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LoginVA - Health Care - Gulf War, Agent Orange and Ionizing Radiation Registry Program
Program Description
In 1978, VA set up a register of Vietnam veterans who were worried that they might have been exposed to dangerous herbicides during their military service in Vietnam. Beginning in that year, Vietnam veterans were offered an extensive medical examination to look for possible health effects resulting from exposure to the herbicides—an exam that is still offered at all VA medical centers.
The “Agent Orange Registry” is a computerized index of all of those examinations.
Since that time, we have also set up registries for Gulf War veterans as well as for veterans who were exposed to ionizing radiation and depleted Uranium.
Veterans are eligible for the registry exams “with no strings attached.” If they’re found to have medical conditions associated with one of the categories of diseases associated with service covered by one of the registries, they will always be entitled to free treatment from VA for those conditions.
Further, they automatically qualify for enrollment in the VA health care system in Priority Group 6.
General Program Requirements
For an understanding of the registry examinations, please see “Description” below.
Registry examinations are not part of the Medical Benefits Package. You don’t have to apply for health care to get a registry exam. There are no length-of service requirements, but you must have been discharged under other than dishonorable conditions.
Four groups of veterans are eligible for registry examinations.
Agent Orange Registry. These exams are available to—
Persian Gulf Registry. For these examinations, you must simply have participated in Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Iraqi Freedom.
Ionizing Radiation Registry. VA offers these examinations any veteran who participated in a “radiation risk activity.” These include:
Depleted Uranium Registry. VA maintains two registries for veterans who may have been exposed to depleted uranium. One is for veterans who served in the Gulf War, including Operation Iraqi Freedom. The second is for veterans who served elsewhere, including Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Application Process
For more information, see the Program Contact Information below.
Contact Information (Register above for free access!)
