Agent Orange: It's Affecting Veterans and Their Kids (2024)

FAQs

Agent Orange: It's Affecting Veterans and Their Kids? ›

2nd Generation Agent Orange Symptoms

Laboratory animal studies have established that TCDD can affect development, so a connection between TCDD exposure and effects on offspring, including developmental disruption and disease onset in later life, is biologically plausible.

Children of Veterans exposed to Agent Orange who have a birth defect including spina bifida, a congenital birth defect of the spine, and certain other birth defects may be entitled to VA benefits. These include monetary benefits, health care, and vocational rehabilitation services.

Agent Orange effects being seen in grandchildren of Vietnam War veterans. Birth defects and heart problems are showing up not only in the children, but the grandchildren of veterans who served in America's military during the Vietnam War.

Yes, research suggests that children born of veterans who had Agent Orange exposure may have spina bifida or other congenital disorders (disorders from birth). This occurs because the herbicide damaged the parent's reproductive organs and cells, which affects the growth and development of their biological children.

Today, veterans who receive financial assistance as a result of Agent Orange connected medical issues generally get their compensation in the form of disability benefits. Single veterans are eligible for up to $39,984 per year as of 2022, while married veterans or those with dependents are eligible for $42,214 or more.

Survivors' benefits

Surviving spouses, dependent children and dependent parents of Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange or other herbicides during service and died as the result of diseases related to the exposure may be eligible for health care, compensation, education, and home loan benefits.

Dependent Children.

You may be eligible for DlC benefits if you are not included in your surviving parent's DIC benefit, are not married, and are younger than 18 or between ages 18 and 23, if attending school. Certain adult children who become seriously disabled prior to age 18 may also be entitled to DlC.

What are veteran survivor benefits? As a veteran's surviving spouse, child or parent, you may qualify for certain benefits, such as help with burial costs and compensation or pension. You may also qualify for health care, life insurance, or financial assistance to help pay for school or training.

What are the 14 conditions related to Agent Orange? ›

The PACT Act is a law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. This law helps us provide generations of Veterans—and their survivors—with the care and benefits they've earned and deserve.

Vietnamese scientists claim the dioxin in Agent Orange damages DNA, which can impair genetic material that is passed from parents to their children and grandchildren.

VA Ratings for Agent Orange presumptive conditions range from 0% to 100%, depending on the disability name and its severity of symptoms. Many VA presumptive conditions for Agent Orange are not in the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities, and thus, are rated analogously to the closest condition with similar symptoms.

Survivor's Pension - The Survivors Pension benefit, which may also be referred to as Death Pension, is a tax-free monetary benefit payable to a low-income, un-remarried surviving spouse and/or unmarried child(ren) of a deceased veteran with wartime service.

Birth defects and conditions such as spina bifida, cleft lip, congenital heart disease, hip dysplasia, Hallerman-Streiff syndrome, neural tube defects, Poland syndrome, and others may also be caused by Agent Orange exposure in children. Children who were exposed may be eligible for benefits.

Associations between Agent Orange and other dioxin-contaminated herbicides and structural birth defects like spina bifida, oral clefts, heart defects and hypospadias may be just the “tip of the iceberg”.

The constituents of Agent Orange are capable of producing gene mutations and chromosomal aberrations, at least in some experimental circ*mstances. TCDD and 2,4,5-T are teratogenic in mice and perhaps in other mammals, but the teratogenicity of these chemicals has not been convincingly demonstrated in humans.