For Your Benefit
For and about Hawaii's military
See also: In The Military
VA expands list of ills
with links to herbicideQuestion: A previous column mentioned that there were nine forms of cancer that have been found to be associated with exposure to Agent Orange herbicide. What are they?
Answer: The number of diseases the Department of Veterans Affairs has recognized as associated with (but not necessarily caused by) Agent Orange exposure has expanded considerably during the 1990s.
The following conditions are recognized for service connection for these veterans: chloracne (a skin disorder), porphyria cutanea tarda, acute or subacute peripheral neuropathy (a nerve disorder), type 2 diabetes, and numerous cancers (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, Hodgkin's disease, multiple myeloma, prostate cancer and respiratory cancers, including cancers of the lung, larynx, trachea and bronchus).
VA is in the process of adding chronic lymphocytic leukemia to this list.
In addition, Vietnam veterans' children with the birth defect spina bifida are eligible for certain benefits and services. Furthermore, VA now provides certain benefits, including health care, for children with birth defects who were born to female Vietnam veterans.
VA is doing research to learn more about the possible adverse health effects of military service in Vietnam. Summaries are available at www.va.gov/agentorange.
For more information on the presumptive diseases associated with Agent Orange, call 433-1000 or the VA Medical Center at 433-0600.
Q: I am currently taking VA medication, for a skin condition, that is hard on my clothes. Someone told me the VA provides a clothing allowance. Can you elaborate on this?
A: Any veteran who is entitled to receive compensation for a service-connected disability for which he or she uses prosthetic or orthopedic appliances may receive an annual clothing allowance. The allowance also is available to any veteran whose service-connected skin condition requires prescribed medication that irreparably damages the veteran's outer garments.
To apply for this benefit, contact the VA benefits section at 433-1000.
If you have questions about your benefits as a veteran,
call Fred Ballard at the Veterans Affairs at 433-0049
or visit the VA Web site at www.va.gov/hawaii
or the Star-Bulletin at 529-4747.Gregg K. Kakesako, who covers military affairs for the Star-Bulletin,
can be reached by phone at 294-4075
or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.
