Exposed Soldiers Await Acknowledgement and Action from VA and Congress
There is a House Bill that stalled in the U.S. 112th Congress (H.R. 2052) called the Ft McClellan Health Registry Act.
It calls for the U.S. Government and the VA to act responsibly and take care of the health issues that soldiers experienced, and continue to suffer from today.
Why? These soldiers health issues are due to EPA recognized PCB exposure, with has damaging affects similar to Agent Orange exposure, while serving at Ft McClellan, a U.S. Army base in Alabama.
Fort McClellan Alabama, situated in the town of Anniston and the county of Calhoun Alabama, should retroactively inform all veterans stationed there from 1950 1998 to report immediately for independent health screenings to determine those who are most likely suffering from long term disability or diseases which are wholly matching to PCB exposure, Sarin Gas exposure, Germ Warefare exposure, (CN) Gas Exposure, and VX emission exposure.
Many people do not realize that PCB is a principal component of agent orange. Or that Monsanto was the company manufacturing PCB and helping the Military make agent orange. It is due to this relationship that Anniston, Alabama is the site of one of the worst cases of chemical poisoning. They had Monsanto dumping tons of PCBs into the town and Fort McClellan nearby where the Army had their only stateside factory producing live agents of agent orange.
The following facts apply:
1. No agency to date in Alabama or otherwise has made
any official notification to the McClellan veterans about
the town-wide PCB contamination zone which existed there
since the 1930′s from the former Monsanto and Solutia
2. Gulf War likened illnesses and syndromes have emerged
in the McClellan population group even though most are
from the Korean and Vietnam Era years of service.
Read This Heartbreaking Story from One Exposed Veteran:
Gary Cox, Ret., U.S. Army Military Police Corps
“We were exposed to toxic PCBs that were used in Agent Orange. These toxins cause many illnesses, tumors, cancer, birth defects……. After many cases and complaints, the EPA got involved in the 90s, Ft McClellan was deemed a hazardous waste site, and was shut down by 1999.
For years the solders and veterans were not told of the hazardous exposure they endured. There is plenty of documentation to support the bill and to show that something should have been done a long time ago.
While at Ft McClellan in 1985, my wife and I found a bulge on my left rib cage. I was told by the doctors there that it was “nothing”. A few months later, while in Korea, I had to have exploratory surgery to remove a tumor that was there. A year later doctors found another 13 1/2 pound rare tumor, that left me disabled. Since then I have had many other problems, including diabetes.
Please help me and the others fighting to get word spread about this issue. If you, or someone you know has ever spent any time at all at Ft McClellan, AL it is a must to check into. If you support the troops and veterans, and want justice for us, please re-post this to spread the word.”
Thank you,
Gary Cox
Ret., U.S. Army Military Police Corps
Petitions supporting H.R.-2052:
Read other news articles related to Ft McClellan Agent Orange Exposure :
- http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0101-02.htm
- http://m.upi.com/story/UPI-26761307079624/
- http://lawenforcementtoday.com/2012/07/03/poisoned-patriots-of-ft-mcclellan/ .
Are you serious? Every link I tried on your HR 2052 writings puts me on the Whitehouse.gov e-mail list. There is nothing I trust less than the government as they are the ones who put me in my condition! And to become one of Barak Obama’s “friends” is not something I EVER INTEND TO DO! This is wrong in so many ways i can’t even begin to tell you. According to the EPA reports i have read there was no AO at Ft. Mac. I an starting to believe this may be a trick to confuse the issues we suffer from to allow congress to deny HR2052 yet again. If you think you are helping, you are not! You may well be cutting our collective throats by doing this in this way. I will let this be known on facebook so as to stop others from falling into this trap! There are other ways to sign the petition without supporting a second disaster of a term.
Many people do not realize that PCB is a principal component of agent orange. Or that Monsanto was the company manufacturing PCB and helping the Military make agent orange. It is due to this relationship that Anniston, Alabama is in fact the site of one of the worst cases of chemical poisoning.
You don’t have to take my word for it…I’m just a stupid girl who can read: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/03/14/agent-orange-and-the-fort-mcclellan-connection/
I am a veteran, but I was a dependant in 1976 at the Fort. My husband was in training for Military Police. I don’t see anything where concessions for dependants stationed on the base. I have health issues that are not part of my family medical history. I am wondering if non-military people were considered?
Janet,
I am sorry to hear of this, and that is why this bill seeks to establish a registry of who was there and when.
There are some great resources that elaborate on this issue here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/05/1013039/-Fort-McClellan-Monsanto-PCBs-Me
You can also read about the 700 Million Dollar Settlement given to 20,000 RESIDENTS of Anniston, Alabama by Solutia, Inc and Monsanto in August of 2003. Because each resident in the lawsuit received some sort of compensation, I believe that Military personnel and their dependents deserve the same. The only way to know who else was at Fort Hood, and establish a large enough number to build a lawsuit would take…you guessed it….a REGISTRY.
Here is the link to the Bill Text from the Library of Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.2052:
For anyone interested in tracking H.R. 2052, you can try any one of the following:
1) http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr2052
2) http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h2052/show
3) http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/112_HR_2052.html
4) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.2052: