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For Immediate Release
October 21, 2009
Contact: Sally Kohr
(717) 787-4651

Alloway Urges Congress to Restore Agent Orange Service Connection for Vietnam Veterans 

HARRISBURG - Senator Richard Alloway II (R-33) introduced a resolution this week that would urge Congress to restore the service connection for Agent Orange exposure for Vietnam veterans.

From 1991 until 2002, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs granted disability claims for veterans who served during the Vietnam conflict and contracted diseases related to Agent Orange. In 2002, the Department issued a new requirement that veterans must have served on land within the Republic of Vietnam to qualify for the presumption of exposure.

"The new requirement issued in 2002 left out a vast number of veterans who served on the waterways and airspace in and around Vietnam," Alloway said. "I would strongly urge Congress to take action immediately to protect all of the individuals who have been exposed to Agent Orange, not only those who served on Vietnam soil."

Alloway’s resolution, Senate Resolution 205, would urge Congress to pass the Agent Orange Equality Act. This legislation would restore the presumption of a service connection to Agent Orange exposure for all veterans who served on the waterways, territorial waters and airspace of the Republic of Vietnam and in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.