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Senate bill would provide VA benefits for Vietnam vets with PD (s. 17 52) Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 04:20:00 GMT Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT), who sits on the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, introduced a bill (S. 1752) on October 5, 2009, which directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide wartime disability compensation for certain veterans with Parkinson’s disease. S. 1752 will create a presumption of service connection for disabled veterans living with Parkinson’s disease who were exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. The bill is identical to House bill H.R. 1428, which was introduced by Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) in March. In July of this year, the Institute of Medicine released a report concluding that there is “limited or suggestive evidence” of a link between exposure to Agent Orange and Parkinson’s disease in Vietnam veterans. While PAN strongly encourages continued study in this area to help improve diagnosis, prevention, and treatment methods, there is sufficient data to conclude that the VA should presume a service connection for these veterans disabled by Parkinson’s disease. By creating a presumption of service-connection, Vietnam veterans living with Parkinson’s will be able to obtain the compensation and medical care that they have earned and so desperately need. PAN is working with the U.S. Military Veterans with Parkinson’s, a group of over 200 Vietnam veterans living with Parkinson’s disease, to gain Congressional support for S. 1752 and H.R. 1428. The Parkinson’s community can help secure support for H.R. 1428/S. 1752 by e-mailing their Members of Congress and asking them to cosponsor this important legislation. Please contact your Senators to support S. 1752 You can email your Senators through the PAN website. see: http://www.parkinsonsaction.org/Senate-Bill-Supporting-Vietnam-Veterans-with-PD-Introduced .html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn