Florida Senate - 2025                             (NP)    SR 646
       
       
        
       By Senator Burgess
       
       
       
       
       
       23-01391-25                                            2025646__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution honoring and recognizing the victims of
    3         Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, our nation was founded by individuals willing to
    6  sacrifice their personal safety to ensure our collective
    7  freedom, and the Sunshine State is proud to be home to many
    8  valiant men and women who have performed above and beyond the
    9  call of duty, and
   10         WHEREAS, throughout our history, United States citizens
   11  have been called upon to take up arms against the enemies of
   12  this great nation, risking their lives and leaving their loved
   13  ones behind to honorably safeguard the freedoms and liberties
   14  guaranteed to all Americans, and
   15         WHEREAS, more than eight million Americans honorably served
   16  during the Vietnam War, during which time Agent Orange was
   17  widely used by the United States Armed Forces as part of the
   18  herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, from 1962
   19  through 1971, and
   20         WHEREAS, Florida is home to more than 423,000 Vietnam-era
   21  veterans, and
   22         WHEREAS, nearly 20 million gallons of Agent Orange were
   23  sprayed over Vietnam from helicopters and aircraft, destroying
   24  vegetation and crops to deprive enemy forces of food and cover
   25  and exposing approximately 2.6 million American soldiers to this
   26  herbicide and defoliant chemical, and
   27         WHEREAS, Agent Orange is a dioxin and cancer-causing
   28  chemical that enters the body through physical contact or
   29  ingestion, attacks human genes, and causes numerous serious
   30  illnesses, including various forms of cancer, heart disease, and
   31  other debilitating conditions, and
   32         WHEREAS, Agent Orange exposure has also resulted in genetic
   33  damage, with some children and grandchildren of exposed veterans
   34  born with spina bifida and other abnormalities, and
   35         WHEREAS, today, only 800,000 Vietnam veterans exposed to
   36  Agent Orange are alive, with approximately 300 deaths occurring
   37  among them every day, and
   38         WHEREAS, while fallen comrades are memorialized on The Wall
   39  at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., those
   40  veterans who are victims of Agent Orange are not recognized as
   41  casualties of the Vietnam War, and
   42         WHEREAS, it is most appropriate that we honor these
   43  veterans to the fullest extent of our ability, as they have made
   44  untold and innumerable sacrifices to preserve the liberties that
   45  we enjoy today and that future generations will continue to
   46  cherish, NOW, THEREFORE,
   47  
   48  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   49  
   50  That we honor and recognize the victims of Agent Orange during
   51  the Vietnam War for their courageous service to our nation as
   52  some of America’s most heroic citizens.
   53         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be
   54  presented to the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the
   55  United States Department of Veterans Affairs as a tangible token
   56  of the sentiments expressed herein.