00                   HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 8                                                                    
01 Honoring United States military veterans exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam                                     
02 War; and expressing gratitude for the courageous service of those veterans to the United                                
03 States.                                                                                                                 
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05       WHEREAS the United States was conceived by individuals who were willing to                                      
06 sacrifice personal safety and concerns to ensure individual and collective freedom; and                                 
07       WHEREAS the state is home to many veterans who have performed above and                                         
08 beyond the call of duty; and                                                                                            
09       WHEREAS, throughout history, citizens of the United States have been called on to                               
10 take up arms against enemies of the nation, to risk their lives and leave loved ones behind to                          
11 safeguard the freedoms and liberties guaranteed to all citizens, and to vanquish enemies who                            
12 threatened the nation's way of life; and                                                                                
13       WHEREAS more than 2,700,000 United States citizens served honorably in Vietnam                                  
14 during the Vietnam War; and                                                                                             
15       WHEREAS, from 1961 until 1971, the United States armed forces widely used Agent                                 

01 Orange in Vietnam as part of the herbicidal warfare program known as Operation Ranch                                    
02 Hand; and                                                                                                               
03 WHEREAS over 11,000,000 gallons of Agent Orange powder were sprayed over land                                         
04 from helicopters or low-flying aircraft, destroying vegetation and crops to deprive enemy                               
05 guerrillas of food and cover, which exposed American service members to the herbicide and                               
06 defoliant chemical; and                                                                                               
07 WHEREAS Agent Orange is a dioxide and cancer-causing chemical that enters the                                         
08 body through physical contact or ingestion and moves into the human cell nucleus, where it                              
09 attacks the genes and may cause a number of serious illnesses, including leukemia,                                      
10 lymphoma, myeloma, ischemic heart disease, soft tissue sarcoma, amyloidosis, and diabetes,                              
11 as well as cancers of the throat, prostate, lung, and colon; and                                                        
12 WHEREAS Agent Orange may cause genetic damage, and in some cases, the                                                 
13 children and grandchildren of veterans exposed to Agent Orange have been born with spina                                
14 bifida and other abnormalities; and                                                                                     
15 WHEREAS over 300,000 Vietnam War veterans have died as a result of being                                              
16 exposed to Agent Orange; and                                                                                            
17 WHEREAS, while fallen comrades are memorialized on the wall at the Vietnam                                          
18 Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange during                                 
19 the Vietnam War are not recognized as fatalities of the Vietnam War;                                                    
20 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature honors the Vietnam War                                               
21 veterans exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War for making untold and numerous                                  
22 sacrifices to preserve the liberties United States citizens enjoy today and for future                                  
23 generations to come; and be it                                                                                          
24 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature recognizes and expresses                                           
25 its gratitude for the courageous service, heroism, and sacrifice of those veterans to the United                        
26 States for the cause of liberty.