Jim,
I was cruising through the watchdog and read about the exposure to Agent Orange. I served in Vietnam 1969-70 as a Combat Engineer with the Navy Seabees. I was exposed to more crap than I can even remember. One exposure I never read about is Creosote. This is the nasty dark black stuff (wood preservative) that was shipped to us in Nam because supposedly it was outlawed in the U.S.
Myself and a few of my buddies were to find out in an almost fatal way this stuff was very bad news. We were swabbing this stuff on Bridge decking when we found ourselves passing out with terrible headaches, nausea and a hard time breathing. After a few days in sick bay we were released and spent another several days on light duty before being allowed back in the field.
I filed for creosote poisoning back in the early 80’s but was denied. (found out a couple of years ago half of our medical files were missing- since been found, so far got 20% and still fighting). I have suffered from dry red face that the skin flakes, sinus problems. Do you know of anything under the VA that even closely relates to it? Any Ideas?
Reply:
I'm not familiar with military applications of creosote
http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/creosote
I remember weapons and tools delivered in a coating of Cosmoline.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmoline
The Cosmoline was usually wiped away by Carbon Tetrachloride. That's the bad stuff that most complaints were lodged over.
http://scorecard.goodguide.com/chemical-profiles/summary.tcl?edf_substance_id=56-23-5
If you'll please click here
http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/bva.html
you'll go to the Board of Veterans Appeals to a "Search Decisions" page.
Enter words like "cosmoline", "carbon tetrachloride", and "creosote" to come to pages like this one http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/va_search.jsp?QT=carbon+tetrachloride&SQ=vt_vetapp10
_ext&RPP=10&UA=Search
Note that the search is structured to deliver decisions from a given year so you may need to return and research year to year.
Reading through BVA decisions can be a laborious process and require hours of your time. It's often the best way to learn whether or not you have a viable case for filing.