Orange is the old black Will Blue Water veterans finally win the herbicide battle ?
I n 2006 , the 28th Guam Legislature created the Guam Right To Know Commission tasked to gather information about the storage and disposal of toxic chemicals such as Agent Orange and other herbicides used by the U . S . military in the island between 1954 and 1973 .
The creation of this body was prompted by the Department of Veterans Affairs ? 2005 decision granting the medical benefits claimed by a veteran who attributed his medical condition to his exposure to Agent Orange while he was stationed at Andersen Air Force Base from 1966 to 1968 . The DVA regional office in Boston established that ? diabetes mellitus is related to the veteran ? s active service .? Local officials interpreted that ruling as an official confirmation that toxic agents were used on Guam .
The Guam Right to Know Commission opened an independent office in Hagatna but nothing came of it . With no clear mission to accomplish and no work ever initiated , the commission shut down after more than a year .
The 2005 decision did not exactly set the precedent for other veterans ? claims that followed . The DVA has since been inconsistent with its on subsequent rulings on other claims ? most of which were denied due to a lack of official confirmation from the U . S . military that Agent Orange was used on Guam .
Agent Orange was one of the defoliants ? known as ? rainbow herbicides " ? used by the U . S . military as part of its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971 . They were used to destroy bushes , trees and vegetation to deprive insurgents of cover and food crops as part of a starvation campaign in the early 1950s .
Some of the veterans have passed away without receiving any of the benefits they believed were due them . Despite dozens of testimony from veterans who claimed to have sprayed the chemical at various military-owned properties between 1960s and 1970s , the U . S . military repeatedly dismissed their accounts as a myth . Responding to the veterans ? FOIA request in 2011 , Phillip Grone and Alvin Young , both of the Department of Defense records section , said there were 5,000 barrels of Agent Purple that were stored on Guam for use in Korea . They said these herbicides weren ' t used on Guam and were sent to Camp Detrick after the Korean War , from 1950 thru 1953 .
In the late 1980s , the veterans ? Agent Orange claims were shrugged off by the fiscal conservatives and wound up becoming a battleground for Republicans and Democrats in the U . S . Congress .
Guam veterans have since been left out of Agent Orange compensation packages made available in
By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
recent years to those deployed on Vietnam . This is a battle that the veterans have been fighting since they left the service . But they persist , taking their campaign on social media . After a series of telling and retelling their stories to international media and other forums , they finally caught the national and local politicians ? attention .
Sen . Fernando Estevez has a created a task force that will provide the reports and data collected from the local community to the Office of Guam Delegate Madeleine Z . Bordallo ? in hopes of bringing clarity and action regarding use of hazardous chemicals on Guam .? The task force ? s main goal , he added , is to ensure that the federal government acknowledge its use of the toxic chemicals , provide treatment to rightful benefits , and clean up contaminated sites .
Gov . Eddie Calvo issued a corresponding order to the Guam Environmental Agency and recently received a pledge of assistance from US EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt .
The veterans , however , can only hope this is not another flash in the pan .
China Navigation opens Guam , Saipan routes
The China Navigation Company , which operates Swire Shipping , has expanded its service frequency between Asia and Micronesia by adding Guam and Saipan to its routes effective February .
Headquartered in Singapore , the China Navigation Company has signed an agreement with Kyowa Shipping Co . Ltd ? to charter space to each other on an as needed / as available basis in the trade between Korea on the one hand , and Guam and Saipan on the other hand .?
? There will be up to four sailings per month from Asia to Guam and Saipan , offering faster multipurpose liner services ,? the Swire Shipping said in a statement .
Swire Shipping has shipping links among over 130 ports in Asia , the Pacific Islands , Australia , New Zealand , North America , Europe , the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent . The Tokyo-based Kyowa Shipping provides three direct liner services via Busan and Japan connecting Asian and European ports to the Pacific Islands .
Swire Shipping announced plans to upgrade its service with the arrival of MV Kyowa Orchid v67s in Saipan on June 3 and Guam on Aug . 3 . ? Thereafter vessels will arrive every 9.5 days into Guam and Saipan ,? Swire Shipping said . ( Pacific Island Times News Staff )
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