Thailand Dog Handlers

Agent Orange Thailand: The Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs (SCVA) has been working with the VA for some time on the issue of agent orange medical benefit eligibility for veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange in Thailand. Those veterans were not covered by the special provisions of the Nehmer lawsuit. Nehmer was one of National Veterans Legal Services Program’s ( NVLSP) class action lawsuits against the VA. It invalidated VA's denials of all claims based on diseases related to Agent Orange exposure if such denials were made on or after September 25, 1985 and provided that these claims be readjudicated. [See Nehmer v. U.S. Dep't of Veterans Affairs, No. CV-86-6160 at ¶¶ 3 and 5 (N.D. Cal. May 14, 1991) (Final Stipulation and Order)]. Many veterans and surviving family members have received or are entitled to retroactive benefits due to Nehmer.
The SCVA in a 4 JAN message reports that the VA now agrees that since Department of Defense records were used to determine that it was as likely as not that herbicides such as used on the perimeter of Air Force bases in Thailand and the provisions of Agent Orange section 3.156(c) of the Code of Federal Regulations applies to previously denied claims. This means that if a veteran who has been service-connected for a disability related to exposure to herbicides in Thailand was denied benefits for that claim and later granted benefits on a subsequent claim, the date of the first claim is used to determine payments if all of the other requirements are met. A copy of the VA’s C&P Service Bulletin containing the new guidelines for Policy 211 can be viewed at https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=BDB328182CCB4E51&id=BDB328182CCB4E51%212669. Any veteran whose claim for herbicide exposure was denied and subsequently granted should request that VA provide benefits back to the date of the earlier application, if a later date was used to determine payments. [Source: Veteran Issues by Colonel Dan 4 Jan 2012 ++]