Vietnam Vets Still Joining Suit Against Makers of Agent Orange

Robert Torres still worries that a rash he suffered while serving with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam in 1966 may have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange, which was used to eliminate foliage that could conceal enemy troops and is now believed by many to be capable of causing a wide range of medical problems.

So on Thursday, after hearing of an approaching deadline for veterans to join as plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against companies that manufactured the chemical, Torres dropped by the Vet Center on Harbor Boulevard in Anaheim to pick up an application form.

A $180-million settlement of the suit was tentatively approved in September by a federal judge in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, but final approval awaits completion of a plan to be worked out by veterans and the court on how to distribute the funds. The judge previously set a deadline that expired at midnight Wednesday for veterans to mail the forms but acted last month to extend the deadline so that any forms received by Jan. 15 would be accepted.

Torres, 39, now a housing rehabilitation counselor with the City of Anaheim, said he heard of the midnight deadline late Wednesday. He was afraid he had missed his chance to sign up, but learned Thursday morning of the extension, he said.

Torres said that because he now has no apparent medical problems caused by Agent Orange, he believes he probably would not share in the settlement unless he develops symptoms in the future. But he wanted to register his name in the event that he develops medical problems and also to express support for the concept that “the companies that produced the chemicals have a liability,” he said.

“Whether I’ll get anything, I don’t know,” he said. “I’m not so much interested in getting the money . . . . I would like to see it assist someone that really needs it.”

All 2.7 million veterans who spent time in Vietnam are eligible to sign up to join the suit. More than 100,000 applications have been received, according to Robert Heinemann, clerk for U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein, who is presiding over the case in Brooklyn.

The Jan. 15 deadline applies only to veterans who allege they already have problems caused by the chemical and does not prevent those who develop symptoms later from applying then, Heinemann said. “The settlement itself even speaks of after-born children,” he noted.

Who will receive money from the fund, or even who will choose the recipients, will not be determined for some time, Heinemann said.

In the settlement, reached just before a jury trial would have begun, the seven chemical companies that manufactured Agent Orange agreed to set up the fund--one of the largest product liability settlements ever--but they specifically refused to accept that Agent Orange caused the veterans’ medical problems.

Agent Orange contained dioxin, one of the most potent of poisons, which has been linked to cancer and nerve and organ damage. The chemical companies argue that the amount to which Vietnam veterans were exposed was too minute to be dangerous.

Veterans maintain that, besides direct contact, they were poisoned by consuming dioxin-tainted food and water and that there have been too many cases of strange illnesses among veterans and birth defects in their children to attribute to chance.

The question is still open. A 1983 Defense Department study of 1,269 Air Force crewmen assigned to spraying planes, who were often soaked with the chemical daily as they worked, found no unusual incidence of cancer among them after 20 years. But the study cautioned that some effects may take longer than 20 years to appear.

David Ferrier, an outreach counselor at the Anaheim Vet Center, located at 859 S. Harbor Blvd., said that while he personally believes Agent Orange is responsible for medical problems in some veterans, he believes that fears about what exposure to the chemical may mean in the future are a great burden for many more.

“This is one more way of heightening that sense of alienation and rejection” that some Vietnam veterans feel, Ferrier said.

While Thursday was a quiet day at the center, with only a handful of people like Torres coming in to pick up forms, more than 200 veterans who had heard of the midnight Wednesday deadline came in over the past week to pick up forms, staff members said.

Ferrier said that one benefit of having so many people come in for the forms is that people who might appreciate counseling services were getting an introduction to the storefront center, which focuses on individual and group counseling.

Taking Names, Numbers

“We’ve been here for almost five years, and we’ve seen around 2,000 veterans,” Ferrier said. “In the last week, we’ve seen about 10% of that . . . . Some of them broke down and cried. Some of them obviously wanted to talk about more than how to fill out the form.”

Ferrier said that with such an overwhelming number of veterans coming by the office in recent days, the staff concentrated on introducing themselves and the center and taking names and phone numbers to facilitate future contacts.

Kenneth Flint, team leader at the center, which is part of the Veterans Administration, said that the office is providing copies of the lawsuit forms as a “peripheral” activity.

“It’s just a service that we provide, just to meet a demand,” he said.

Flint stressed that the forms must actually arrive at an address in New York by Jan. 15 and that the postmark is irrelevant for this latest deadline.

“It should be mailed before Jan. 12, or a little earlier, if possible,” he said.

Forms received after Jan. 15 will not be thrown away but will be date-stamped and kept separate from those received on time, Flint said. It is possible that the judge may allow action on these applications as well, depending on circumstances of the claims and developments in the handling of the settlement, Flint said.

Flint said he fears that many people mistakenly believe they are applying to the Veterans Administration for benefits or think that they are signing up for virtually automatic receipt of a share of the settlement.

“We try to explain what it’s all about so they don’t feel they’re going to send a form in and get a check back in the mail,” he said.

Flint said his impression is that the average veteran who says he was exposed to Agent Orange but does not presently show medical symptoms probably will not receive any money. The available money is likely to go into funds for treatment of veterans or their children suffering from the effects of the chemical, he said.