Agent Orange ingredient in proposed new GMO crops prompts USDA halt on Monsanto, Dow



If the Federal government had approved Monsanto's and Dow Chemical's new genetically modified crops, the Center for Food Safety said it would file suit. The Center for Food Safety has won several lawsuits against the government. USDA is supposed to issue an EIS (environmental impact statement) in the event an government regulation, like approving a new GMO crop, may potentially affect man's natural environment.

The herbicide resistant crops, proposed by Dow, (soybean, cotton and corn crops) contain a substance ( 2,4-D, or 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid). This is found Agent Orange. Agent Orange is cited as a cause for a neurological and other ailments suffered by those who came in contact with it during and after the Vietnam War.

The USDA has refused to approve the new GMO crops until 2015 at the earliest. USDA says it has to conduct environmental impact statements (EIS) before it can approve GMO crops that potentially affect the environment and quality of life for the people who live in it.

European countries, and Asia, broadly prohibit GMO crops. Fears of GMOs effect on humans and the affect GMO cultivated crops have on organic foods, prices and farmers were concerns voiced by American people to the Obama Administration particularly in the past few months as Congress passed the Monsanto Protection Act.

Monsanto and Dow executives were surprised at USDA's decision to disallow conversation about the crops until 2015.

Currently, GMO foods do not require labeling. American consumers can assume that when purchasing canola oil, corn and soy, that they're likely purchasing GMO unless the brand specifically states "organic."

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The Viet Nam Experience (Trying to Understand PTSD)

(C) James J Alonzo

I want to share this mostly with those who have not been there. I want to tell you things, and see in your eyes the sudden realization of the experiences of war. Then maybe you will understand.

I am merely trying to let you know what it was like for the Viet Nam combat soldier.
You had a family member that experienced these things. I hope to somehow let you know what it was like for them.

Vietnam was a savage, in your face war where death could and did strike from anywhere with absolutely no warning. No lines, no safe area, no green zone, every inch of soil a potential combat zone. The brave young men and women who fought that war paid an awful price in blood, pain and suffering. Those that survived were also exposed to Agent Orange, the then unknown killer that would complete it's mission years later.

I want to take you to this place, in a far off land, 10,000 miles away from home. The home of our youth, that we in Nam referred to as "the world". And while we were in Viet Nam, we called Viet Nam names like " Nam", "the land of Oz", "Gookland", and other unmentionable profane names.

While in Viet Nam, they saw the denigration of mankind's morality, chaos, ugliness, shocking sites. It is difficult in thinking of ways how to describe it.

I can try to describe the smells, but nothing smells like Nam. The combination of rotting jungle, leeches, snakes, booby traps, both man killers and man maimers, garbage, the rust metal smell human blood and animal and human wastes, gun smoke and cordite, and the smell of rotting bodies.

I can try to write about the colors, but there is no way to show comparison to the many shades of green foliage, the rust red clay soil, the color of blood, all in vivid bright colors.

The weather? Well it was the tropics, wet and hot, humid, heavy rains. Rains that sometimes fall out a cloudless sunny sky. The weather is hot, beyond hot and humidity as high as the temperature.

It is like wearing a plastic sweat suit and pouring hot Maple syrup down inside of it.
After a few days in country You finally give up wiping the sweat off your face and arms because it does not do any good. You have, mixed with the sweat, anti bug juice, that smells like OFF Repellent, but stronger (60 percent DEET), another carcinogenic. You learn to own it, the heat and humidity, the stickiness.
Own it and become it. Then it is bearable......almost.

The sounds, gunfire, explosions, the buzzing zing of a bullet passing your head, so many things. But my heart knows that unless you were there my writing about those things would only be words to you and you had to be there to experience them in a real way.

Vietnam, a place yes, but more then that. The Vietnam War was not just a place on a map
it was another planet, a different universe and yet, still is part of our very being.

So they came home, not to an appreciative country, but to hippies against them and the war, called baby killers!.

But to their loved ones, they are received happily. However, their loved ones see a quiet person, unemotional, almost cold. The loved ones see the thousand yard stare, but yet behind that stare was the clear sharp alertness, always ready to react. In that stare is sights that can not be talked about, sights of what they had witness. The doubt of the present, And further doubt of what his future held for him, if anything.

