The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense ignore veterans and their dependents sickened by Agent Orange
By Pat Elder
February 10, 2025
The DOD’s Pest Management Control Board has taken authority from the VA, leaving the process to screen and treat sick veterans and their dependents in disarray. The exposure, denial, and resulting death and suffering are most evident at the Army’s Fort Ord in California.
Agent Orange is still killing a lot of people, here and overseas. We must demand accountability from the U.S. government.
People who live in certain areas on the former base may be vulnerable to high incidences of disease. The Army says the toxic areas have been cleaned up and the lands currently being transferred for development are safe. We want to test the environment to make sure human health is protected. Can you help us?
Two generations of soldiers and sailors have been exposed to the military’s reckless use of Agent Orange at more than a hundred military bases in the United States. Many have suffered and died while the Veterans Administration has summarily rejected their claims. Nowhere is the exposure, denial, and resulting death and suffering more apparent than the Army’s Fort Ord in California.
See this list of military bases in the U.S. where the use of Agent Orange has been documented. The VA and the DOD have not recognized presumptive exposure to Agent Orange at these locations. This means the federal government can reject claims from sickened service members by simply denying the deadly herbicides were ever used on base.
The Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs, (VA) collaborate to cover-up the use of these deadly herbicides. They do this by claiming there were two varieties of Agent Orange. They say “tactical herbicides” were used in Vietnam, while less potent “commercial herbicides” were used at home. Soldiers who spent time in Vietnam and experienced a host of diseases are presumed to have been sickened by Agent Orange and are awarded benefits, but not the soldiers at Fort Ord and many other bases in the U.S.
Julie Peters Akey is shown here at Fort Ord in 1996. Today, she is leading the fight for governmental transparency at Fort Ord.
Akey served in the Army and lived in Fort Ord housing in 1996 and 1997. Today, she suffers from multiple myeloma, a potentially deadly form of blood cancer that is caused by Agent Orange. Julie wondered if her deteriorating health was the result of her time spent at Fort Ord. She started a Facebook page, Cancer and illnesses from Fort Ord, CA military base and she has collected the names and clinical diagnoses of diseases and cancers of nearly 1,600 people who spent time at Fort Ord, including 138 diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Julie has also collaborated with others to create the Fort Ord Contamination website, an amazing compendium that documents the contamination on the base, then and now.
She explained, "Veterans remember seeing and spraying Agent Orange on Fort Ord, yet despite this and the proof we've provided, the VA and Federal government won't admit it was there. It is a shame that the federal government is twisting words around to make it seem like their "herbicide" Agent Orange that was used stateside is any different from that used in Vietnam. By playing semantics, the government can hide the fact that Agent Orange was used on US soil. Of course, everything always comes down to money, and I suspect the bill for doing the right thing and taking care of sick Veterans and their family members may be too high for the government to swallow. Veterans are sick and dying, many who are economically fragile and unable to work, and therefore with no health insurance or reliable health care. The United States is better than this."
The VA has been providing disability compensation to Veterans with medical problems related to Agent Orange in Vietnam since 1985.
The VA considers a condition “presumptive” when it is established by law or regulation. If you’ve been diagnosed with one of these conditions, you don’t need to prove that it started during—or got worse because of—your military service.
Cancers caused by Agent Orange exposure
Bladder cancer
Chronic B-cell leukemia
Hodgkin’s disease
Multiple myeloma
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Prostate cancer
Respiratory cancers (including lung cancer)
Some soft tissue sarcomas
Other illnesses caused by Agent Orange exposure
AL amyloidosis
Chloracne (or other types of acneiform disease like it)
Diabetes mellitus type 2
High blood pressure (hypertension)
Hypothyroidism
Ischemic heart disease
Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS)
Parkinsonism
Parkinson’s disease
Peripheral neuropathy, early onset
Porphyria cutanea tarda
Julie Akey’s database shows there are more cases of Multiple Myeloma, one of the Agent Orange presumptive diseases, than there are cases of breast cancer or prostate cancer, the two most common cancers. Julie explained, “Multiple Myeloma is a rare cancer and is only 2% of all cancer diagnoses. It should NOT outnumber breast and prostate cancers. Yet, the government says IF Agent Orange was used on For Ord, it was a "commercial herbicide" and somehow not a big deal. Tell that to the family members of the dead."
