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Milestone Allows VA to Refocus 1,200 Decision Makers on Claims Backlog
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/processing-of-retroactive-agent-orange-claims-nearly-complete-2012-06-19
WASHINGTON, Jun 19, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that nearly 230,000 claims have already been processed for the three newest Agent-Orange related conditions through June 2012, including over 150,000 claims required to be adjudicated under the order of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Nehmer v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The near completion of these complex Nehmer claims enables VA to redirect 1,200 employees who were dedicated to reviewing the Agent Orange cases toward addressing the current backlog of disability claims.
"I am proud of our VA employees who worked hard to complete these Agent Orange claims, putting over $3.6 billion into the hands of our Vietnam Veterans and their survivors," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "We completed all of the Agent Orange Nehmer claims for living Veterans, and are now focusing on the fewer than 500 remaining that will benefit survivors."
The Agent Orange claims stemmed from VA's 2010 amendment of its regulations to add ischemic heart disease, hairy cell and other chronic B-cell leukemias, and Parkinson's disease to the list of diseases presumed to be related to exposure to the herbicide used in Southeast Asia.
"While we work to transform how we do business through new processes and technology, at the end of the day it's about taking care of our Veterans and their loved ones on the issues affecting their lives," said Secretary Shinseki.
Given the complexity of the historical casework, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) allocated its most experienced decision makers, about 37 percent of its rating staff, to processing Agent Orange claims. VBA's 13 resource centers were exclusively dedicated to re-adjudicating these claims.
READ MORE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/processing-of-retroactive-agent-orange-claims-nearly-complete-2012-06-19
5 Temmuz 2012 Perşembe
Brazil court ruling will cost Monsanto $billions
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http://redgreenandblue.org/2012/06/19/brazil-court-ruling-will-cost-monsanto-billions/
Monsanto wins lawsuit, farmers will fight on Monsanto, the multinational agribusiness giant that brought us genetically modified (GMO) corn, soy, and cotton (as well as Agent Orange, dioxin, and other nasties), broke the rules in Brazil, and it’s going to cost them.
While US courts have been pretty tolerant of Monsanto (Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a former Monsanto employee), the Brazillian courts aren’t putting up with their bullshit. They ruled that a lawsuit from a group of farmers in one region should apply to all farmers across the country – which means Monsanto will end up owing between $2 billion and $7.5 billion.
What happened? The case was pretty straightforward.
Monsanto makes money off of patented seeds (something that didn’t even exist until just a few years ago; the notion that companies could patent life-forms would have appalled the founding fathers). It collects royalty payments from farmers.
But that wasn’t enough for Monsanto. I continued to collect royalties on their GMO soy seeds even after their patents had expired in Brazil. Why not? Farmers would have to sue them to get the money back, and Monsanto has had a pretty good track record beating farmers in court, and dragging cases out for years.
But a group of 5 million Brazilian farmers sued, and won.
Monsanto tried to argue that the ruling should only apply to the farmers in a single state, but the Supreme Court said “Don’t be ridiculous”.
Now the GMO giant will have to pay the $7.5 billion back.
Jane Berwanger, a lawyer for the farmers, attacked the very idea that Monsanto should be able to collect a royalty for every generation of their GMO seeds:
“Monsanto gets paid when it sells the seeds. The law gives producers the right to multiply the seeds they buy and nowhere in the world is there a requirement to pay (again).”
Monsanto has appealed the decision, and it make take years before the final ruling comes down.
Source: Red Green & Blue (http://s.tt/1f2UV)
http://redgreenandblue.org/2012/06/19/brazil-court-ruling-will-cost-monsanto-billions/Monsanto wins lawsuit, farmers will fight on Monsanto, the multinational agribusiness giant that brought us genetically modified (GMO) corn, soy, and cotton (as well as Agent Orange, dioxin, and other nasties), broke the rules in Brazil, and it’s going to cost them.
While US courts have been pretty tolerant of Monsanto (Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a former Monsanto employee), the Brazillian courts aren’t putting up with their bullshit. They ruled that a lawsuit from a group of farmers in one region should apply to all farmers across the country – which means Monsanto will end up owing between $2 billion and $7.5 billion.
What happened? The case was pretty straightforward.
Monsanto makes money off of patented seeds (something that didn’t even exist until just a few years ago; the notion that companies could patent life-forms would have appalled the founding fathers). It collects royalty payments from farmers.
But that wasn’t enough for Monsanto. I continued to collect royalties on their GMO soy seeds even after their patents had expired in Brazil. Why not? Farmers would have to sue them to get the money back, and Monsanto has had a pretty good track record beating farmers in court, and dragging cases out for years.
