Resolution
 

Supporting the Opposition of Fraud by the U.S. Government upon Disabled Veterans
 

WHEREAS, our military men and women answered our country’s call to arms against an enemy of the United States of America, during World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf Wars I and II and other conflicts, in blind obedience of our Commanders-In Chief, with complete trust and confidence that our government would make our safety a top priority, sending us into the battle zone with the necessary care, caution and resources, including protective gear; and 

WHEREAS, our military and civilian leaders knew, or should have known beforehand, the side effects (which were readily available from the MSDS- Manufacturer Safety Data Sheets), the potentially devastating damage to every cell of tissue in our bodies, in spraying the mixture of deadly chemicals, including dioxin, cacodylic acid (arsenic), picloram, benzene and others, directly on top of us; thereby, poisoning the environment around us, including our drinking and bathing water, our food, and the air we breathed; and 

WHEREAS, our military leaders, with full knowledge that our personal belongings and the fabric souvenirs we brought back to our loved ones were heavily impregnated with deadly chemicals, were further recklessly derelict in their duty to warn us so that we could have taken precautionary measures to avoid contaminating our beloved wives and our children; and 

WHEREAS, although the many harmful side effects of Agent Orange (AO) chemicals were and are readily available from the product  labels of the various manufacturers, who had already conducted the necessary lab mice research before placing their product on the market, the US Military waited several years before investigating itself through sham ‘research or studies,’ of the illnesses of affected veterans, (research tainted from the very beginning by deceivingly comparing Vietnam veterans against a group of Dow Chemical employees who had no even been exposed to Agent Orange) totally blocking, on orders from President Ronald Reagan because “compensation would be too expensive.” The very credible, comprehensive and damning government-directed research which Admiral Elmo Zumwalt and a staff of competent medical personnel prepared for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (including information The VA did not want to hear); and 

WHEREAS, the National Academy of Science, Institute of Medicine (IOM), which was contracted to do the official research, for VA to base its compensation decisions against veterans, admits in its 1998 (1999) update that, “…..too little is known about the herbicide exposure of veterans to make a meaningful determination of the increased risk, if any, of these outcomes among Vietnam veterans….., and …the toxicity of the herbicides used in Vietnam has never been (thoroughly) studied,” yet our claim is denied on THIS conclusive information!!! 

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that VA cease the sham AO studies and finally acknowledge ALL the illnesses affecting our veterans and their families and those who died because of these chemicals. And to acknowledge that the time has long passed to correct this cruel injustice against our veterans and that wrongfully denied compensation be immediately awarded, including retroactive benefits, for their painful unwarranted suffering. 

Submitted by Placido Salazar, VP for Veterans’ Affairs, USAF E6 Retired.

Adopted this 10th day of July 2004.

Hector M. Flores
LULAC National President