Tag: foliage

Veterans’ Benefits for Agent Orange Exposure

  • A poster from the Department of Veterans Affairs offering help and resources to veterans exposed to Agent Orange. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Veterans Affairs)

The US Department of Veterans
Affairs is offering new help to
Vietnam-era vets. The VA says
it can now assist vets who have
ailments related to Agent Orange
exposure. Mark Brush has more:

Transcript

The US Department of Veterans
Affairs is offering new help to
Vietnam-era vets. The VA says
it can now assist vets who have
ailments related to Agent Orange
exposure. Mark Brush has more:

During the Vietnam War, the herbicide known as Agent Orange was sprayed over jungles and forests. It was used to strip the leaves from the trees and expose enemy soldiers.

Some US soldiers who were exposed to the herbicide have long complained about health problems.

Now, the Department of Veterans Affairs says it will help these veterans with disability benefits.

Exposure to Agent Orange has been tied to health problems like parkinson’s disease, cancer, and heart problems.

Allan Oates is with the US Military Veterans with Parkinson’s. He served in Vietnam. And was exposed to Agent Orange. He says his group was thrilled by the VA’s decision.

“It was just an exhilarating feeling to have these people knowing that they were going to get the help that they deserved.”

Oates says many Vietnam era veterans don’t know yet that help is available to them.

The VA estimates that 2.6 million military personnel were potentially exposed to sprayed Agent Orange.

For The Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

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Foreign Wasp Flying Westward

A foreign wasp from Europe has made its way to several Great Lakes states this summer. The European Paper Wasp was first detected on the Eastern seaboard in 1980. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Gina Carrier reports, it’s now being sighted in greater numbers in the Midwest:

Transcript

A foreign wasp from Europe has made its way to several Great Lakes states this summer. The European Paper Wasp was first detected on the Eastern seaboard in 1980. Now it is being sited in greater numbers in the Midwest. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Gina Carrier reports.


The European Paper Wasp looks very similar to our native yellow jacket. But it’s not as aggressive and can actually help Midwest gardeners because it likes to feed on certain pesky caterpillars. Tom Ellis is an entomologist at Michigan State University. He says the European paper wasp can be found in central and southeastern Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio and the Chicago area.


“The things that it became accustom to and fed on the eastern seaboard are pretty much similar if not the same to what we have in Michigan and throughout the Great Lakes states certainly.”


He says it’s unknown whether the wasp will continue to move westward. There’s no effort to stop its spread because Ellis says the wasp isn’t destroying crops or foliage. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Gina Carrier.