But a group of 5 million Brazilian farmers sued, and won.
Monsanto tried to argue that the ruling should only apply to the farmers in a single state, but the Supreme Court said “Don’t be ridiculous”.
Now the GMO giant will have to pay the $7.5 billion back.
Jane Berwanger, a lawyer for the farmers, attacked the very idea that Monsanto should be able to collect a royalty for every generation of their GMO seeds:
“Monsanto gets paid when it sells the seeds. The law gives producers the right to multiply the seeds they buy and nowhere in the world is there a requirement to pay (again).”
Monsanto has appealed the decision, and it make take years before the final ruling comes down.
Source: Red Green & Blue (http://s.tt/1f2UV)
Sen. Bernie Sanders - Label Genetically Engineered Food
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/label-genetically-enginee_b_1609814.html
In 49 countries around the world, including all of Europe, people have the opportunity of knowing whether or not they are eating food which contains genetically engineered ingredients. In the United States, we don't. That is why I have introduced, along with Sen. Barbara Boxer, an amendment to the agriculture bill which will give states the right to require labels on food products which are genetically engineered.
All over this country people are becoming more conscious about the foods they eat and serve their kids. When a mother goes to the store and purchases food for her child, she has the right to know what she is feeding her family.
Poll after poll during the past decade showed that nine out of 10 Americans agree that food with genetically engineered ingredients should say so on the label.
Almost 1 million Californians signed a petition to get labeling of genetically engineered food on this November's ballot. They want the right to know what is in their foods.
MORE: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/media/view/?id=ac2744bb-41dc-4d36-935b-d8154b6ea94a
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/LabelingSupport.pdf
In 49 countries around the world, including all of Europe, people have the opportunity of knowing whether or not they are eating food which contains genetically engineered ingredients. In the United States, we don't. That is why I have introduced, along with Sen. Barbara Boxer, an amendment to the agriculture bill which will give states the right to require labels on food products which are genetically engineered.
All over this country people are becoming more conscious about the foods they eat and serve their kids. When a mother goes to the store and purchases food for her child, she has the right to know what she is feeding her family.
Poll after poll during the past decade showed that nine out of 10 Americans agree that food with genetically engineered ingredients should say so on the label.
Almost 1 million Californians signed a petition to get labeling of genetically engineered food on this November's ballot. They want the right to know what is in their foods.
MORE: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/media/view/?id=ac2744bb-41dc-4d36-935b-d8154b6ea94a
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/LabelingSupport.pdf
"Agent Orange corn" and herbicide spark concern
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http://peoplesworld.org/agent-orange-corn-and-herbicide-spark-concern/
There's a main ingredient in Agent Orange called 2,4-D, and it's one of the latest toxic chemicals being pushed as an herbicide by Dow Chemical, CREDO Action reports. As the U.S. Food & Drug Administration decides whether to approve genetically modified corn that will be resistant to the chemical, the Environmental Protection Agency is considering stepping forward to restrict use of 2,4-D.
Agent Orange was used by the U.S. military as a defoliant during the Vietnam War, and was responsible for the deaths or injuries of an estimated 400,000 Vietnamese people during that time. Now one of its major ingredients - 2,4-D - is marketed by Dow Chemical to be used on fields by farmers.
Perhaps just as worrying is Dow's marketing of special modified "2,4-D-resistant corn." Nicknamed "Agent Orange corn," the genetically modified corn was created by Dow AgroScience, a division of Dow Chemical. It is engineered to be impervious to 2,4-D, but environmental activists and critics are not convinced of its safety.
READ MORE: http://peoplesworld.org/agent-orange-corn-and-herbicide-spark-concern/
http://peoplesworld.org/agent-orange-corn-and-herbicide-spark-concern/There's a main ingredient in Agent Orange called 2,4-D, and it's one of the latest toxic chemicals being pushed as an herbicide by Dow Chemical, CREDO Action reports. As the U.S. Food & Drug Administration decides whether to approve genetically modified corn that will be resistant to the chemical, the Environmental Protection Agency is considering stepping forward to restrict use of 2,4-D.
Agent Orange was used by the U.S. military as a defoliant during the Vietnam War, and was responsible for the deaths or injuries of an estimated 400,000 Vietnamese people during that time. Now one of its major ingredients - 2,4-D - is marketed by Dow Chemical to be used on fields by farmers.
Perhaps just as worrying is Dow's marketing of special modified "2,4-D-resistant corn." Nicknamed "Agent Orange corn," the genetically modified corn was created by Dow AgroScience, a division of Dow Chemical. It is engineered to be impervious to 2,4-D, but environmental activists and critics are not convinced of its safety.
