Citation Nr: A21018149 Decision Date: 11/12/21 Archive Date: 11/12/21 DOCKET NO. 201215-124445 DATE: November 12, 2021 REMANDED Service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II, is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active service from May 1966 to May 1968. In a December 2020 rating decision, the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) determined that new and relevant evidence had been received to reopen service connection for diabetes mellitus and the claim was denied on the merits. In January 2021, the Veteran submitted VA Form 10182, Decision Review Request: Board Appeal, the Veteran elected the Direct Review docket. As this matter is being remanded, consideration may be given to the February 2021 correspondence received subsequent to the AOJ decision on appeal. The Veteran asserts that during service from 1966 to 1968 he was stationed at Fort Clayton in Panama with the Tropic Test Center Test Evaluation Command and assigned to the motor pool. The Veteran's service personnel records confirm that he was stationed at the US Army Tropic Test Center in Fort Clayton, Canal Zone from September 1, 1966 to March 27, 1968. 09/24/2018 Military Personnel Record at 14, 41-42. His Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) was light vehicle driver. His records contain an Army Materiel Command Certificate of Achievement for exceptionally meritorious service from August 31, 1966 to April 15, 1968 while serving as a Driver and Motor Maintenance Sergeant for the Support Division, U.S. Army Tropic Test Center. 03/07/2019 Military Personnel Record. The Veteran claims that he was exposed to many fuels including gasoline, AVGas, diesel fuel, and large amounts of solvents to clean engines and parts. He also asserts that he was exposed to chemicals including various insecticides and defoliants; he claims that he was involved with testing chemicals, including Agent Orange. 03/07/2019 Correspondence; 11/09/2020 VA 21-4138 Statement in Support of Claim. In support of his claim, the Veteran submitted a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Compensation Service document entitled 'Investigations into the Allegations of Agent Orange in the Canal Zone and Panama.' 11/09/2020 Correspondence. It is noted that the Veteran did not submit the entirety of the article, but the article is available online. The article states that an investigation found that there was no credible documentation found to support US veterans' claims that they were exposed to Agent Orange while stationed in Panama and the Canal Zone during the Vietnam era. An extensive search of historical records could not verify that Agent Orange had ever been shipped to, sprayed on, or buried in Panama or the Canal Zone. The article, however, did make the following finding: In the 1960s and 1970, tens of thousands of US troops were stationed in the Canal Zone as part of either the US Army South Command (Fort Clayton) or while attending the US Army's Jungle Training Center at Fort Sherman. Some of the military personnel that were stationed at Fort Clayton undoubtedly participated in tests and evaluations programs/projects sponsored by the Tropic Test Center. For most troops stationed in the Canal Zone, the exposure to indigenous diseases transmitted by insects and pathogenic microorganisms had a significant long-term impact on their health. Because of the prevalence and role of insects in the transmission of diseases, the Armed Forces Pest Control Board, in cooperation with the USDA, arranged and conducted tests and evaluations of insecticides in the Canal Zone. In addition, the various Military Medical Services coordinated the aerial and ground spraying of insecticides to control mosquitoes and other insect vectors that carried malaria, yellow fever, and leishmaniasis. The US Air Force Special Aerial Spray Flight used the UC-123 B for aerial spraying of insects in 1968 1976. Thus, those UC-123B aircraft observed spraying areas in the Canal Zone were on insecticide missions, NOT vegetation control missions with Agent Orange. In February 2021 correspondence, the Veteran's agent cites to a United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) report which confirms that the Military Sea Transportation Service which directly chartered merchant vessels to carry herbicides during the Vietnam War, traveled through the Panama Canal. The herbicides, such as Agents Orange, Blue and White were stored vertically on pallets in compartmented internal storage spaces on the vessels. There is no evidence, however, that herbicides agents were offloaded in Panama. A December 1976 Environmental Sampling Report in the Panama Canal Zone shows that chlorophenoxy herbicides were detected in the soil samples from the Canal Zone. In a report on the "14th Annual Meeting of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineering Aquatic Plant Control Research Program' there is a section which notes the initiation of large-scale testing of 2,4-D on water hyacinth which began in June 1978. The Veteran was stationed in Panama prior to this date. The Board notes that the correspondence received in February 2021 is outside the appeal period. Nevertheless, other evidence timely received demonstrates the need for development here. Correspondence dated in November 2018 from L.M.O., M.D., reflects the opinion that the Veteran's medical problems (diabetes, prostate cancer, thyroid problems, thrombocytopenia) are more likely than not related to chemicals he was exposed to in the military. 11/16/2018 Medical Treatment Record-Non-Government Facility. In light of the Veteran's lay assertions of in-service exposures at Fort Clayton, Panama; in light of the VA Compensation Service article finding that testing and evaluations of insecticides were conducted in the Canal Zone; in light of the article indicating that military personnel that were stationed at Fort Clayton undoubtedly participated in tests and evaluations programs/projects sponsored by the Tropic Test Center; and, in light of the November 2018 opinion from Dr. L.M.O, the Board finds that remand is necessary to correct the pre-decisional duty to assist error in failing to obtain a medical nexus opinion regarding the etiology of his diabetes mellitus, type II. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Request that an examiner with appropriate expertise review the claims folder and offer an opinion as to whether his diabetes mellitus, type II, is at least as likely as not (a 50 percent or higher degree of probability) due to in-service exposures, to include gasoline, AVGas, diesel fuel, solvents, and insecticides. Consideration should be given to the timely received treatise materials and the November 2018 opinion from Dr. L.M.O. The examiner is advised that the Veteran is competent to report his symptoms and history and that his reports must be considered in formulating the requested opinions. (Continued on the next page) The examiner must provide a comprehensive rationale for all opinions offered. If any requested opinions cannot be provided without resort to speculation, the examiner should explain why this is so; and whether the inability to provide the necessary opinion is due to the limits of medical and scientific knowledge or is due to the absence of specific evidence. Eric S. Leboff Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board M.W. Kreindler, Counsel The Board's decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.