War takes the soldier to the very edge, where they must stop all reason, emotion, all caring, all feelings, to survive the experience. They had become desensitized to pain, suffering and death.

They had assimilated war's horror and continued on, having experienced too much death, seen too much destruction, Old men in young boys bodies, who will never…be quite the same,

You take his hand and sit for hours, just being there for him, hoping this will bring him back. You are trying to let him know you care. You hope the touch of your hands is all the words that need to be said. But you are confused, you really don't understand. This is not the warm, fun loving, and sweet person that left you for his Viet Nam duty. It is a stranger.

You tell him how much you love him, and hope hearing that will make him heal, and the hand in yours tightens a little, but is it from love or for understanding, for approval, or is he asking for forgiveness?

A Brother and a Friends Farewell ( To Wayne Priester)

(C) James J Alonzo
Wayne, I know you are now in the Great Beyond or as you would say heaven. Well now that you and God are buddies, tell him that I'm still down here and need his help. I've known you a little over 40 years before you suddenly died. We grew up together in the neighborhood, the slums. But yet we still managed to get out to the farm lands and the forests. We camped, we fished, oh how you loved to fish. We hunted, and drank. And as years went by I would manage to visit you at your home in northern Idaho, we laughed a lot, cried a little and shared our Nam experiences like the brothers from different mothers we were.

We've both shared our PTSD struggles, our illnesses from Agent Orange, and helped each other. Your courage has always given me inspiration to fight my health problems. I wish that I could of spent more time together with you that last year, but we then, at 56 years old, we didn't know it was your last year.

When your wife called me and told me you were found deceased at your favorite fishing spot in the Rockies. I was shocked and yet i had to smile, because you did love fishing. Your passing has saddened me deeply, You never told me you had terminal cancer, you told your wife you didn't want the family and friends to treat you differently.

I think about my other Nam brothers over the last 30 years that have died years before their time, due to agent orange. Our government sent us over as "Brave young men", but little did we know we would leave a part of our souls over there. Little did we know my brother that we were killed by our government's chemical warfare, only to died here at home, and to contaminate our children.

And yet our government would think of us,"as faceless, expendables." Well my brother, you're past this now. You are still my brother, my hero, and soon we will fish together.

A Homeless Viet Nam Vet

James J. Alonzo (C)

“My name is Hector, I got Agent Orange. “ said the homeless Viet Nam veteran to the intake clerk.

There are intake clerks at the Service Centers at the local VA Facilities. One of the jobs of these clerks do is to handle any homeless Veterans claims. The weather was getting colder, so all day, the homeless vets had crowded into the reception room and waited impatiently for their turn.

The Sheet in front of the clerk indicated that the Veteran sitting before him was the 25th veteran he had to interview that day. Crowded as it was, the room was noisy and smelled of urine, and other offensive smells.

“I’m sorry Hector” the clerk answered, I didn’t get that. Could you lean closer so I can hear you, and say that again?”

Hector did just that much to the sensitivity of the clerk’s nostrils.

The clerk looked down at the intake form in front of him. They had gotten through about half the intake questions. The clerk had established that Hector was a combat Viet Nam veteran, 1967-1968, a survivor of the bloody TET offensive. The clerk had also established that Hector indeed was registered for Veterans Administration Services, because Hector had shown the clerk his ID card,

“That’s me.” Hector proudly showed his VA photo Identification card, pointing at his photo.

“Caucasian”, asked the clerk as he continued with the questions,

“Yes” replied Hector, “but also I’m part Cherokee too.”

Then the next question, which the clerk had seen before and knew was embarrassing to some of the other homeless Vets.

“Are you homeless now Hector.”

“Yes.” Hector said, dropping his eyes.

The clerk continued the questioning, and was now in the medical section of the questionnaire.

“Flu Shot?”

“No Thanks…well maybe…do you have that pig shot?”

“Do you mean swine flu shot? No, sorry, we don’t.”

“That’s ok, I don’t need it.”

