Assemblymember Pamela J. Hunter (D-Syracuse) announced that legislation she authored extending the deadline for veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange to file suit against the producers of the herbicide has passed the Assembly (A.8699). Current law gives veterans or their families until June 16, 2016, to file suit, but this bill would extend that deadline to June 16, 2018.

“As a veteran, I’m committed to ensuring that everyone who has served our country is able to request compensation for the serious health consequences of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War,” said Hunter. “We now know that the herbicide has had a devastating effect on our service men and women and this bill provides one way to help.”

Herbicides were used in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971 to clear vegetation so that the enemy could more clearly be seen, to destroy enemy crops and to clear landing zones and communications lines. Phenoxy herbicide, also known as Agent Orange, has been connected to a variety of diseases and conditions later contracted by veterans who served in Vietnam.

A law first passed in 1981 set a statute of limitations for filing suits against the producers of Agent Orange for those persons whose injury or death was caused by exposure to the herbicide. Veterans filing personal-injury lawsuits have two years from the date of the discovery of the injury or two years from the date such injury should have been discovered, whichever is later. The extension of the law is critical, as more conditions and diseases are now believed to be associated with exposure to Agent Orange, Hunter noted. Some of these diseases and conditions include, but are not limited to: Hodgkin’s disease, prostate cancer, adult-onset diabetes mellitus (Type II), Parkinson’s disease, ischemic heart disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and respiratory cancers.