READ MORE: http://peoplesworld.org/agent-orange-corn-and-herbicide-spark-concern/
Watch out for ‘Agent Orange corn’ coming to the stores
To contact us Click HERE
http://times-news.com/opinion/x1139580445/Watch-out-for-Agent-Orange-corn-coming-to-the-stores
To the Editor: Cumberland Times-News
It’s time to start listening to our weeds and cooperating with Mother Nature.
Thanks to her blessings and good farmers many of us can relish delicious delights like soon-to-be-harvested locally grown and farmers market-sold corn on the cob, popcorn, and several other variations on the great grain corn.
Thanks to certain chemical corporations and unscrupulous federal regulators we can tastily anticipate “Agent Orange corn.” It’s anticipated that approval is awaiting for putting a genetically modified corn kernel in our markets (not our farmers market) that produces corn plants that won’t die when sprayed w/copious amounts of 2,4D.
Any Vietnam vets out there who remember that awful stuff? That potent pesticide was in the mixture of Agent Orange defoliant which exposed our troops and innocent Vietnamese civilians to horribly debilitating physiological damage in that Asian war. The side effects are still with us today.
Certain agribusinesses and their feds do claim that 2,4D was not the deadliest chemical of the killer defoliant, which they use as a deceptive justifier for permission since “according to them” it hasn’t been exclusively proven to cause cancer in humans. That’s why we may see it Love Canalled across America.
So, for consumers worried about the untested long-term consequences of the modified corn and the carcinogenic dangers of digesting more 2,4D, tough! 2,4D is used to help kill various weeds, but the herbicide is so strong that it also kills nature’s own version of corn plants.
Hence, genetic engineers went into their corporate lab and created a new corn that’s immune to the weed killer. This allows the chemical maker to profit from selling the patented seed kernel, plus loving a gigantic increase in sales of its 2,4D herbicide.
Also, when sprayed, this herbicide vaporizes and spreads for miles, killing crops that are not immune, poisoning the surrounding environment and endangering the health of innocent farmers and townspeople throughout the area.
We’re downwind from Moorefield. PROBLEM!
Mother Nature is rebellious. So much poison was spread across America in the past decade that weeds naturally developed a resistance to it bringing America’s agribusiness giants to practice their usual approach when confronted with similar dilemmas of overpowering nature.
All I want to say is that they can take their genetically modified corn kernel and shuck it.
We need non-chemical, non-GMO, sustainable systems that work with nature. For more info go to Organic Consumers Association at www.OrganicConsumers.org.
Bill Arnold
Romney, W.Va.
To the Editor: Cumberland Times-News
It’s time to start listening to our weeds and cooperating with Mother Nature.
Thanks to her blessings and good farmers many of us can relish delicious delights like soon-to-be-harvested locally grown and farmers market-sold corn on the cob, popcorn, and several other variations on the great grain corn.
Thanks to certain chemical corporations and unscrupulous federal regulators we can tastily anticipate “Agent Orange corn.” It’s anticipated that approval is awaiting for putting a genetically modified corn kernel in our markets (not our farmers market) that produces corn plants that won’t die when sprayed w/copious amounts of 2,4D.
Any Vietnam vets out there who remember that awful stuff? That potent pesticide was in the mixture of Agent Orange defoliant which exposed our troops and innocent Vietnamese civilians to horribly debilitating physiological damage in that Asian war. The side effects are still with us today.
Certain agribusinesses and their feds do claim that 2,4D was not the deadliest chemical of the killer defoliant, which they use as a deceptive justifier for permission since “according to them” it hasn’t been exclusively proven to cause cancer in humans. That’s why we may see it Love Canalled across America.
So, for consumers worried about the untested long-term consequences of the modified corn and the carcinogenic dangers of digesting more 2,4D, tough! 2,4D is used to help kill various weeds, but the herbicide is so strong that it also kills nature’s own version of corn plants.
Hence, genetic engineers went into their corporate lab and created a new corn that’s immune to the weed killer. This allows the chemical maker to profit from selling the patented seed kernel, plus loving a gigantic increase in sales of its 2,4D herbicide.
Also, when sprayed, this herbicide vaporizes and spreads for miles, killing crops that are not immune, poisoning the surrounding environment and endangering the health of innocent farmers and townspeople throughout the area.
We’re downwind from Moorefield. PROBLEM!
Mother Nature is rebellious. So much poison was spread across America in the past decade that weeds naturally developed a resistance to it bringing America’s agribusiness giants to practice their usual approach when confronted with similar dilemmas of overpowering nature.
