Agent Orange and other herbicide agents
Agent Orange was a tactical herbicide the U.S. military used during the Vietnam era. VA presumes herbicide exposure for veterans who served in certain locations during certain date ranges, and publishes 19 presumptive conditions on its claims-facing disability eligibility page. The PACT Act added exactly two conditions (high blood pressure and MGUS) and five new locations. Agent Orange presumptions run off the herbicide statute at 38 U.S.C. 1116 and 1116B, so the burn-pit service rules do not carry over. Only VA can decide any individual case.
This is VA's published list, not a decision about you. Being on it doesn't mean a claim is approved, and it isn't advice to file. A free accredited representative can look at your actual service and records.
Whose service qualifies
VA's eligibility page frames the requirement as service in one of the listed locations during the listed date range, plus a current diagnosis of a listed presumptive condition. VA also publishes two non-geographic pathways: repeated contact with C-123 aircraft that had traces of Agent Orange on them, and involvement in "transporting, testing, storing, or other uses of Agent Orange" during military service. Active-duty versus Reserve versus National Guard qualifying service for the Agent Orange track is listed in unverified items because no Agent Orange primary-source page consulted stated a rule.
Conditions VA lists (20)
Names are reproduced exactly as VA publishes them. Where VA's pages differ, or where a name carries a qualifier, the note says so.
Cancers
Listed under "Cancers" on the va.gov Agent Orange eligibility page. Confirmed NOT added by the PACT Act: it appears nowhere in Pub. L. 117-168 Sec. 404. It is one of the most commonly misattributed items. The earlier authority that added it was not confirmed at a primary source, so this page does not name one.
va.gov wording. publichealth.va.gov publishes it as "Chronic B-cell Leukemias" (plural) and describes it as covering all chronic B-cell leukemias, including but not limited to hairy-cell leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. 38 CFR 3.309(e) uses "All chronic B-cell leukemias."
publichealth.va.gov publishes this as its own separate line item in addition to "Chronic B-cell Leukemias", giving that page a 20-item list against the va.gov eligibility page's 19. This is a structural difference between VA pages, not an eligibility difference: CLL falls within "all chronic B-cell leukemias" either way.
Listed under "Cancers" on the va.gov Agent Orange eligibility page.
Listed under "Cancers" on the va.gov Agent Orange eligibility page.
Listed under "Cancers" on the va.gov Agent Orange eligibility page.
Listed under "Cancers" on the va.gov Agent Orange eligibility page.
va.gov phrasing. 38 CFR 3.309(e) defines it more narrowly as "Respiratory cancers (cancer of the lung, bronchus, larynx, or trachea)."
VA says "some" for a reason. The related-diseases page states that osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, and mesothelioma are not covered. 38 CFR 3.309(e) states it as "Soft-tissue sarcoma (other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, or mesothelioma)." publichealth.va.gov writes it as "Soft Tissue Sarcomas."
Other illnesses
Listed under "Other illnesses" on the va.gov Agent Orange eligibility page.
Time-limited. VA's related-diseases page states this condition must be at least 10 percent disabling within 1 year of herbicide exposure. For most Vietnam-era veterans that one-year window closed decades ago.
Listed under "Other illnesses" on the va.gov Agent Orange eligibility page.
- High blood pressure (hypertension)Added by the PACT Act
Added by the PACT Act, Pub. L. 117-168 Sec. 404 ("Fair Care for Vietnam Veterans Act of 2022"), verified verbatim against the public law. The statute phases the presumption: effective on enactment (August 10, 2022) for DIC claimants and certain designated veterans, and "On October 1, 2026, for everyone not described in subparagraph (A)." Separately, VA's Agent Orange eligibility page (last updated September 16, 2025) lists this condition with no effective-date caveat attached, and VA's PACT Act page states veterans "can file claims now to apply for PACT Act-related benefits." No VA page consulted states how VA is processing these claims relative to that October 1, 2026 date, so this page does not state it. publichealth.va.gov publishes this condition simply as "Hypertension."
Listed under "Other illnesses" on the va.gov Agent Orange eligibility page. Confirmed NOT added by the PACT Act. The earlier authority that added it was not confirmed at a primary source, so this page does not name one.
38 CFR 3.309(e) expressly excludes hypertension and peripheral manifestations of arteriosclerosis, such as peripheral vascular disease and stroke, from the ischemic heart disease definition. Hypertension is now its own separate presumptive condition, so the two should never be conflated. Stroke and peripheral vascular disease are not presumptive under this category.
- Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS)Added by the PACT Act
Added by the PACT Act, Pub. L. 117-168 Sec. 404, verified verbatim. Statutory phase-in: immediate on enactment for DIC claimants and certain designated veterans, and "On October 1, 2022, for everyone not described in clause (i)." That date has passed.
