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For Immediate Release
June 2, 2010
Contact: Sally Kohr
(717) 787-4651

Senate Panel Approves Alloway Agent Orange Resolution

HARRISBURG – The Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee unanimously approved a resolution last week that would urge Congress to restore the service connection for Agent Orange exposure for Vietnam veterans.

Senate Resolution 205, sponsored by Senator Richard Alloway II (R-33), 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.

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 requirements issued in 2002 have prevented a number of veterans who served on the waterways and airspace in and around Vietnam from receiving benefits," Alloway said. "We have a responsibility to care for all of the members of the Armed Forces who were exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam conflict."

Senate Resolution 205 will now go to the Senate floor for consideration.