Many Vietnam Veterans were exposed to a deadly nerve agent called "Agent Orange," an herbicide used to clear foliage1.

Studies have shown the severe and deadly effects to babies born after military personnel were exposed to the deadly nerve agent2.

For decades the U.S. Government refused to take responsibility for the health issues these veterans suffer with3. Now their children are sick and dying as adults4.

An investigation by ProPublica and The Virginian-Pilot found that the Department of Veterans Affairs spent decades collecting — and ignoring — information that could have helped the children of service members exposed to Agent Orange5.

The VA medical staff has physically examined more than 668,000 Vietnam veterans possibly exposed to Agent Orange, documenting health conditions and noting when and where they served6.

For at least 34 years, the agency recorded information about children's birth defects, before and after the war. This data had not been given any importance until the investigation revealed the odds of having a child born with birth defects during or after the war were more than a third higher for veterans who say they handled, sprayed or were directly sprayed with Agent Orange than for veterans who say they weren't exposed or weren't sure7.

Until the 1990s, the government recognized only one ailment — a skin condition called chloracne — as being linked to Agent Orange8. For the children of the men who served in Vietnam, only Spina Bifida is recognized as being directly connected to Agent Orange exposure9. Spina bifida is a "birth defect" that occurs when the spine and the spinal cord do not form properly.

The Health and Medicine Division (HMD) of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded in its report, Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 11 (2018), that there is no evidence of birth defects in the descendants of Vietnam Veterans resulting from Agent Orange exposure10.

The serious health issues facing the children and grandchildren of our veterans prove otherwise.

No military veteran enlisted their services to leave their families a legacy of poison and suffering, let alone health issues that would be ignored by the very government that caused them.

The children of Agent Orange veterans must not be ignored any longer. Sign the petition and ask the VA to formally recognize Agent Orange's insidious effect on the descendants of Vietnam service members..

More on this issue:

1. The Rep for Vets (2020), "Agent Orange Exposure: A Must Read for Every Vietnam-Era Veteran."
2. Haley Foster, Valley News Live (19 March 2015), "Agent Orange: It's Affecting Veterans and Their Kids."
3. Peter Sills, Vanderbilt University Press (2014),"Toxic War: The Story of Agent Orange."
4. Stephanie Scurlock, WREG (1 May 2015), "Agent Orange affecting children and grandchildren of Vietnam Vets."
5. Charles Ornstein and Hannah Fresques, ProPublica, and Mike Hixenbaugh for The Virginian-Pilot, (16 December 2016), "The Children of Agent Orange."
6. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (28 May 2021), "Agent Orange Registry Health Exam for Veterans."
7. Veterans Administration, "Veterans Administration Agent Orange Registry - An Overview."
8. David Frank, AARP, (2 November 2018), "Many Vietnam Vets Don't Know They Now Qualify for Agent Orange Benefits."
9. Cecilia Chou, The Embryo Project Encyclopedia (9 March 2017), "Agent Orange as a Cause of Spina Bifida."
10. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice; Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides (Eleventh Biennial Update), (2018), "Veterans and Agent Orange."