HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Del. James Moylan won’t discount the Guam Legislature’s attempt at urging the federal government to compensate residents for Agent Orange exposure and said he eventually will introduce legislation to address it.
However the undertaking is projected to require significant funding and Moylan’s office stated it will have to “work with realities” and “strategize things practically.”
The delegate’s office is prioritizing the identification of funds for a one-year extension of funding meant to address local impacts from the Compacts of Free Association, Supplemental Security Income and infrastructure necessities.
Moylan doesn’t want to pledge funds already allotted for Guam for the Agent Orange exposure program, his office stated.
“He would like to work with Congress on a realistic solution, despite understanding that process would take time,” the delegate’s office told The Guam Daily Post.
Around this time last year, President Joe Biden signed the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, known as the PACT Act. It expanded benefits and services for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances, including herbicide exposure coverage for Vietnam War veterans who served on Guam, American Samoa, Johnston Atoll and other locations.
The bill’s passage was a hard-fought battle following years of advocacy and testimony from veterans and others that Agent Orange or other toxic herbicides were used on Guam, despite long-standing denials from the federal government.
A 2018 U.S. Government Accountability Office report stated at least one ship carrying Agent Orange stopped at Apra Harbor en route to Vietnam more than 50 years ago, but there was no evidence indicating the cargo was offloaded on Guam. The report did acknowledge that Agent Orange components were used on Guam in commercial herbicides.
Then, in May 2020, the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School published a white paper stating the weight of evidence strongly showed that veterans who served on Guam from 1958 to 1980 likely were exposed to herbicides containing dioxin, including Agent Orange.
A bipartisan group of local lawmakers introduced Resolution 29-37, urging Congress and the federal executive branch to “treat Guam residents and nonveterans in the manner equal to the treatment now given to military veterans in providing funding and compensation to those who are suffering from ailments as a result of exposure to Agent Orange on Guam.”
The resolution went through a public hearing July 31.
Dr. Vincent Akimoto, a family physician, supported the resolution, stating the nonmilitary use of Agent Orange on Guam likely has contributed to the development of certain cancers and presumptive conditions.
“It is more likely than not that some of the land and water on our island has been contaminated by the nonmilitary use of toxins contained in the defoliants used on the military bases here on Guam,” Akimoto said. “And many of my patients come to us in the clinics still now with diseases that are more likely than not caused by exposures, either to themselves as young people or perhaps to their mothers while they were still in their mother’s womb.”
Marine Corps veteran Brian Moyer, founder of the Agent Orange Survivors of Guam and now legislative director for Military-Veterans Advocacy Inc., said his organization asked Moylan’s office to introduce a bill to provide medical coverage through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for CHamoru families and military dependents with the same Agent Orange-related illnesses as veterans who served on Guam.
He also applauded Moylan and his staff for the introduction of H.R. 1191, or the Correcting Guam’s History in the PACT Act, a measure that would amend the exposure date on Guam in the PACT Act to Aug. 15, 1958. The current date is Jan. 9, 1962.
“The Aug. 15, 1958, (date) is based upon an actual Navy publication that was found in the archives at the University of Guam when the PACT Act had taken on a life of its own,” Moyer said.
Military-Veterans Advocacy is engaged with trying to get exposure coverage for veterans of Okinawa and the Panama Canal Zone, Moyer said.
The group also is seeking to reform the “archaic” appeals process at Veterans Affairs, which impacts CHamoru veterans who are having to wait years before getting a hearing with a Board of Veterans Appeals member, according to Moyer. He said, in many cases, veterans will die before having hearings.
Moylan’s office stated the delegate has had several conversations with veterans organizations in Washington, D.C., on the topic of Agent Orange exposure. That led to the introduction to H.R. 1191.
The bill has 32 co-sponsors in the House, but the issue is funding.
“The delegate would have to work with the appropriations committee to identify which national funding options can be reduced or eliminated. This conversation is currently ongoing,” Moylan’s office stated.
The estimate to compensate Guam civilians exposed to toxic herbicides is much larger, in the billions of dollars, according to Moylan’s office. And while Moylan supports the intent of establishing a plan to compensate civilians, that money would need to be identified from somewhere.
Bobby Shringi, Moylan’s chief of staff, said the office wants to build traction with H.R. 1191 and plant a seed in Congress this term, comparing the compensation of Guam civilians exposed to Agent Orange with the struggle for Guam war claims.
“This is not something that’s going to be solved in this Congress. This is something where we have to plant the seeds and let it grow into something that may materialize in several years,” Shringi said. “We have to play this thing right, we have to work with the appropriators. But it’s not going to happen overnight.”
Jon Mitchell’s book “Poisoning the Pacific” details research on contamination by the military in the Pacific region, including Guam.
James Moylan
