Agent Orange / Herbicide Presumption

How the presumption works

The herbicide presumption has two parts:

• Exposure presumption (3.307(a)(6)). A veteran who served in a covered location during a covered period is presumed to have been exposed to an herbicide agent (Agent Orange and the other tactical herbicides used during the Vietnam era), unless there is affirmative evidence to the contrary.
• Disease presumption (3.309(e)). If the veteran later develops one of the listed diseases, that disease is presumed to be service-connected, even without proof of a direct nexus to a specific in-service event.

Qualifying service

Republic of Vietnam (3.307(a)(6)(iii))

Active service in the Republic of Vietnam between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975. "In" includes service on the inland waterways and, after the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019, service in the territorial seas of the Republic of Vietnam (within 12 nautical miles of the demarcated coastline).

Korean Demilitarized Zone (3.307(a)(6)(iv))

Active service in or near the Korean DMZ between April 1, 1968 and August 31, 1971, in a unit determined by the Department of Defense to have operated in or near the DMZ where herbicides were applied.

Thailand and other locations (PACT Act 2022)

Service in Thailand at any U.S. or Royal Thai military base from January 9, 1962 through June 30, 1976, and service at certain locations in Laos, Cambodia, Guam, American Samoa, and Johnston Atoll during specified periods, are also covered. The PACT Act expanded these covered locations effective August 10, 2022.

Other in-service exposure

Veterans who handled, stored, or were otherwise exposed to herbicide agents during military service outside the listed locations may still establish service connection on a direct, non-presumptive basis if they can document the actual exposure.

Presumptive conditions (38 CFR 3.309(e))

The following diseases are presumptively service-connected for veterans who had qualifying service and developed the condition (subject to the manifestation rules below):

• AL amyloidosis
• Bladder cancer (PACT Act 2022)
• Chronic B-cell leukemias (including hairy cell leukemia)
• Chloracne or other acneform disease consistent with chloracne
• Type 2 diabetes mellitus
• Hodgkin's disease
• Hypertension (PACT Act 2022)
• Hypothyroidism (PACT Act 2022)
• Ischemic heart disease
• Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance / MGUS (PACT Act 2022)
• Multiple myeloma
• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
• Parkinsonism (PACT Act 2022)
• Parkinson's disease
• Early-onset peripheral neuropathy
• Porphyria cutanea tarda
• Prostate cancer
• Respiratory cancers (lung, bronchus, larynx, trachea)
• Soft-tissue sarcomas (other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, and mesothelioma)

Manifestation periods (3.307(a)(6)(ii))

PACT Act 2022 additions

The Honoring our PACT Act of 2022 (Pub. L. 117-168, signed August 10, 2022) added five conditions to the herbicide presumption that had previously required a direct service-connection theory:

• Bladder cancer. Long sought after a 2018 National Academies report; previously denied as presumptive.
• Hypertension. The most-claimed Vietnam-era condition; presumption was added after years of advocacy.
• Hypothyroidism. Effective for claims pending or filed on or after August 10, 2022.
• Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). Pre-cancerous blood plasma condition.
• Parkinsonism. Broader than Parkinson's disease (which was already presumptive). Includes parkinsonian syndromes that do not meet the full diagnostic criteria for Parkinson's disease.

Limitations

The presumption can be rebutted by:

• Affirmative evidence that the veteran was not exposed to herbicide agents during the covered service.
• Affirmative evidence that the disease did not result from in-service herbicide exposure (rarely succeeds in practice; the standard for rebuttal is high).
• Evidence that the disease is the result of the veteran's own willful misconduct or the abuse of alcohol or drugs.

The presumption applies only to veterans, not to dependents (with the limited exception of certain birth-defect provisions for children of Vietnam veterans, codified separately at 38 CFR 3.814 and 3.815, which are outside the scope of this page).

Source and currency

Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1116, 1116A, 1117, 1118; PACT Act of 2022 (Pub. L. 117-168).

Regulation text: 38 CFR 3.307 on eCFR.gov and 38 CFR 3.309 on eCFR.gov. The eCFR text is authoritative.

VA reference: VA.gov / Agent Orange exposure.