Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans, Inc., ALL Vietnam Era Veterans, their families and friends are making a stand during October. It is National Agent Orange Awareness Month and we are shouting, crying and pleading to President Trump, Secretary Shulkin and members of Congress to express concerns about the treatment and compensation of Veterans exposed to Agent Orange. Since the 1970s, Veterans have suffered from high blood pressure and strokes as the result of exposure to Agent Orange. The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine published in November 2016 the study (Herbicide Exposure, Vietnam Service, and Hypertension Risk in Army Chemical Corps Veterans), commissioned by President Barack Obama, confirms that people exposed to Agent Orange are more likely to have high blood pressure and strokes as compared to those who weren’t exposed. We urge the Department of Veterans Affairs to quickly make high blood pressure and strokes a presumptive service connection to being exposed to Agent Orange. The Center for Disease Control estimates that 115 Veterans die - EVERY DAY - because of their exposure to Agent Orange.

When the men and women of our Armed Forces volunteer or are drafted to defend our country, they do so believing that the U.S. government will do everything possible to keep us safe and healthy. They deserve access to top quality benefits and services, especially when they have sacrificed their health for our nation. We have a responsibility to help these men and women live their lives as active and productive as possible.