CT SJ00018

The Connecticut General Assembly calls upon Congress to enact the Agent Orange Exposure Fairness Act of 2019 to protect Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange and other herbicides.

The proposed federal act would remove the one-year time requirement for veterans with chloracne, other acneform disease, or Porphyria to claim compensation, allowing claims regardless of when conditions manifest.

The act would add acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy to the list of Agent Orange-related conditions eligible for presumption of service connection.

Veterans claiming any approved Agent Orange condition would need to demonstrate at least 10 percent disability to qualify for benefits.

The Department of Veterans Affairs currently recognizes eight Agent Orange-related conditions: Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, soft-tissue sarcoma, respiratory cancers, Diabetes Mellitus type 2, multiple myeloma, chloracne or acneform disease, and Porphyria.