03-03-2022, 03:50 AM
Amid increasing calls for action from Congress and health care advocates, Veterans Affairs leaders on 27
MAY announced plans to consider adding respiratory illnesses to the list of conditions presumed caused by
exposure to military burn pits in Iraq, Afghanistan and other overseas combat locations in recent decades.
The move is a significant albeit preliminary step towards granting new disability payouts and medical
benefits for millions of veterans who served in the recent wars, only to return with a host of rare illnesses
believed connected to toxic smoke at overseas bases. VA officials don’t have estimates on how much
veterans could get in payouts and how much the changes could cost, or even when the work could be
complete.
The link between burn pits — used to dispose of excess equipment, human waste and a host of other
toxic materials — and serious medical conditions has been widely assumed for years, but not conclusively
linked to a specific set of health problems. About 250,000 veterans have signed up for VA’s Airborne
Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, designed to track illnesses related to burn pit exposure and ease access
to veterans benefits. But advocates have complained that tool is limited, and the actual number of veterans
suffering from burn pit conditions is likely several times that figure. They’ve also pushed for more liberal
granting of disability claims connected to burn pits, noting that insufficient monitoring of the smoke has
led to numerous questions about which troops were exposed and poisoned.
Earlier this year, VA Secretary Denis McDonough ordered an internal review into the issue, promising
to speed up work on the already decade-old problem. On 27 MAY, in a press conference with reporters, he
promised that officials are “attacking this issue with urgency” and said it has been a frequent topic of
conversation with White House officials. “It breaks all of our hearts that we have veterans who suffer
because of the service they carried out on our behalf,” he said. “It makes me particularly saddened to know
we have veterans with terminal diagnosis. We are going to spare nothing to generate answers for them.”
A day earlier, at a press conference on Capitol Hill, veterans advocates praised recent congressional
efforts to address the issue but also acknowledged fatalism about the slow pace of reaction to numerous
deaths and serious illnesses over the last 20 years. “More than 8 in 10 veterans who served in Iraq and
Afghanistan say they were exposed to burn pits, and more than 80 percent of those say they’re suffering
some health effects from that today,” said Tom Porter, executive vice president of government affairs at
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “We have to do this, and we have to do it now.” McDonough
did not offer a timeline for when veterans might start seeing new benefits from the move announced
Thursday. He promised to “respect the rulemaking process,” which can take several years in some cases.
Congress may not wait that long.
Officials from the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on 26 MAY unveiled plans to make 23 respiratory
conditions and rare cancers contracted by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans automatically eligible for disability
benefits, and expect to advance the legislation next month. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee members
later in the day unanimously advanced a similar plan with fewer presumptive conditions but a similar
approach to granting wider benefits access to all veterans who served near burn pits. Chairman Jon Tester,
D-Mont., has said he hopes the two chambers can pass a final compromise plan by the end of the year.
If they do, the VA work may form the procedural backbone for implementing those changes. VA’s
announcement noted that the conditions being reviewed “may include asthma, sinusitis, and rhinitis” and
will cover “military service in Southwest Asia, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.” Officials also pledged to
engage veterans advocates in coming months on how to shape the new benefits rules. “This is the beginning
of this effort,” McDonough said. “We will continue to work aggressively at identifying the available science
… to make sure we’re getting all we can.”
MAY announced plans to consider adding respiratory illnesses to the list of conditions presumed caused by
exposure to military burn pits in Iraq, Afghanistan and other overseas combat locations in recent decades.
The move is a significant albeit preliminary step towards granting new disability payouts and medical
benefits for millions of veterans who served in the recent wars, only to return with a host of rare illnesses
believed connected to toxic smoke at overseas bases. VA officials don’t have estimates on how much
veterans could get in payouts and how much the changes could cost, or even when the work could be
complete.
The link between burn pits — used to dispose of excess equipment, human waste and a host of other
toxic materials — and serious medical conditions has been widely assumed for years, but not conclusively
linked to a specific set of health problems. About 250,000 veterans have signed up for VA’s Airborne
Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, designed to track illnesses related to burn pit exposure and ease access
to veterans benefits. But advocates have complained that tool is limited, and the actual number of veterans
suffering from burn pit conditions is likely several times that figure. They’ve also pushed for more liberal
granting of disability claims connected to burn pits, noting that insufficient monitoring of the smoke has
led to numerous questions about which troops were exposed and poisoned.
Earlier this year, VA Secretary Denis McDonough ordered an internal review into the issue, promising
to speed up work on the already decade-old problem. On 27 MAY, in a press conference with reporters, he
promised that officials are “attacking this issue with urgency” and said it has been a frequent topic of
conversation with White House officials. “It breaks all of our hearts that we have veterans who suffer
because of the service they carried out on our behalf,” he said. “It makes me particularly saddened to know
we have veterans with terminal diagnosis. We are going to spare nothing to generate answers for them.”
A day earlier, at a press conference on Capitol Hill, veterans advocates praised recent congressional
efforts to address the issue but also acknowledged fatalism about the slow pace of reaction to numerous
deaths and serious illnesses over the last 20 years. “More than 8 in 10 veterans who served in Iraq and
Afghanistan say they were exposed to burn pits, and more than 80 percent of those say they’re suffering
some health effects from that today,” said Tom Porter, executive vice president of government affairs at
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “We have to do this, and we have to do it now.” McDonough
did not offer a timeline for when veterans might start seeing new benefits from the move announced
Thursday. He promised to “respect the rulemaking process,” which can take several years in some cases.
Congress may not wait that long.
Officials from the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on 26 MAY unveiled plans to make 23 respiratory
conditions and rare cancers contracted by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans automatically eligible for disability
benefits, and expect to advance the legislation next month. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee members
later in the day unanimously advanced a similar plan with fewer presumptive conditions but a similar
approach to granting wider benefits access to all veterans who served near burn pits. Chairman Jon Tester,
D-Mont., has said he hopes the two chambers can pass a final compromise plan by the end of the year.
If they do, the VA work may form the procedural backbone for implementing those changes. VA’s
announcement noted that the conditions being reviewed “may include asthma, sinusitis, and rhinitis” and
will cover “military service in Southwest Asia, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.” Officials also pledged to
engage veterans advocates in coming months on how to shape the new benefits rules. “This is the beginning
of this effort,” McDonough said. “We will continue to work aggressively at identifying the available science
… to make sure we’re getting all we can.”