Used in Vietnam to defoliate trees and remove concealment for the enemy, Agent Orange and other herbicides left a legacy of suffering and disability that continues to the present.                                          The new rule will bring the number of illnesses presumed to be associated with herbicide exposure to 14 and significantly expand the current leukemia definition to include a much broader range of leukemias beyond chronic lymphocytic leukemia previously recognized by VA.                                                                                             In practical terms, Veterans who served in Vietnam during the war and who have a “presumed” illness don’t have to prove an association between their illnesses and their military service.  This “presumption” simplifies and speeds up the application process for benefits.

Other illnesses previously recognized under VA’s “presumption” rule as being caused by exposure to herbicides during the Vietnam War are:                               AL Amyloidosis     Acute and Subacute Transient Peripheral Neuropathy,    Chloracne or other Acneform Disease consistent with Chloracne,    Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, (now being expanded)    Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2),    Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma,    Porphyria Cutanea Tarda,    Prostate Cancer,    Respiratory Cancers (Cancer of the lung, bronchus, larynx, or trachea),     Soft Tissue Sarcoma (other than Osteosarcoma, Chondrosarcoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, or Mesothelioma).

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