“Do you want a hearing test?”

“No.”

“Do you want a blood test for hepatitis, and HIV-AIDS?”

“Nope.”

“Do you want to speak to someone in our mental health clinic?”

“No.” Hector’s eyes nervously drop down to the desk again.

“Podiatry?”

“Yeah, I really need my feet looked at. They are swollen, and the skin is cracked, and my toe nails are real long and yellow.”

“We’ll get you to the podiatry clinic right away.”

“Good, can I get that skin lotion, my feet are cracked so bad, that they bleed?”

“Yeah, talk to them when you get there. What about Substance Abuse?”

“No, I don’t drink or do drugs!”

“Okay,” The clerk said, “TB Test?”

“You got that?” he asked.

“Yes, we have that.”

“I’ll take that,” Hector said, “I’ve been coughing a lot lately. Sometimes I spit up blood”

The clerk started showing discomfort over the odor Hector was emitting, and pushed back, asking questions from a little farther distance.

“Do you want help with employment Hector? “

“No.”

“Do you get Social Security Disability, or public assistance?”

“No, I’m all set” Hector answered, “I Got Agent Orange. A Hundred Percent.”

“What was that?” The clerk leaned in ignoring the smell. “I didn’t get that?”

“Agent Orange.” answered Hector, “…I get a check every month for Agent Orange. A hundred percent. They send it to my post office box, since I don’t have a home.”

“Now the clerk understood. That is how homeless Hector was “makin’ it on the mean streets. A monthly disability checks from the VA, because of his diagnosis of Dioxin

Poisoning from Viet Nam Service Related Proximity to the herbicide, “Agent Orange”.

The clerk wondered how long it took Hector to get such a disability rating. What kind of struggle did it take Hector so he could subsist on the streets, all by the benefit of his monthly Agent Orange check?

The bottom line for Hector, he is dying.

He told the clerk,

“I need a new kidney. Actually, I need a lot of body parts. But I am not going to get them in time. I got diabetes too. I know I will die before they find the parts I need.”

Hector won’t be the first, or the last, but when Hector does die, maybe it should be noted he died from “friendly fire.”

Hector, as others who served in Nam, was wounded a long time ago, fighting in the Viet Nam, breathing hard, and sucking in the sweet smell of US Administered dioxin defoliant, as it dripped off the jungle canopy. Drinking it from the water, where the dioxin ran off, when it rained.

Who Ordered Agent Orange Used In Viet Nam

James J. Alonzo (C)

With all the illnesses, malformed babies, and suffering from Agent Orange, one could wonder who the person that ordered it to be used was. It was Elmo Zumwalt Jr., who as commander of U.S. naval forces in Southeast Asia that ordered the chemical defoliant sprayed over the South Vietnamese countryside to deprive communist troops of cover.
Elmo Russell Zumwalt, Jr. (November 29, 1920 – January 2, 2000) was an American naval officer and the youngest man to serve as Chief of navel Operations. As an admiral and later the 19th Chief of navel Operations, Zumwalt played a major role in U.S. military history, especially during the Viet Nam War.

After his selection for the rank of Rear Admiral, Zumwalt assumed command in July 1965 of Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla Seven. In September 1968, he became Commander Naval Forces, Viet Nam, and Chief of the Naval Advisory Group, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam.
Zumwalt’s command was not a blue water unit, like the Seventh Fleet; it was a brown water unit: he commanded the flotilla of Swift boats that patrolled the coasts, harbors, and rivers of Vietnam. Among the swift-boat commanders were his son, Elmo Russell Zumwalt III, and later future Senator John Kerry. During this time, the elder Zumwalt had an opportunity to safeguard the men who served under his command from the Viet Cong who hid in the jungle and ambushed American and ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) patrols at will.

A new group of herbicides, Agent Orange, White, and other assorted color names, could be sprayed on the foliage to remove the cover that the Viet Cong used so effectively. It was claimed at that time that the side effects on humans of long-term exposure to Agent Orange were not yet known, and the manufacturers, Dow and Monsanto, were eager to reassure potential users about its safety.

