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Agent Orange Information and Assistance — Referral, Claims Help, and a Class Suit for Records

Statute directs the veterans department to refer veterans for treatment of health conditions that may have resulted from exposure to chemical agents, to help them file compensation claims for those disabilities, and to carry their concerns to state and federal officials. It also lets the department ask the Attorney General to represent a class of exposed veterans in a suit for release of exposure information and individual medical records.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Referral, claims assistance, and a statutory route to a class action for records

The department must assist the South Carolina Agent Orange Advisory Council and the Agent Orange Information and Assistance Program in carrying out the purposes of Chapter 40 of Title 44.
Its three listed duties are referral to state and federal agencies or other resources for treatment, assistance in filing compensation claims for disabilities that may have resulted from exposure, and communicating veterans’ concerns to state and federal officials.
The section speaks of "chemical agents, including Agent Orange" — the wording is not limited to Agent Orange alone.
Under subsection (B) the department may request that the Attorney General represent a class of veterans who may have suffered adverse health conditions from exposure, in a suit for release of information about the exposure and for release of individual medical records.
The claims representative appointed under §25-11-75 may represent the department on the Agent Orange Advisory Council and on the Hepatitis C Coalition, and assist in carrying out these duties.
These are duties on the department. The section attaches no payment and creates no state compensation for exposure.

Who is entitled to it

The duties run to the exposed veteran, and survivors pursue the same claims.
Your home is in South Carolina.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

1Ask for the claims representative by reference to §25-11-75 rather than asking generally. The post exists to specialise in exposure-related disease and is funded as a line in the department’s budget.
2Do not narrow yourself to Agent Orange. The section covers chemical agents generally, and the same representative sits on the state Hepatitis C Coalition.
3Use the referral duty: the department must refer you to state and federal agencies or other available resources for treatment, not only help with paperwork.
4If the obstacle is missing records — where you were, what you were exposed to — say so explicitly. Subsection (B) exists precisely for the case where the information is being withheld.
5Understand what subsection (B) is and is not. It lets the department ask the Attorney General to bring a class suit for release of records. It is not a personal right of action and it is not compensation.
6Federal presumptive-condition rules do the heavy lifting on the compensation itself; the state route here is help getting there, not a separate payment.

Form: No form — ask the department or a county veterans’ affairs officer
File with: South Carolina Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Documents you will need: dd214 · va rating decision
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

Worth knowingThe Advisory Council and the assistance programme itself sit in Chapter 40 of Title 44, under the health authority. This section is the veterans department’s half of it. That chapter was not read this session.

Known gapNothing read this session establishes whether the class suit in subsection (B) has ever been requested or brought, or whether the Advisory Council still meets.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.