I don't see any threads which address this issue and I would like some help and advise relating to AO and hypertension. I was in country 67/68 and one of the missions for my unit was to spray Agent Orange. A few years ago ,I was sent a letter by the VA asking me to participate in a study relating to those who sprayed the defoliant. I filled out the questionaire and pretty much forgot about it. A few months ago, I got a letter from the VA saying that in appreciation for my participation they were sending me a copy of the results of the study. It was several pages long but the part that caught my attention stated that those who sprayed AO had a higher incident of hypertension than those who had casual contact. I am being treated by the VA for hypertension and have been told that they are as yet undecided whether they are going to consider hypertension a service connected disability. I filed a claim which was denied. My question is, how will I know when they decide this issue. Should the guys who unwittingly were ordered to spray this toxic agent and usually were covered with it straight out of the barrell be given any different consideration than those who were in casual contact? Is there some web site I can monitor to see what the powers that be finally decide? I have a copy of the VA study if anyone is interested.

We have one now!

Please go to my website and review the Agent Orange material.

Subject: AO hypertension

If a veteran has been diagnosed with hypertension of HBP on active duty, or within one year from separation the condition is presumptive. It should be granted at the outset. However if not diagnosed on active duty, or within one year from separation, the veteran must show a causal effect.

Agent Orange type herbicides in my opinion are a causal effect for hypertension. I have filed possibly more than 1,000 claims to get the condition as a matter of record in my clients VA claims folder. Now if the cases remained in continuous prosecution we will have some very early effective dates.

The veteran most likely is still going to be required to have a physicians diagnosis of 'hypertension due to exposure of AO type herbicides is more likely than not." In my experience with VA doctors, it appears most, if not all, will be supportive. In the past years, I have filed multiple hundreds of claims for veterans with hypertension, who were exposed to Agent Orange type herbicides. Expert physicians, whom I work with direct, consistently state some veterans hypertension is a result of their exposure to Agent Orange.

Here is a recent press release: WASHINGTON 7/25/07 - Exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam may lead to high blood pressure in some veterans, but the evidence is limited and only suggestive, the Institute of Medicine said Friday.
The IOM, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, has been studying the effects of the herbicide Agent Orange on veterans since the early 1990s, and is issuing its seventh update.
Two recent studies of Vietnam veterans who handled Agent Orange and other defoliants indicated that these veterans have higher rates of high blood pressure, the report said. Hypertension affects more than 70 million American adults and is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke.
The new findings were consistent with other studies that looked at the health effects of herbicides. However, a new environmental study and an earlier study of workers in a herbicide manufacturing plant did not find evidence of an association between herbicide or dioxin exposure and increased high blood pressure.
Because of the inconsistent results the institute said the evidence is suggestive of, but insufficient to conclude with certainty, that exposure to the herbicide leads to high blood pressure.

Would I be justified in taking a copy of this survey to my primary care physician and try to get her to agree that my HBP is AO related as likely as not? I don't smoke or drink but my weight is more than it should be.

quote:

Originally posted by 10320934:
Would I be justified in taking a copy of this survey to my primary care physician and try to get her to agree that my HBP is AO related as likely as not? I don't smoke or drink but my weight is more than it should be.

Yes.

I strongly recommend my clients to take notes to the doctor to discuss the issues. The notes remind us of the importance of the issues and prevent us from forgetting why we are there. As the old saying goes: "Just do it!"

DaveBarker

Thats a good saying, "Just do it". I was advised to not file for HBP as associated with PTSD.... but, I did it anyway. The VA Rating Official denied there was a current diagnosis for HBP and did not give me a C&P for the claim. The Rating Official had the medical diagnosis right in my C-file... and, I know it because I later got an complete copy of my C-file. YES, the diagnosis was there, point blank. I've been on HBP meds as prescribed/given by the VA for years. If this claim doesn't work, I'll file for HBP as associated with AO as I spent 1 year in Nam, 1968, 25ID.

I filed a NOD a month later.