All I want to say is that they can take their genetically modified corn kernel and shuck it.
We need non-chemical, non-GMO, sustainable systems that work with nature. For more info go to Organic Consumers Association at www.OrganicConsumers.org.
Bill Arnold
Romney, W.Va.
4 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
WHO ARE THE VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA?
To contact us Click HERE
Founded in 1978, Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc. is the only national Vietnam veterans organization congressionally chartered and exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans and their families. VVA is organized as a not-for-profit corporation and is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Service Code.
VVA'S FOUNDING PRINCIPLE
"Never again shall one generation of veterans abandon another."
GOALS
VVA's goals are to promote and support the full range of issues important to Vietnam veterans, to create a new identity for this generation of veterans, and to change public perception of Vietnam veterans.
OUR FIRST PRINCIPLE
VVA holds as its first principle that the organization is measured by deeds and openness as evidence of the core values of justice, integrity, and meaningful achievement.
ORGANIZATION
Over 50,000 individual members.
43 state councils.
525 local chapters.
national board of directors
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
* Government Relations Advocacy on the range of veterans issues.
* National Task Force for Homeless Veterans.
* Health care for veterans, including disabled veterans.
* Issues pertaining to women and minority veterans.
* National scholarship fund.
* Program providing assistance to veterans seeking benefits/services from the government.
FUNDING
Vietnam Veterans of America relies totally on private contributions for its revenue. VVA does not receive any funding from federal, state, or local governments.
VVA'S FOUNDING PRINCIPLE
"Never again shall one generation of veterans abandon another."
GOALS
VVA's goals are to promote and support the full range of issues important to Vietnam veterans, to create a new identity for this generation of veterans, and to change public perception of Vietnam veterans.
OUR FIRST PRINCIPLE
VVA holds as its first principle that the organization is measured by deeds and openness as evidence of the core values of justice, integrity, and meaningful achievement.
ORGANIZATION
Over 50,000 individual members.
43 state councils.
525 local chapters.
national board of directors
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
* Government Relations Advocacy on the range of veterans issues.
* National Task Force for Homeless Veterans.
* Health care for veterans, including disabled veterans.
* Issues pertaining to women and minority veterans.
* National scholarship fund.
* Program providing assistance to veterans seeking benefits/services from the government.
FUNDING
Vietnam Veterans of America relies totally on private contributions for its revenue. VVA does not receive any funding from federal, state, or local governments.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
To contact us Click HERE
Vietnam Veterans of America, the nation's largest and most successful Vietnam veterans organization, and the only Vietnam veterans organization chartered by Congress, is proud of what it has accomplished over the last twenty years. Those accomplishments are many and varied.
They include:
* Rebuilding the camaraderie of Vietnam-era veterans and providing a sense of self-worth and pride in service.
* Holding biennial National Leadership Conferences and National Conventions, which provide a forum for veterans and their families to interact with community leaders and their counterparts from across the country.
* Creating and maintaining our Vietnam Veterans Assistance Fund (VVAF), a philanthropic effort that provides financial assistance to VVA, its state councils, and its chapters.
* Taking the lead in working with homeless veterans, including sponsorships of national and local symposiums and stand-downs. Among many other milestones in this area, VVA worked with congressman Lane Evans to hold the first-ever hearing on homeless veterans in the House of Veterans Affairs committee in September of 1986.
* Developing a unique program as a national advocate for Vietnam veterans who were subsequently incarcerated, helping them gain access to VA benefits and services to which they are entitled.
* Leading the fight for full accounting of POW/MIAs for twenty years. We hold as a profound trust and obligation the responsibility to account for those American service members who remain unrepatriated, missing, or otherwise unaccounted for as a result of their service to our country during the Vietnam War.
* Initiating the successful Veterans Initiative program, a veteran-to-veteran effort that, since 1991, has promoted the direct exchange of information on unaccounted-for American servicemen and Vietnamese war casualties between American and Vietnamese veterans. The Veterans Initiative has produced measurable results towards full accounting on both sides.
* Taking the lead on women veterans' issues, including ensuring recognition of service access to benefits and appropriate medical treatment of women veterans in VA facilities.
* With "never again will one generation of veterans abandon another" as its founding principle, VVA has reached out to veterans of other conflicts, including providing office space and significant tangible support to the National Gulf War Resource Center.
* Single-handedly leading the fight for judicial review of disabled veterans' claims for benefits. The result: In 1988, Congress passed a law creating the U.S. Court of Veterans appeals. This allowed veterans to appeal VA benefits denials to a court and required VA to obey the rule of law.
* Spearheading a long and successful lobbying effort to establish and maintain the Vet Center program.