Admiral Zumwalt acted to protect not only his own son, but also his many comrades from a “clear and present danger,” but in so doing, he exposed them to chemicals now known to cause cancer. As all commanders must do, Admiral Zumwalt acted quickly and decisively on the available information; in this case, he relied on sources that were biased and unreliable, as later developments made clear.
In the end, he paid personally for his decision. Zumwalt’s son, Elmo Zumwalt III, died in 1988, aged 42;
Zumwalt’s grandson (born 1977) suffers from a congenital dysfunction that confuses his physical senses. Zumwalt’s son, prior to his own death, said in 1986 that
“‘I am a lawyer and I don’t think I could prove in court, by the weight of the existing scientific evidence, that Agent Orange is the cause of all the medical problems – nervous disorders, cancer and skin problems – reported by Vietnam veterans, or of their children’s severe birth defects. But I am convinced that it is.” He also said he never blamed his father for his disease.
Admiral Zumwalt said he felt his son’s cancer was most definitely due to Agent Orange. He also mentioned that his grandson Russell suffered from very severe learning disabilities that could possibly be traced to it as well. However, Zumwalt said he did not regret ordering the use of Agent Orange, because it reduced casualties by making it difficult for the enemy to hide and find food.
Admiral Zumwalt, along with his son, authored a book called My Father, My Son, published by MacMillan in September 1986, where they discussed the family tragedy of his son’s battle with cancer.
After treatment in a number of hospitals, Elmo Zumwalt III went to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center inSeattle, where he received a bone marrow from his sister Mouzetta, whose tissues fortunately matched his well enough for this treatment to be feasible. Results were promising but in the end, he died in 1988.
Sadly the Zumwalt family also suffered from Agent Orange. Was it all a case of “What goes around, comes around” or for those of the eastern thought, Karma”?

Agent Orange Vietnam Veterans: Injured Vet Walking For Awareness

Cordova became disabled as a result of his exposure to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam, but he doesn’t let it slow him down.

“I don’t want the younger generation to go through some of the stuff that we’ve gone through as far as when I came back from Vietnam.

There was no program in place, no help available,” Cordova said. “Now, the V.A. has made a lot of progress, but they’re still behind.”

Cordova says he wants to make all veterans, young and old, aware of the programs and assistance available to them through the V.A. He also wants to encourage them not to give up on that help, even if the V.A. processes become lengthy or confusing.

Information on Cordova's work is available on his website, http://thebencordovafoundation.org/

The Source

OPINION: Senator Coburn S.Amdt. 564 to H. R. 2055 Blocked by Senate 69 - 30 - No More AO Benefits for Vietnam Veterans exposed to AO

Opinion by Sharon L. Perry, Founder & Danielle Reyes, co-founder
Agent Orange Legacy

Does the onslaught against our Vietnam veterans ever end?

Once again our Vietnam vets were attacked on Capitol Hill but this time, this attack, was a stab in the back. Senator Coburn (R-OK) submitted an amendment, S.AMDT.564 - to H. R. 2055 - To require evidence of causal relationships for presumptions by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of service connection for diseases associated with exposure to certain herbicide agents.

Senator Coburn gave no warning, didn't submit a bill or arrange for a hearing. Is this how our elected officials conduct themselves? No ethics on Captiol Hill? No oversight which defines ethical and/or unethical behavior? What kind of behavior is considered misconduct? Is there no recourse for our veteran community?




The Record shows that 30 of our U. S. Sentors voted nay to table Senator Coburn's amendment which would have stripped our veterans and their families of the service connected benefits they earned. Our Vietnam veterans and their families - struggle - to make ends meet and cope with permanently disabling & fatal/terminal conditions, not just to themselves but also their children and grandchildren, due to exposure to agent orange

**See Vietnam Veterans of America Press Release for more information about Senator Coburn's amendment.

Vietnam veterans and their families are on the brink!! So many of our families are trying to cope with death, dying, PTSD, chronic and terminal illnesses, loss of income along with our careers/livelihoods, and the loss of our home(s). Our children and grandchildren are sick, suffering and also are dying. We do not need to be side swiped by our elected officials who should be willing to help those who have served.

