Hand from 1961 until 1971; and
WHEREAS, Nearly 20 million gallons of the orange powder were
sprayed over the land from helicopters or low-flying aircraft,
destroying vegetation and crops in order to deprive enemy
guerrillas of food and cover for their activities and exposing
2.6 million American soldiers to the herbicide and defoliant
chemical; and
WHEREAS, Agent Orange is a dioxin and cancer-causing chemical
that enters the body through physical contact or ingestion and
moves into the human cell nucleus, where it attacks the genes
and causes a number of serious illnesses, including leukemia,
lymphoma, myeloma, ischemic heart disease, soft tissue sarcoma,
amyloidosis, diabetes and cancers of the throat, prostate, lung
and colon; and
WHEREAS, Agent Orange also causes genetic damage, and in some
cases, the children and grandchildren of veterans exposed to
Agent Orange have been born with spina bifida and other
abnormalities; and
WHEREAS, Today, only 600,000 Vietnam veterans exposed to
Agent Orange are alive, and approximately 390 deaths occur among
them every day; and
WHEREAS, While fallen comrades are memorialized on The Wall
at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, those
veterans who are victims of Agent Orange are not recognized as
fatalities of the Vietnam War; and
WHEREAS, It is most appropriate that we should honor these
veterans to the full extent of our ability, as they have made
untold and innumerable sacrifices to preserve the liberties that
we enjoy today and that our progeny will hopefully continue to
cherish for generations to come; and
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