Are there any post from vets exposed to ao and later suffered heart attacks? I served in 70-71 and in 84 had a major attack. I have a claim in for type 2 and hypertension now but it has been only 4 mos.

quote:

Originally posted by 14553589:
Are there any post from vets exposed to ao and later suffered heart attacks? I served in 70-71 and in 84 had a major attack. I have a claim in for type 2 and hypertension now but it has been only 4 mos.

I have had several AO exposed veterans file claims based on heart attacks due to herbicde exposure.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: OldAFcop,

I know this might be a silly question but..

What does the VA consider Hypertension?

I mean like then and now?

I am being treated for hypertension by the VA now, however I did not start using the VA until 2003 (thats when they diagnose (sp) me with it).

I was in Nam from 6 Feb 1966 to Sept 1967 and I spayed that stuff also ( hand held container that you pump up) 25th Inf Div.

I just came back from the VA last week and ask them about the lack of a code on my Hypertension and the Doc said she could not or would not tell me what it was ( kinda strange huh?) and that I could go to Patient Advoc to complain about it and maybe they might tell me the code!!

Now why won't they (VA) tell me my code for hypertension?

Hypertension is high blood pressure, defined as a repeatedly elevated blood pressure exceeding 140 over 90 mmHg -- a systolic pressure above 140 with a diastolic pressure above 90.

I filed for disability for type II diabetes in Aug 07 and i was diagnosed one year earlier. I also developed high blood pressure at the same time. I think the two are linked.

The VA granted 20% for the diabetes and I have not filed for the high blood pressure.

Maybe if enough of us file they will listen.
III Corp, 1966/1967, IV in 1971

I agree with you 100%. Here is my suggested format.

***************REQUEST SERVICE CONNECTION **************

I request you to SC my hypertension condition due to AO exposure. Service connection should be granted as I am diagnosed and treated for the conditions; my service in Vietnam qualifies me for the service connection.
From a recent press release:
WASHINGTON 7/25/07
- Exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam may lead to high blood pressure in some veterans, but the evidence is limited and only suggestive, the Institute of Medicine said Friday.
The IOM, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, has been studying the effects of the herbicide Agent Orange on veterans since the early 1990s, and is issuing its seventh update. Two recent studies of Vietnam veterans who handled Agent Orange and other defoliants indicated that these veterans have higher rates of high blood pressure, the report said.
The new findings were consistent with other studies that looked at the health effects of herbicides. However, a new environmental study and an earlier study of workers in a herbicide manufacturing plant did not find evidence of an association between herbicide or dioxin exposure and increased high blood pressure.
-Also-
The United States Air Force study released in 2000, proved the Ranch Hand Study was severely flawed and showing a 26% higher rate of heart disorders in those veterans in the study comparison.

I am treated by the Whichever VAMC, please obtain those records.

Dave, told me to post this. Who am I to argue
Because of copyright regulations, I cannot post the orginal article published by IOM (Institute of Medicine). See summary below...

Everyday News!

Agent Orange May Boost Vietnam Vets' Hypertension Risk...
Exposure to the defoliant herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War may be raising blood pressure levels for the aging veterans of that conflict.
That's the biggest change in the latest of a series of reports from the U.S. Institute of Medicine on the long-term health effects of Agent Orange. The report was released Friday.

The IOM's Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides last issued its updated findings in 2005; this report is based on data collected up to 2006. The reports are compiled at the request of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

"In two new studies, Vietnam veterans with the highest exposure to herbicides exhibited distinct increases in the prevalence of hypertension; the prevalence of heart disease was also increased," the report found, although the IOM committee stopped short of suggesting that wartime exposure to Agent Orange is currently raising veterans' risk of ischemic heart disease.

The group said the latest data on hypertension risk is of a much higher quality than prior research looking at links between Agent Orange and heart disease or heart disease risk factors. However, the new findings are "consistent" with those gleaned from prior research.

There were other changes to the IOM's latest update of Veterans and Agent Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam, which is issued every two years (this is the seventh such report).

As new data have emerged, a few important cancer types -- malignancies of the brain, stomach, colon, rectum and pancreas -- were moved from a category labeled "limited or insufficient evidence of no association [with Agent Orange]" to a more neutral category --"inadequate or insufficient evidence to determine association."

