Vets win Agent Orange benefits

SAN FRANCISCO, July 20 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court in San Francisco has upheld a lower court ruling backing Vietnam veterans who got cancer from exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange.

In the latest case, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for continuing to resist paying benefits to some 31,000 veterans who contracted leukemia as a result of serving in Vietnam, The Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

"Those young Americans who risked their lives in their country's service and are even today suffering greatly as a result are deserving of better treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs than they are currently receiving," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in the opinion.

What is difficult to understand, he said, is why the department continues to resist implementing a settlement agreed to 16 years ago.

The attorney for the plaintiffs, Barton Stichman, predicts Thursday's appellate court ruling will lead to millions in benefits for disabled veterans.