The DOD and the VA have relied on a less than transparent arrangement known as the VA’s presumption decision process that ignores deadly contamination from multiple toxins at hundreds of bases worldwide. A presumption of service connection occurs when the VA automatically assumes that a veteran's disease or cancer was caused by their military service.
Agent Orange is a 50:50 mix of the herbicides 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T).
The 2,4,5-T in Agent Orange contains dioxin, one of the deadliest substances known. Dioxin is in a league of its own. It is a killer, and it causes other-worldly gruesome birth defects. Agent Orange is a persistent threat everywhere it was used, especially in places like Fort Ord with regular applications over many years and regular prescribed burns. The toxins become airborne.
Veterans and their dependents exposed to Agent Orange have a higher risk of Hypothyroidism, Multiple Myeloma, Parkinson Disease, Bronchitis, Depression, Diabetes and Gestational & Diabetes Mellitus Type 2.
We’ll examine how the VA and the DOD respond to a soldier suffering with Diabetes Mellitus Type 2, claiming he was exposed to Agent Orange at Fort Ord.
Veterans Affairs Citation Nr: 1324404
The “FINDINGS OF FACT” are not factual. The VA, in collaboration with the DOD, says it was not able to find documents substantiating the use of Agent Orange at Fort Ord. See the evidence of the use of Agent Orange at Fort Ord here:
Read about the contrived differences between “tactical” and “commercial” varieties of Agent Orange. ProPublica calls Dr. Alvin Young the secret nemesis of sick vets.
Because the DOD claims the tactical variety of these deadly herbicides was only used in Vietnam and a few other places, the VA is free to reject the claims of veterans who described exposure to Agent Orange at a hundred bases in the US.
The Pentagon’s distinction between tactical and commercial variants of Agent Orange is a lie told to save billions of dollars at the expense of soldiers and their families.
Publicly, the VA says veterans do not have to provide a connection between exposure to Agent Orange and their diabetes, however, soldiers claiming injury due to Agent Orange exposure at most bases are summarily rejected.
We can gain a sense of the scale of the coverup by googling: [ va.gov “citation nr:” “agent orange” “tactical” ]
The VA has occasionally exercised its independence from the DOD in awarding disability claims to soldiers who were sickened by Agent Orange exposure at domestic bases, but this has largely changed since 2019 when the VA relinquished its independence from the Pentagon regarding the presumption decision process.
Armed Services Pest Management Board
In 2019, the DoD and the VA agreed on a list of locations inside and outside the United States where certain herbicide agents and their chemical components were tested, used, or stored. The Armed Forces Pest Management Board maintains and updates this list. The Armed Forces Pest Management Board says it conducts a review of the DoD list of locations annually and accepts submissions from members of the public in furtherance of updating the list. The VA says it utilizes the DOD list as the most reliable source of information informing the question of where to establish regulatory presumptions of exposure to certain herbicide agents.
The DOD says Agent Orange was never used at Fort Ord.
Case closed.
The DOD is expected to voluntarily submit updated locations where herbicides were used for the purpose of determining veterans’ benefits. In essence, the updated policy grants the DoD the authority to determine veterans’ benefits related to herbicide exposures.
The VA and DOD must tell us everything they know about where these deadly herbicides were spread! There is poison in the air, the soil, and water, and people are dying from it.
The social media presence of the Armed Forces Pest Management Board is lacking. Visit their website: https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/afpmb/ It is impossible to find any information pertaining to herbicide usage or veterans’ claims. When do they meet to discuss herbicide-related reviews? The entire issue has disappeared from public view. Many of the links on the site are dead. Where is Congress in all of this? Have they abdicated their authority to the DOD in these matters?