* Providing unwavering advocacy for congressional passage of laws supporting increased job training and job-placement assistance for unemployed and underemployed Vietnam-era veterans.
* Taking the lead on minority veterans' issues, including early and staunch support for the creation of the Center of Minority Veterans and the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans Affairs.
* VVA has been the major force on the issue of Agent Orange for the past two decades. Our Nehmer v. Veterans Administration lawsuit, filed in 1986, forced the VA to begin compensating veterans with diseases linked to Agent Orange. VVA convinced Congress to pass the Agent Orange Act of 1991, which required the National Academy of Sciences to report on what diseases were related to Agent Orange. As a result, VA now pays compensation for nine such diseases.
* Being responsible for a 1996 law that, for the first time in our nation's history, provides medical care and compensation to the children of veterans whose parents suffer genetic damage from their military service-in this case Vietnam veterans' children with the birth defect spina bifida, which has been linked to their parents' exposure to Agent Orange.
* Running the Veterans Benefits Program, which provides education to veterans about government benefits to which they are entitled and trains individuals to represent veterans in their claims to secure benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Appeals.
* Consistently winning a higher percentage of cases at the VA's Board of Veteran's Appeals than any other veterans organization. VVA also has increased the number of cases they handle at the BVA, to an all-time high in FY 1998.
They include:
* Rebuilding the camaraderie of Vietnam-era veterans and providing a sense of self-worth and pride in service.
* Holding biennial National Leadership Conferences and National Conventions, which provide a forum for veterans and their families to interact with community leaders and their counterparts from across the country.
* Creating and maintaining our Vietnam Veterans Assistance Fund (VVAF), a philanthropic effort that provides financial assistance to VVA, its state councils, and its chapters.
* Taking the lead in working with homeless veterans, including sponsorships of national and local symposiums and stand-downs. Among many other milestones in this area, VVA worked with congressman Lane Evans to hold the first-ever hearing on homeless veterans in the House of Veterans Affairs committee in September of 1986.
* Developing a unique program as a national advocate for Vietnam veterans who were subsequently incarcerated, helping them gain access to VA benefits and services to which they are entitled.
* Leading the fight for full accounting of POW/MIAs for twenty years. We hold as a profound trust and obligation the responsibility to account for those American service members who remain unrepatriated, missing, or otherwise unaccounted for as a result of their service to our country during the Vietnam War.
* Initiating the successful Veterans Initiative program, a veteran-to-veteran effort that, since 1991, has promoted the direct exchange of information on unaccounted-for American servicemen and Vietnamese war casualties between American and Vietnamese veterans. The Veterans Initiative has produced measurable results towards full accounting on both sides.
* Taking the lead on women veterans' issues, including ensuring recognition of service access to benefits and appropriate medical treatment of women veterans in VA facilities.
* With "never again will one generation of veterans abandon another" as its founding principle, VVA has reached out to veterans of other conflicts, including providing office space and significant tangible support to the National Gulf War Resource Center.
* Single-handedly leading the fight for judicial review of disabled veterans' claims for benefits. The result: In 1988, Congress passed a law creating the U.S. Court of Veterans appeals. This allowed veterans to appeal VA benefits denials to a court and required VA to obey the rule of law.
* Spearheading a long and successful lobbying effort to establish and maintain the Vet Center program.
* Providing unwavering advocacy for congressional passage of laws supporting increased job training and job-placement assistance for unemployed and underemployed Vietnam-era veterans.
* Taking the lead on minority veterans' issues, including early and staunch support for the creation of the Center of Minority Veterans and the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans Affairs.
* VVA has been the major force on the issue of Agent Orange for the past two decades. Our Nehmer v. Veterans Administration lawsuit, filed in 1986, forced the VA to begin compensating veterans with diseases linked to Agent Orange. VVA convinced Congress to pass the Agent Orange Act of 1991, which required the National Academy of Sciences to report on what diseases were related to Agent Orange. As a result, VA now pays compensation for nine such diseases.
* Being responsible for a 1996 law that, for the first time in our nation's history, provides medical care and compensation to the children of veterans whose parents suffer genetic damage from their military service-in this case Vietnam veterans' children with the birth defect spina bifida, which has been linked to their parents' exposure to Agent Orange.
* Running the Veterans Benefits Program, which provides education to veterans about government benefits to which they are entitled and trains individuals to represent veterans in their claims to secure benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Appeals.
* Consistently winning a higher percentage of cases at the VA's Board of Veteran's Appeals than any other veterans organization. VVA also has increased the number of cases they handle at the BVA, to an all-time high in FY 1998.
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