PRINTER'S NO. 1390
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
225
Session of
2022
INTRODUCED BY MASTRIANO, FONTANA, BROOKS, MARTIN, HUTCHINSON,
PHILLIPS-HILL, COSTA, MENSCH, J. WARD, VOGEL AND PITTMAN,
FEBRUARY 9, 2022
REFERRED TO RULES AND EXECUTIVE NOMINATIONS, FEBRUARY 9, 2022
A RESOLUTION
Recognizing and honoring victims of Agent Orange during the
Vietnam War.
WHEREAS, Our nation was conceived by individuals who were
willing to sacrifice their personal safety to ensure our
individual and collective freedom, and this Commonwealth is
especially proud to be the home of so many valiant men and women
who have performed above and beyond the call of duty; and
WHEREAS, The citizens of the United States have, throughout
the years, been called upon to take up arms against the enemies
of this great nation, risking their lives and leaving their
loved ones behind to honorably safeguard the freedoms and
liberties guaranteed to all Americans and vanquishing those who
threaten our way of life; and
WHEREAS, More than eight million citizens of this country
honorably served during the Vietnam War, during which time Agent
Orange was widely used in Vietnam by the United States Armed
Forces as part of the herbicidal warfare program Operation Ranch
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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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WHEREAS, The honoring of these veterans is long overdue;
therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate recognize and honor victims of
Agent Orange during the Vietnam War; and be it further
RESOLVED, That, with much contrition and empathy, the
Commonwealth pause in concurrence with many others to recognize
and honor our own, their families and the millions of Vietnam
Veterans harmed by the chemical herbicidal poisoning of Agent
Orange and acknowledge that our history attests to their
courageous service to our nation during a most turbulent time in
our nation's history.
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