The committee was deadlocked and indecisive on whether to move two more tumor types -- breast cancer and melanoma -- as well as ischemic heart disease, from the "inadequate or insufficient evidence to determine association" category up to a category that implies there might be a connection to Agent Orange exposure -- "limited or suggestive evidence of association."

According to the report, "the committee could not reach consensus about the strength of the evidence" on those issues.

Finally, data on an illness linked to multiple myeloma, called amyloidosis, did satisfy the criteria needed to include it in the "limited or suggestive evidence of association" category, associating it for the first time with exposure to the herbicide.

All of these category changes are important, since the VA often consults the committee's reports when making medical or disability coverage decisions for Vietnam veterans. Certain conditions -- sarcomas, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and Hodgkin's disease -- have been found by the committee to be clearly associated with Agent Orange exposure, for example. The status of other conditions remains more ambiguous.

That ambiguity continues to rile veterans advocates such as Phil Kraft, executive director of the Darien, Conn.-based National Veterans Services Fund. He said that while he "admires the perseverance" of the IOM committee, too many sick Vietnam vets are still fighting for proper care.

"How hard is it to say, 'We're here for you, because you offered your life, and now we're going to help you,' " said Kraft, himself a Vietnam veteran.

He applauded the inclusion of hypertension within the "limited or suggestive evidence" category, but said he wasn't surprised, since, in his opinion, heart disease is rampant among veterans. "I talk to a lot of [veterans'] wives, and they will say, 'Everything was fine until my husband had his heart attack," Kraft said. "And it's not just because we are now all in our 50s and 60s."

Kraft said the evidence-based "bump up" for a number of cancers is also significant, since it may mean better access to medical and disability care for affected veterans. "Anything that is going to add to the list of compensations is a step in the right direction," he said. "I just wish [the committee] would be bolder."

That's because too many veterans are still battling the Veterans Administration for needed coverage, Kraft said. He used the example of a fellow veteran diagnosed with myeloma. The man did end up getting 100 percent disability and care, "but he had to fight for almost three years, while he was sick, because the VA was saying, 'Well, we don't know.' "

With American troops fighting now on a new front, Kraft hopes tomorrow's veterans will be wiser. One big problem for veterans from the Vietnam War is that they have no blood or other samples to demonstrate their baseline level of health before they went off to fight. That means it is often tough to prove that wartime exposures are the cause of an unhealthy change in their genetics or tissue toxicity levels, Kraft said.

"But I know that this time round, soldiers going to Iraq are being told to get a blood sample taken and preserved beforehand," Kraft said. "Guys that are still [in Iraq] are advising the younger guys to do that."

Kraft said it's disheartening that any veteran has to fight another, often lifelong battle to stay healthy and to get the coverage he or she deserves. As for the Institute of Medicine report, Kraft believes its recommendations remain far too cautious.

"I just wish they would loosen up a bit and come down with a recommendation that says, 'Do the right thing for veterans,' " he said. "That's all we have ever wanted."

More information

There's more on Agent Orange at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

May 9, 2008

Veterans Affairs has started taking claims for hypertension related to Agent Orange exposure, but it will determine at a later date whether the claims will be honored as being military "service-related," according to service organizations who received notices from VA.

A letter from the Texas Veterans Commission to its county service officers indicates that the claims are expected to be approved. The claims won't be actively "worked" until the VA makes its decision.

Requests for comment made to local VA agencies were referred to Washington, D.C. However, after two days, the public affairs office in Washington, D.C., still had no comment.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_9207845

*******************************************************

Hmmm ? I filed a claim for Hypertension in 2006 as secondary to PTSD. I was in RVN, 25ID, US Army, for entire year of 1968. I wonder if my claim is good for AO exposure, or if I need to file another claim specific to AO? Do want to preserve my EED. Comments, pls?

quote:

Hmmm ? I filed a claim for Hypertension in 2006 as secondary to PTSD. I was in RVN, 25ID, US Army, for entire year of 1968. I wonder if my claim is good for AO exposure, or if I need to file another claim specific to AO? Do want to preserve my EED. Comments, pls?

