A key official who helps adjudicate claims by veterans who say they were exposed to Agent Orange has downplayed the risks of the chemical herbicide and questioned the findings of scientists, journalists and a federal administrative tribunal that conflict with his views.
Jim Sampsel, a lead analyst within the Department of Veterans Affairs’ compensation service, told a VA advisory committee in March that he believes much of the renewed attention to Agent Orange – used during the Vietnam war to kill brush and deny cover to enemy troops — is the result of media “hype” and “hysteria,” according to a transcript of the meeting released to ProPublica.
“When it comes to Agent Orange, the facts don’t always matter,” said Sampsel, a Vietnam veteran who also handles Gulf War-related illness questions. “So we have to deal with the law as written.”
Part of Sampsel’s job is to review evidence to determine whether a veteran or group of veterans came in contact with Agent Orange outside of Vietnam. By law, veterans are presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange if they served or stepped foot in Vietnam; they have to prove exposure if they served at sea or in another country during the war.
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It took years but the VA finally acknowledged that my father's multiple myeloma and subsequent death was caused by exposure to Agent Orange. During one of his tours, he wasn't officially in Vietnam but stationed in Japan. He was, however, flying the stuff over there every day. The VA used this to say he wasn't stationed there so he wasn't exposed there and didn't deserve disability. Weak as he was, he didn't back down and eventually got the full disability he deserved. I've met many other children of Vietnam vets that died of multiple myeloma as well. Some were successful with the VA and some weren't.
. ...A relative of mine lost both legs on Omaha beach. For years after the war he had to present himself every 24 months to the VA (independent of any treatment visits) to prove that he was still disabled. (Maybe cheated and grew new legs?) ...Met an old man when I was in Texas in the early 1990s. My niece playing with his granddaughter. He was dying of 20 some-odd rare cancers. Until shortly before I met him the VA was denying that the fact that the Navy put him on shore for a couple of weeks at Nagasaki right after the shooting stopped had anything to do with his illnesses. At least he was around long enough to collect back benefits. (If they cut him a check and he died before he could cash it... the government impounds the funds and the family... who maybe supported him for many years... gets nothing...) https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/80e8cc4fcbf4238dae18107d03c728d6199b139d065ad885337126e93867fe5e.jpg (Troops advance towards atomic blast in one of numerous such idiotic exercises...) ...The VA flatly denied any claims from "Atomic veterans) from the 1950s. Then commissioned endless studies... then put burden of proof on vets... while limiting eligible illnesses... (Worked great for Agent Orange as well.) ...Gulf War Syndrome same thing. But a number of potential causes from depleted uranium rounds to titanic oil well fires pumping masses of nasty chemicals into the air. In later conflicts, massive dangerous burns of toxic chemicals. ...Oh, and don't forget Camp Lejeune... poisoning not only Marines, but their families... for decades. ...Anybody expecting "justice" from the VA (prior to years of heel dragging...) is apt to be disappointed... -YP-