health care benefits for several conditions now associated with exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides. The list of conditions recently has been expanded to include:

• B cell leukemia.

• Ischemic heart disease.

• Parkinson’s disease.

• Chloracne.

• Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

• Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2).

• Hodgkin’s disease.

• Multiple Myeloma.

• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

• Porphyria Cutanea Tarda.

• Prostate cancer.

• Respiratory cancers.

• Acute and Subacute Transient Peripheral Neuropathy

• AL Amyloidosis

• Soft Tissue Sarcoma (other than Osteosarcoma, Chondrosarcoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, or Mesothelioma).



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