Robert Wilkie
Robert Wilkie served as President Trump’s Secretary of Veterans Affairs from 2018 to 2021.
Wilkie ceded the VA’s control over Agent Orange issues to the Pentagon. Under Wilkie, the DOD became de facto determiner of veterans’ benefits. This is not the way it is supposed to be. The VA has historically been obligated to take care of veterans and to provide benefits to those harmed by herbicides.
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Congress intervened through the GAO in 2018 with concerns that the VA and the DOD were not on the same page over what constitutes a location that should be included on the list of testing and storage locations of Agent Orange.
The GAO recommended that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in collaboration with the Secretary of Defense, should develop clear and transparent criteria for what constitutes a location where Agent Orange was used.
From the GAO report: “The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) non-concurred with GAO's recommendation, stating that it did not agree to be the lead on this recommendation. VA did note that it would support the Department of Defense (DOD) as the lead, given that DOD chairs the Herbicide Orange Working Group (HOWG) and has sole access to the information on storage, transport, and usage of Agent Orange.”
In effect, the VA washed its hands of determining who should be entitled to compensation for exposure to Agent Orange. The VA knows the DoD lacks great expertise in matters of environmental health.
It should be the responsibility of the VA to carefully administer the Agent Orange presumptive review process in collaboration with the DoD.
We must clarify the process for determining the presumption of service connection for exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange under Federal Law. A presumption of service connection occurs when the VA automatically assumes that a veteran's disability was caused by their military service.
In some cases, veterans may be awarded a presumption of service connection to their disease. This removes the need for veterans to provide a medical nexus, which is a letter from a medical professional that links a veteran's condition to their military service. The VA would simply say, “You are approved for compensation because you have bladder cancer, and you served at such and such a base.”
The VA has recently proposed a rule that expands locations at a handful of bases in the U.S. where Veterans are presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange. It is good to see, but there has been extensive stateside use of herbicide mixtures, including the active toxins in Agent Orange, 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D at nearly 100 bases where there is no admission by the DOD/VA the toxins were used.
The VA often copies and pastes these words when rejecting claims from veterans: “The record does not reflect that the Veteran served in Vietnam. The most probative evidence of record fails to establish that the Veteran was exposed to toxic herbicides while serving at Fort Ord, California.”
In other words, “Dear Veteran, you couldn’t be suffering from Agent Orange exposure at Fort Ord because it wasn’t there.”
2,4,5‐Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5‐T) was banned in 1979. 2,4-D is still widely used throughout the U.S. The 2,4,5-T in Agent Orange contains 2,3,7,8-Tetra-chloro-dibenzo-dioxin or 2,3,7,8-TCDD, known simply as dioxin, one of the deadliest substances known.
The record clearly shows the Army sprayed 2,4,5-T alone at Fort Ord, California, meaning the carcinogenic herbicides used at times were deadlier than the Agent Orange used in Vietnam.
Google: va.gov "citation nr:" "agent orange" "Fort Ord" and read the testimony from cases where Fort Ord veterans describe being exposed to Agent Orange. You can substitute the names of other bases, like Fort McClellan where Agent Orange was used. The VA and the DOD team up to routinely deny legitimate claims from sick veterans.
The VA’s proposed rule reads in part, “Given that DoD will continue to maintain and update the list of locations where certain herbicide agents were used, tested or stored, the VA proposes to implement a regulatory presumption of exposure that can evolve with the most current DoD list.” The DOD is the gatekeeper.
It’s unlikely the DoD will ever provide accurate supporting documentation on where herbicides are tested, stored, and used to support the VA’s Presumption Decision Process for benefits. There is no oversight over the DOD’s listing of locations.
We can only speculate how the VA’s non-concurrence came about. We don’t know if the VA’s environmental health experts were actively engaged in this process. We are certain the U.S. government has been relieved of significant financial liability.
The VA’s presumption decision process should be transparent, evidence-based, and veteran-centric. The care of veterans is threatened with the DOD calling the shots.