Listed under "Other illnesses" on the va.gov Agent Orange eligibility page, separately from Parkinson's disease. Confirmed NOT added by the PACT Act. The earlier authority that added it was not confirmed at a primary source, so this page does not name one.
Listed under "Other illnesses" on the va.gov Agent Orange eligibility page, separately from parkinsonism.
Time-limited. VA's related-diseases page states this condition must be at least 10 percent disabling within 1 year of herbicide exposure. publichealth.va.gov publishes it as "Peripheral Neuropathy, Early-Onset, Acute and Subacute"; 38 CFR 3.309(e) says "Early-onset peripheral neuropathy."
Time-limited. VA's related-diseases page states this condition must be at least 10 percent disabling within 1 year of herbicide exposure.
Locations and dates (11)
Service in these places during these periods is what establishes the presumption. The dates are exact and they matter.
Dates: January 9, 1962 to May 7, 1975
The long-standing core Vietnam presumption. PACT Act Sec. 403 restates this entry in its covered-service enumeration, but it did not create it. Also codified at 38 CFR 3.307(a)(6)(iii).
Dates: January 9, 1962 to May 7, 1975
Published on va.gov as part of the same Vietnam service window. Pre-existing "brown water" service.
Dates: January 9, 1962 to May 7, 1975
The Blue Water Navy provision, which came from the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019, not the PACT Act.
Dates: VA phrasing on the eligibility page: "for any length of time between September 1, 1967, and August 31, 1971"
Two VA pages word this differently. The va.gov eligibility page states only service in or near the DMZ for any length of time in that window. publichealth.va.gov (last updated May 11, 2026) conditions the presumption on "Units determined by VA and Department of War to have operated along the demilitarized zone." A veteran reading only the va.gov page could over-read their eligibility. This is the one place where the two pages differ in a direction that matters.
Dates: January 9, 1962 through June 30, 1976
Added by the PACT Act, Pub. L. 117-168 Sec. 403 ("Veterans Agent Orange Exposure Equity Act of 2022"). Before the PACT Act, Thailand service generally required showing duty at or near the base perimeter during a narrower window. The PACT Act made it any U.S. or Royal Thai base with no perimeter requirement over this wider range. Not surfaced on the publichealth.va.gov locations index.
Dates: December 1, 1965 through September 30, 1969
Added by the PACT Act, Sec. 403. Not surfaced on the publichealth.va.gov locations index.
Dates: April 16, 1969 through April 30, 1969
Added by the PACT Act, Sec. 403. Extremely narrow: two named sites across a fifteen-day window. This should never be summarized as "served in Cambodia." Not surfaced on the publichealth.va.gov locations index.
Dates: January 9, 1962 through July 31, 1980
Added by the PACT Act, Sec. 403. Guam and American Samoa are a single combined statutory entry, not two. Date conflict between VA pages: the va.gov PACT Act page publishes "through July 31, 1980" and publichealth.va.gov publishes "through July 30, 1980", one day earlier. Public Law 117-168 reads "ending on July 31, 1980", so July 31 is correct and the publichealth page carries an off-by-one error.
Dates: January 1, 1972 through September 30, 1977
Added by the PACT Act, Sec. 403. The "ship that called at" language matters: VA does not require having set foot on the atoll. Not surfaced on the publichealth.va.gov locations index.
Dates: No date range is published on the va.gov Agent Orange eligibility page. VA's public health pages describe this as during and after the Vietnam War, covering flight, ground maintenance, and aeromedical crew members.
A non-geographic exposure pathway VA publishes alongside the location list. VA does not publish a qualifying date range for this pathway on its eligibility page, so none is listed here.
Dates: No single date range. VA maintains site-by-site lists in which each installation carries its own dates.
The publichealth.va.gov tests-storage page (last updated June 18, 2026) is a hub, not the list itself. It routes to two separate sub-lists, "In the U.S. - Herbicide tests and storage" and "Outside the U.S. - Herbicide tests and storage", plus a downloadable DoD/DoW PDF of locations where tactical herbicides were tested, used, and stored. A veteran has to match both the specific site and its specific dates. Those site lists are not enumerated here. Note also that the older va.gov URL pattern ending in /agent-orange/herbicide-tests-storage/ returns HTTP 404.
Sources
Checked August 6, 2026. VA revises these pages often; the live pages win over this one.
- https://www.va.gov/disability/eligibility/hazardous-materials-exposure/agent-orange/
- https://www.va.gov/disability/eligibility/hazardous-materials-exposure/agent-orange/related-diseases/
- https://www.va.gov/resources/the-pact-act-and-your-va-benefits/
- https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/conditions/index.asp
- https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/locations/index.asp
- https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/locations/tests-storage/index.asp
- https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ168/PLAW-117publ168.htm
- https://www.ecfr.gov/api/renderer/v1/content/enhanced/current/title-38?part=3§ion=3.309
Educational only, not legal, medical, or claims advice. MusterVault organizes records and is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.