Veterans... Does the Federal Government Really Care About You?

Those who served have a list of particular concerns, from Agent Orange to Depleted Uranium and beyond....

President Roosevelt decided against using Agent Orange on the homeland of Japan during World War II to deprive the people of food. Credits: www.nypost.com

(WASHINGTON DC) - My last four articles (Veterans Today) focused in on setting the stage to constructively help Veterans exposed to various toxins while serving our country and announce the posting of my new Internet website to assist Veterans facing healthcare issues from Agent Orange and Depleted Uranium (www.docmattson.com). Obviously, like all of us who live in this country, we are exposed to environmental pollutants, household chemicals, and workplace hazards, but what most of us would never imagine is that our employer would, without our knowledge, deliberately expose us to life threatening toxins.

I wrote a series of articles in 2011 on the fact that our government was well aware of Agent Orange and the potential ill-effects of using it. My research took me back to World War II when the United States Army completed defoliant research at Fort Detrick, Maryland. The research was funded in part by a grant provided by the National Research Council to develop a chemical to destroy rice crops in Japan (the major food source of the Japanese). 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T (Agent Orange) was the result. A discussion between President Roosevelt and White House Chief of Staff, Admiral William D. Leahy determined that this heinous chemical should not be used. Agent Orange was not used during WWII.

NOTE: In 1984 Vietnam Veterans and their families filed a class action suit against seven chemical companies (Dow Chemical, Monsanto, Uniroyal, Hercules, Diamond Shamrock, Thompson Chemical, and T.H. Agriculture). It was settled out of court in May 1984 for victims and families of those exposed to herbicides for $180,000,000 (the lawyers got a staggering 100 million dollars). The amount given to qualifying families was a sham. Example: A woman whose husband suffered, and eventually died... leaving her alone with three children was given just over $3,000.00. Another Vietnam Vet suffered with a brain tumor along with other herbicide related diseases for over three years. He was awarded $1,860.00... pathetic isn't it?

My recent articles on the use of Depleted Uranium (DU) in munitions in the Gulf Wars, shows we are looking at a similar history for the troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. DU is used in a variety of weapons, but the concern isn't so much on the potential for exposure to radiation that’s my concern, it is the "cook-off" of the DU after an explosion. The cook-off creates airborne byproducts of uranium and other heavy metals. The byproducts are spread over the battle area by the wind current and end up in the sand, on clothing, in the water supply, and eventually in the food supply.

The problem the government has this time around is deniability. With today's modern testing procedures (Spectral Karyotyping), the Internet, easy access to test results, freedom of information act (FIA), and the sheer number of health related claims about diseases of unexplainable origin with the homecoming troops, hopefully the problem with DU will not be swept under the carpet this time around. Early evidence is in that with all the ways we now have about "getting the word out" that wasn't available to the Vietnam era Veteran, there is no guarantee that the government won't try to fall back on their time proven methods of deniability, with stall tactics, fudged reports from a handful of so-called "experts", stone walling, and refusal to answer questioning as has been exhibited in the Benghazi Affair, the IRS, and the "Fast and Furious" debacle.

Dr. Asaf Durakovic, physician and expert in nuclear medicine, a former U.S. Army Colonel, and Chief of the Nuclear Sciences Division of the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute at the VA, was onto showing a direct correlation between the cook-off of DU and what has become know as "Gulf War Syndrome (or Disease)", using Spectral Karyotyping. The VA told him to stand down and eventually terminated his employment. He has since taken up collaborative research with McGill University in Canada, and Wayne State University in Michigan as Medical Research Director of the Toronto-based Uranium Medical Centre.

Medical help is available to Veterans through the VA, which has access to the clinical trials listed in the NIH registry. ClinicalTrials.gov currently lists 146,692 studies with locations in all 50 states and in 184 countries. The benefits of participating in a clinical trial include the following:

• Trial participants have access to promising new interventions that are generally not available outside of a clinical trial.
• The intervention being studied may be more effective than standard therapy. If it is more effective, trial participants may be the first to benefit from it.
• Trial participants receive regular and careful medical attention from a research team that includes doctors, nurses, and other health professionals.
• The results of the trial may help other people who need cancer treatment in the future.
• Trial participants are helping scientists learn more about cancer (e.g., how it grows, how it acts, and what influences its growth and spread).

Unfortunately, not enough patients participate in clinical trials. The lack of participants is one reason the progress with cancer often has been slow, especially for a rare cancer like mesothelioma. According to The National Cancer Institute, less than 5 percent of all cancer patients in the United States are part of a clinical trial. And while two-thirds of all cancer patients are 65 years or older, this group represents less than one-third of all clinical trial participants.