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PACT Act Success and Reflection Ahead of Veteran’s Day, Charts Pathway for Organic
(Beyond Pesticides, November 8-11, 2024) On Veterans Day 2024 we honor those who have served the country and allies. In the 117th (2021-2022) U.S. Congress, legislators enacted The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 (PACT Act). Since the law passed just over two years ago, there has been just under 1.3 million total approved claims marking a roughly 75% approval rate for PACT Act related claims, according to Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) accounting of progress between August 10, 2022, and October 12, 2024 through its dedicated bimonthly VA PACT Act Performance Dashboard.
The legacy of toxic burn pits (open air areas where the military has burned toxic waste) and other avenues for toxic exposure in military bases oversees, as well as within the United States in Hawai’i (See coverage on asbestos exposure continuously impacting veterans, as reported on by Honolulu Civil Beat) and Puerto Rico (See peer-reviewed literature review here on toxic heavy metals in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health), among other areas, comes at a time when the country assesses the ongoing impacts of a history that has been characterized by critics as colonial or imperialist.
Environmental and public health advocates are galvanized by the successful rollout of the PACT Act and view it as a successful model that embodies the precautionary principle, given the “presumptive conditions†that immediately make applicants eligible based on their military service. Advocates have called upon Congress, White House, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to apply the criteria it set through “The Dacthal Standard†(See Daily News here) to suspend the registration of toxic pesticides, including atrazine and paraquat, and apply the standard of “presumptive conditions†to expanded funding and support for National Organic Program.
PACT Act Analysis
Environmental, public health, and veterans advocates welcome the impact of PACT Act funds for a systemically neglected subpopulation—veterans.
There are nearly 4.1 million current enrollees in PACT Act Planning Population (a metric used to “identify….the impact of the PACT Act on enrollment in VA health careâ€), underscoring the popularity of the program. Approximately $6.83 billion in PACT Act benefits have been paid to enrolled veterans between August 10, 2022 and August 6, 2024. VA has engaged in over 5.6 million toxic exposure screenings in that same period, with about one in ten toxic exposure screenings (525,914 screenings) where a veteran identified exposure to more than one toxic substance.
Since the law was enacted, there have been approximately 259,941 “New Enrollees in the PACT ACT Planning Population†(“measur[ing] the number of new enrollees in VA health care that fall within the PACT Act Planning Population to understand the impact of the PACT Act on enrollment.â€) See VA Pact Act Anniversary Performance Dashboard here for further information on statistics, metrics, and definitions. Given that 13% of the adult homeless population are veterans according to National Coalition for Homeless Veterans analysis of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates for 2023 calendar year, advocates welcome the increase in enrolled veterans in their care programs as result of the PACT Act.
The law recognizes the toxic exposure from smoke and fumes generated from open burn pits. In Iraq, Afghanistan, and other areas of the Southwest Asia theater of military operations, open-air combustion of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment, and human waste in burn pits was a common practice, according to VA. The Department of Defense says it has now closed most burn pits and is planning to close the remainder. President Biden has attributed his son’s death from brain cancer in 2015 to his exposure to burn pits in Iraq.
PACT Act has a long list of presumptive conditions for compensation and additional services for exposure to burn pits, as well as contaminated water, Agent Orange, and additional exposure-related presumptive conditions (see Military.com for expansive list here), including but not limited to:
- Cancers of the brain, head, neck, and nervous system
- Brain and nervous system disorders (i.e., Parkinson’s Disease)
- Sarcomas
- Spinal cord cancers
- Gastrointestinal cancers
- Kidney cancers
- Lymphomas
- Melanomas
- Pancreatic cancers
- Reproductive cancers
- Respiratory cancers
- Various non-cancer conditions (High blood pressure/hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary fibrosis, among others.)
Connection to The Dacthal Standard
Advocates believe that PACT Act’s success lends itself to the design of the legislation in establishing presumptive conditions for eligibility. EPA made history earlier this summer when they made the decision to ban the herbicide Dacthal or DCPA (dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate) using the “imminent hazard†clause in Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). What was already a nearly unprecedented move was the simultaneous accompanying decision to prohibit the continued use of existing stocks of the weed killer Dacthal, a provision that EPA also rarely uses. (See previous Daily News coverage on existing stocks orders for dicamba and chlorpyrifos.) In making its decision, EPA stated that the agency considered:
- The seriousness of the threatened harm;
- The immediacy of the threatened harm;
- The probability that the threatened harm will occur;
- The benefits to the public of the continued use of the pesticide; and
- The nature and extent of the information before the Agency at the time it makes a decision.
Advocates acknowledge criteria set in “The Dacthal Standard,†as determined by EPA actions this year, demonstrate the agency’s potential to establish presumptive conditions for preventing further exposure to toxic pesticides to vulnerable subpopulations in the U.S. For example, EPA identified serious concerns about fetal hormone disruption and resulting “low birth weight and irreversible and life-long impacts to children [impaired brain development, decreased IQ, and impaired motor skills] exposed in-utero†and finds that there are no “practicable mitigation measures†to protect against these hazards. (See EPA Federal Register notice here.)
EPA has issued this emergency action just once before in its history. This was in 1979 when the agency acknowledged miscarriages associated with the forestry use of the herbicide 2,4,5-T—one-half of the chemical weed killer Agent Orange, which is one of the toxic substances covered under PACT Act for Vietnam War veterans.
Call to Action
THIS WEEK – Talk with Beyond Pesticides about creating a livable future: Attend Beyond Pesticides’ 41st National Forum, Imperatives for a Sustainable Future—Reversing the existential crises of pesticide-induced illness, biodiversity collapse, and the climate emergency. The Forum launched on October 30 at 2-4pm (EDT) and will continue on November 14 at 1pm (EST). Tracey Woodruff, PhD, will be discussing the impact of petrochemical pesticides, fertilizers, and plastic linked to severe health consequences, including endocrine disruption. (See Daily News here.)Â
The conversation will continue after Dr. Woodruff’s talk with a roundtable of remarkable people with a wealth of experience and insights into both the regulation of hazardous materials (including endocrine-disrupting chemicals) and strategies for connecting science (and the power of those adversely affected) to decisions that eliminate hazards—recognizing disproportionate risk to people of color. Tapping the experiences of the panelists, this discussion brings together strategic thinking that supports efforts by individuals and organizations to transition away from petrochemicals from a range of perspectives and a broadening of coalition efforts.Â
The Forum provides an opportunity to discuss with world-renowned scientists, from Germany and the U.S., both (i) the hazards that define the urgency of threats associated with petrochemical toxicants, with a focus on chemicals that disrupt the endocrine system (including pesticides) and lead to life-threatening diseases, and (ii) the strategy for adopting a path forward that tackles the problem holistically, rather than one chemical at a time. Â
Registration is complimentary, with contributions appreciated, and valid for all sessions of the Forum!  Â
All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.
Source: Department of Veterans Affairs