I personally had my career in town management cut short when my husband became ill in 1998. I devoted 8 years of my life to pursuing a college degree and earned a Masters in Public Administration. I am still struggling to heal from 27 years of coping with my husband's severe and chronic PTSD. My husband was sick for 6 years prior to his death (our oldest daughter has been sick all of her life). To be out of the work force that long, esp. at my age, is a detriment.

I was devastated upon my husband's death. I became very ill and nearly died from an infection in my left lung. As a caregiver to a veteran I received no support or compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Caregiver legislation has been passed and cargivers of Post 911 veterans now get compensation to care for our disabled veterans, however. Our Vietnam veterans and their families receive no such support.

All our veterans should be treated equally.

Why must we (the families of Vietnam veterans), when we are down and out, constantly cope with the horrors of a war long since over? Why do our children, who are disabled, have to live a life of poverty for a decision made long before they were born?

Why do we have to endure attacks from our fellow citizens and/or our elected representatives?

Why is it that a long held tradition of serving this nation is not coveted by the same elected officials who have the power to ship off our sons and daughters?

What will it take for our embattled Vietnam veterans to finally receive the respect they have earned?

I had hoped the time had finally arrived. Unfortunately, not soon enough for my deceased husband of 27 years. He didn't live to see this day. Maybe it's better that he did not. I don't think he could have taken another crack at his knees with that Congressional BAT which is reserved, or so it seems, for our Vietnam vets who are facing, and in some cases are still fighting, a slow and torturous death by agent orange.

My husband served his country well. He refused to apply for benefits, although he had health problems and suffered from PTSD, until he was flat on his back in 1999. He dutifully died in 2005 saving America's taxpayers 100s of thousands of dollars.

God Bless America.

You Can Hear the Drums and Feel the Heat as Agent Orange Rises to the Surface

Each and every day in veteran blogs, multiple on-line news outlets, and mainstream newspapers, there is coverage of some new discovery of Agent Orange being improperly disposed of. And, reports of discovering new contaminations or cover-ups.

New documents being released inform us of current findings of contamination within the remaining C-123’s fleet that was used during the Vietnam War for Agent Orange spray operations. As of 2010, the Air Force declared ALL of the remaining C-123 planes were contaminated with dioxin. They ordered them destroyed into little pieces and smelted to get rid of the remaining carcinogens.

Their fight never ends. They are fighting for their rightful benefits. Many will die without a resolution to their claims. These are honorable men who gave to their country. They are NOT asking for more than their country promised them.

Isn’t it time we fulfilled our promises?

The Source

Vietnam Veteran volunteer: Despite his own medical troubles, Wilmer Carter finds time for others

Vietnam Veteran volunteer: Despite his own medical troubles, Wilmer Carter finds time for others

BETTER GET THOSE CLAIMS IN Due to Agent Orange, Veteran awarded $459,700

Due to Agent Orange, veteran awarded $459,700
A local Vietnam War veteran has been awarded a $459,700 benefit because of their exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange during the war and the later onset of ischemic heart disease.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) completed a rating decision this month, making an evaluation of 100 percent, effective November 1994, for the Clinton County veteran. A 100 percent rating is the highest disability rating, according to Ray Souder, executive director of the Clinton County Veterans Service Office.

Ischemic heart disease is a disease characterized by a reduced supply of blood to the heart, leading to chest pain, said the VA’s Web site. The VA’s regulation recognizing ischemic heart disease as related to exposure to herbicides took effect in late October 2010. The Clinton County veteran originally filed a claim in November 1994, according to a news release from the Clinton County Veterans Service Office.

Vietnam War veterans exposed to herbicides do not have to prove a connection between their ischemic heart disease and military service to be eligible to receive VA benefits.

That’s because the numbers of Vietnam veterans who have the medical condition “are so overwhelming” compared to the general population that the VA presumes ischemic heart disease in Vietnam veterans resulted from exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange, Souder said.

US Naval Ship List included in Agent Orange Exposure

The entire list - Blue Water Navy - is here:


http://bluewaternavy.org/newspage2.htm

along with some instruction on what to do if your ship is listed or is NOT listed.