A soldier exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam and his daughter have taken the Department of Veterans Affairs to court over disability benefits for children born with birth defects linked to the toxic herbicide.
Former Army telecommunications technician Ronald Christoforo, along with Michele Christoforo, filed suit Monday in the U.S. District Court of Connecticut, alleging that the VA discriminates against thousands of disabled children of Vietnam veterans by providing compensation to those whose mothers served but not their fathers, with one exception: children born with spina bifida.
In the suit, the Christoforos note that Michele’s birth defect, which causes dwarfism, is specifically covered by the VA for the children of female veterans who served in Vietnam.
Ronald Christoforo applied for VA Agent Orange-related disability benefits for Michele in 2022 but was denied. According to the suit, the VA told Christoforo that Michele’s mother would have had to serve in Vietnam or Korea to qualify.
The Christoforos argue that the decision was unconstitutional because it is based on sex discrimination.
“When the VA rejected my claim, they didn’t say my condition wasn’t real or that it wasn’t caused by Agent Orange. They said my father’s service didn’t count the same as a mother’s would. How can that be legal?” Michele Christoforo said in a statement Monday.
According to the suit, roughly 200 children were born with birth defects to female Vietnam veterans, while an estimated 350,000 children of fathers who served have birth defects.
The VA began awarding disability benefits to the children of Vietnam veterans born with spina bifida in 1996, and four years later, expanded the list of eligible conditions for the children of women Vietnam veterans to 18. The expanded list includes achondroplasia, the defect that caused Michele Christoforo’s dwarfism.
The Christoforos, represented by Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic, want the courts to declare the VA’s sex-based disability awards as unconstitutional and provide disability benefits to all children who qualify, regardless of whether their mother or father served in Vietnam.
“All other circumstances equal, if Mr. Christoforo were female, he could rely on the benefits provided under [the law] to ensure his child would receive the medical care, educational benefits and income support she needs. The only difference in his ability to have this assurance is his sex,” the lawsuit noted.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has sponsored legislation that would increase research on birth defects in veterans exposed to environmental pollutants, such as Agent Orange and the burn pits used in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere to dispose of waste.
On Monday, Blumenthal said children with a disability related to their parent’s service-connected exposure “deserve equal benefits without exception.”
“Michele’s condition is real, her father’s service is unquestionable, and the damage caused by Agent Orange is well-documented. Denying her VA benefits solely because her father served rather than her mother is both unjust and cruel,” Blumenthal said.
Linda Schwartz, a Vietnam veteran and adviser to Vietnam Veterans of America, added that research does not “justify this distinction” between maternal or paternal exposure and birth defects and she supports the suit.
“Our members came home from Vietnam carrying wounds that didn’t always show up right away, and some of those wounds were passed on to their children. … It is long past time it does the same for the children of the men who served alongside them,” Schwartz said in a statement.
Agent Orange is the name given to defoliants used in Vietnam and elsewhere to strip combat zones of vegetation that could be used by enemy forces for camouflage. The herbicides contain a type of dioxin that is a known carcinogen linked to cancers, chronic conditions and birth defects.
The Justice Department, which represents the VA, did not respond to a request for comment by publication.
Patricia Kime is a senior writer covering military and veterans health care, medicine and personnel issues.
