Change Watch: Door Opens to Health Claims Tied to Agent Orange

It's about time:

Under rules to be proposed this week, the Department of Veterans Affairs plans to add Parkinson’s disease, ischemic heart disease and hairy-cell leukemia to the growing list of illnesses presumed to have been caused by Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant used widely in Vietnam.

The proposal will make it substantially easier for thousands of veterans to claim that those ailments were the direct result of their service in Vietnam, thereby smoothing the way for them to receive monthly disability checks and health care services from the department.

The rest of the story: Door Opens to Health Claims Tied to Agent Orange by Janes Dao (The New York Times 2009-10-13)