00                CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 25(MLV)                                                               
01 Urging the United States Congress to restore the presumption of a service connection for                                
02 Agent Orange exposure to United States Veterans who served in the waters defined by                                     
03 and in the airspace over the combat zone in Vietnam.                                                                    
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05       WHEREAS, during the Vietnam War, the United States military sprayed over                                        
06 19,000,000 gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides over Vietnam to reduce forest cover                             
07 and crops used by the enemy; those herbicides contained dioxin, which has since been                                    
08 identified as carcinogenic and has been linked with numerous serious and disabling diseases                             
09 affecting thousands of veterans; and                                                                                    
10       WHEREAS the United States Congress passed the Agent Orange Act of 1991 to                                       
11 address the plight of veterans exposed to herbicides while serving in the Republic of Vietnam;                          
12 the Act amended Title 38 of the United States Code presumptively to recognize as service-                               
13 connected certain diseases among military personnel who served in Vietnam between 1962                                  
14 and 1975; that presumption has provided access to appropriate disability compensation and                               
15 medical care for Vietnam veterans diagnosed with illnesses such as Type II diabetes,                                    

01 Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, prostate cancer, Parkinson's disease, multiple                               
02 myeloma, peripheral neuropathy, AL Amyloidosis respiratory cancers, and soft tissue                                     
03 sarcomas, and others yet to be identified; and                                                                          
04       WHEREAS, under a 2001 directive, the United States Department of Veterans                                       
05 Affairs has denied the presumption of a service connection for herbicide-related illnesses to                           
06 Vietnam veterans who cannot furnish written documentation that they had "boots on the                                   
07 ground" in-country, making it virtually impossible for countless United States Navy, Marine,                            
08 and Air Force veterans to pursue their claims for benefits; moreover, personnel who served on                           
09 ships in the "Blue Water Navy" in Vietnamese territorial waters were, in fact, exposed to                               
10 dangerous airborne toxins, which not only drifted offshore but washed into streams and rivers                           
11 draining into the South China Sea; and                                                                                  
12       WHEREAS the United States Navy has been excluded from coverage under the                                        
13 Agent Orange Act of 1991 although Agent Orange has been verified, through various studies                               
14 and reports, to be a wide-spreading chemical that was able to reach Navy ships through the air                          
15 and through waterborne distribution routes; and                                                                         
16       WHEREAS warships positioned off the Vietnamese coast routinely distilled seawater                               
17 to obtain potable water; a 2002 Australian study found that the distillation process, rather than                       
18 removing toxins, in fact concentrated dioxin in water used for drinking, cooking, and                                   
19 washing; the Australian Department of Veterans Affairs conducted that study after it found                              
20 that Vietnam veterans of the Royal Australian Navy had a higher rate of mortality from                                  
21 diseases associated with Agent Orange than did Vietnam veterans of other branches of the                                
22 military; and                                                                                                           
23       WHEREAS the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a                                    
24 higher risk of specific cancers among United States Navy veterans than among veterans of                                
25 other branches of the military; and                                                                                     
26       WHEREAS herbicides containing dioxin did not discriminate between soldiers on the                               
27 ground and sailors on ships offshore; and                                                                               
28       WHEREAS Representative Christopher Gibson and 168 cosponsors, including                                         
29 Representative Don Young, introduced the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2013;                                  
30 and                                                                                                                     
31       WHEREAS more than 30 Veterans' Service Organizations support the Blue Water                                     

01 Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2013; and                                                                                  
02       WHEREAS, by not passing the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2013, a                                     
03 precedent could be set selectively to provide certain groups with injury-related medical care                           
04 while denying that care to other groups, without any financial, scientific, or consistent                               
05 reasoning; and                                                                                                          
06       WHEREAS, when the Agent Orange Act of 1991 passed with no dissenting votes,                                     
07 congressional leaders stressed the importance of responding to the health concerns of Vietnam                           
08 veterans and ending the bitterness and anxiety that had surrounded the issue of herbicide                               
09 exposure; the federal government has also demonstrated its awareness of the hazards of Agent                            
10 Orange exposure through its involvement in the identification, containment, and mitigation of                           
11 dioxin "hot spots" in Vietnam; and                                                                                      
12       WHEREAS the United States Congress should reaffirm the nation's commitment to                                   
13 the well-being of all of its veterans and direct the United States Department of Veterans                               
14 Affairs to administer the Agent Orange Act of 1991 under the presumption that herbicide                                 
15 exposure in the Republic of Vietnam included inland waterways, offshore waters, and                                     
16 airspace, encompassing the entire combat zone;                                                                          
17       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                        
18 Congress to restore the presumption of a service connection for Agent Orange exposure to                                
19 United States Veterans who served in the waters defined by the combat zone and in the                                   
20 airspace over the combat zone.                                                                                        
21       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
22 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
23 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of                                  
24 Representatives; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the                                      
25 Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Bernie                                     
26 Sanders, Chair, U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs; the Honorable Richard Burr,                                 
27 Ranking Member, U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs; the Honorable Eric K.                                       
28 Shinseki, United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and                             
29 the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                             
30 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.