PENNSYLVANIA, February 9 - Hand from 1961 until 1971; and

WHEREAS, Nearly 20 million gallons of the orange powder were

sprayed over the land from helicopters or low-flying aircraft,

destroying vegetation and crops in order to deprive enemy

guerrillas of food and cover for their activities and exposing

2.6 million American soldiers to the herbicide and defoliant

chemical; and

WHEREAS, Agent Orange is a dioxin and cancer-causing chemical

that enters the body through physical contact or ingestion and

moves into the human cell nucleus, where it attacks the genes

and causes a number of serious illnesses, including leukemia,

lymphoma, myeloma, ischemic heart disease, soft tissue sarcoma,

amyloidosis, diabetes and cancers of the throat, prostate, lung

and colon; and

WHEREAS, Agent Orange also causes genetic damage, and in some

cases, the children and grandchildren of veterans exposed to

Agent Orange have been born with spina bifida and other

abnormalities; and

WHEREAS, Today, only 600,000 Vietnam veterans exposed to

Agent Orange are alive, and approximately 390 deaths occur among

them every day; and

WHEREAS, While fallen comrades are memorialized on The Wall

at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, those

veterans who are victims of Agent Orange are not recognized as

fatalities of the Vietnam War; and

WHEREAS, It is most appropriate that we should honor these

veterans to the full extent of our ability, as they have made

untold and innumerable sacrifices to preserve the liberties that

we enjoy today and that our progeny will hopefully continue to

cherish for generations to come; and

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