The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine
(National Academies) gives the VA a failing grade
The passage of the PACT Act by Congress in 2022 required the National Academies to review the VA’s presumption decision process. Congress aimed to ensure the process was “fair and consistent.”
The VA got a failing grade.
From the National Academies review of the VA’s presumption Review Process:
The National Academies found that the criteria the VA used to review evidence were often not provided. The National Academies identified several overarching concerns with the VA presumption decision process: the lack of description such that the committee was unable to judge if scientific best practices are used; weak logical flow; and lack of details, criteria, or standards.
The subsequent VA responses to committee queries made it difficult for the National Academies to judge the scientific appropriateness of the process and whether its elements are fair, consistent, transparent, and veteran centric.
It means the veterans and their dependents and children who are suffering from the effects of Agent Orange exposure at bases in the U.S. are denied the help they’re entitled to.
Let’s not forget people suffering in places around the world like the Panama Canal Zone where Donna Tornoe has meticulously documented the use of Agent Orange. Soldiers, dependents, and civilians have been sickened, and they have been denied compensation.
The National Academies recommended that the presumption decision process be reviewed periodically by an entity “internal or external to VA” with the appropriate expertise to assess whether scientifically based, fair, consistent, transparent, timely, and veteran-centric decisions have been made and whether any modifications to improve the process are necessary.
In the aftermath of the VA’s abdication of its responsibilities in this arena, reviews of the presumption decision process must be carried out by a truly independent entity outside of the control of the VA or the DOD.
Dr. Kyle Horton, MD, MBA, is a physician, board certified with the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons (NBPAS). She is the Founder and CEO of the nonprofits, On Your Side Health and On Your Side Action, which are focused on health equity, improving veterans care, and fostering healthier and safer environments. She knows the issue as well as anyone. Kyle came up with a strong list of demands.
The following changes must be implemented to adhere to National Academies principles, especially pertaining to the current policy for review of additional locations where herbicides were used or stored.
Remove the authority assigned to the Armed Forces Pest Management Board (AFPMB) and instead expect AFPMB to respond in a timely and transparent manner to any and all requests for evidence of herbicide use by the VA’s Presumption Decision Process.
Create a process whereby any and all reviews by AFPMB for the purposes of Veterans benefits determinations are conducted with oversight by outside individuals with environmental health expertise from the VA.
Follow through on all recommendations made by NASEM to improve the scientific validity, transparency, and veteran-centric nature of the Presumption Decision Process.
A transparent process must be created, including a point of contact, for Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) to raise their concerns for exposures that they believe meet the threshold for review for presumption of benefits for herbicides and other exposures.
Convene regular, transparent and publicized meetings where VSOs can review those concerns raised by their fellow Veterans that they believe merit an assessment for presumption to ensure that there is transparency and consistency in how exposures are being filtered and entered into the Presumption Decision Process review.
Add Veteran toxic exposure advocate members to the core committees in the Presumption Decision Process review process.
The National Academies review of the VA’s Presumption Decision Process is the first time the public has had a glimpse of what the process may actually entail! There is a complete lack of trust and transparency.
How does this actually play out? Let’s look at the first phase of the so-called “process.”
The process begins with Letter A #1 – HOME monitoring of VHA health care and mortality data and DOD exposure data.” The DOD’s data would suggest that "tactical" Agent Orange was never used at Fort Ord. The DOD must come clean, and until it does, the entire presumption decision process is tainted. Item #2 calls for the monitoring of Veterans Benefits Administration, (VBA) data. The VBA identifies the costs associated with eligibility determinations. We don’t want to see a process dictated by dollars. #1 - it’s not there; #2 - we don’t have the money to pay for it. #3 Yikes!
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Special thanks to Denise Trabbic-Pointer, MS, a retired (2019) chemical engineer certified in Hazardous Material Management. Denise volunteers her efforts as a Toxics and Remediation Specialist with the Sierra Club as a technical resource for communities affected by toxic chemicals in air, water and soil.