Excellent question! You may well wish to amend that claim As Soon As Possible, to include exposure to Agent Orange type herbicides. The VARO may well state you first claimed it was due to PTSD, however the fact remains herbicide exposure is definately link.

Thanks, DaveB. I did as you suggested.

quote:

Originally posted by DaveBarker:

quote:

Hmmm ? I filed a claim for Hypertension in 2006 as secondary to PTSD. I was in RVN, 25ID, US Army, for entire year of 1968. I wonder if my claim is good for AO exposure, or if I need to file another claim specific to AO? Do want to preserve my EED. Comments, pls?

Excellent question! You may well wish to amend that claim As Soon As Possible, to include exposure to Agent Orange type herbicides. The VARO may well state you first claimed it was due to PTSD, however the fact remains herbicide exposure is definately link.

I followed the advice you gave me early this week. I sent the "certified" request to them.

Larry

VA Secretary strikes out... At least against veterans

The Veterans Administration will not grant disability claims for hypertension related to Agent Orange or other herbicide exposure, according to Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake, who decided existing research doesn't clearly establish a link between the two.

"The science didn't support it," Mark Brown, director of VA's Environmental Agents Service, said Tuesday.

It's not over yet. Just because VA Bureaucrats disagree with 30 years research does not stop the truth.
DaveBarker

The criteria by which Agent Orange Claims are judged is a matter of law, not personal opinion.

The VA policy follows Federal Law and can be found right here.

quote:

Originally posted by OldAFcop:
The criteria by which Agent Orange Claims are judged is a matter of law, not personal opinion.

The VA policy follows Federal Law and can be found right here.

You are so correct OldAFcop, I could not agree more with your post regarding opinion and the law. It is Secretary Peak who made his opinion the law, over the scientists opinion who did the research. Thank you.
The site linked is the official VA site on Agent Orange issues. In my now over 30 years involved with Agent Orange conditions, my experience has led me to believe science is not always used in VA policy decisions, even though that was the agreement made when VA decided to use the NAS as the guide.

Scientists said “Agent Orange May Boost Vietnam Vets' Hypertension Risk”
The VA Secretary over rules them in another, in my opinion, politically correct decision. Protection of the budget continues as politics as usual. Especially when it comes to veterans issues; also, most especially if it is Vietnam veterans involved. So many double standards concerning Vietnam veterans exist, it is difficult to remember the all without notes.
In 2007 studies it was found by a group of Institute Of Medicine (IOM) scientists, through the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) that exposure to the defoliant herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War may be raising blood pressure levels for the aging veterans of that conflict.
That was the biggest change in a series of reports from the U.S. Institute of Medicine on the long-term health effects of Agent Orange. The report was released to the media last year.
The IOM's Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides last issued its updated findings in 2005; this report is based on data collected up to 2006. The reports are compiled at the request of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
"In two new studies, Vietnam veterans with the highest exposure to herbicides exhibited distinct increases in the prevalence of hypertension; the prevalence of heart disease was also increased," the report found, although the IOM committee stopped short of suggesting that wartime exposure to Agent Orange is currently raising veterans' risk of ischemic heart disease.
The group said the latest data on hypertension risk is of a much higher quality than prior research looking at links between Agent Orange and heart disease or heart disease risk factors. However, the new findings are "consistent" with those gleaned from prior research.
After a year the VA Secretary James Peake who has a rich background in veterans affairs, besides being the secretary. We are considering he is a retired Army Surgeon Lt. General, who owned the largest medical provider for the Department of Veterans Affairs, doing the Compensation and Pension exams, we commonly refer to as the C&P. Anyone who has been in this business for any extended period of time knows the C&P exam is not designed to help the beleaguered veteran; but, to assist the VA in evaluation of the condition. This to determine if the condition is related to the military or naval service and the degree of impairment.
So the news release was official “The Veterans Administration will not grant disability claims for hypertension related to Agent Orange or other herbicide exposure, according to Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake, who decided existing research doesn't clearly establish a link between the two.
"The science didn't support it," Mark Brown, director of VA's Environmental Agents Service, said Tuesday (July 8, 2008).