{"id":33912,"date":"2023-11-10T08:32:44","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T13:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=33912"},"modified":"2025-11-08T20:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T01:13:07","slug":"law-recognizing-veterans-diseases-from-toxic-exposure-just-over-one-year-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/11\/law-recognizing-veterans-diseases-from-toxic-exposure-just-over-one-year-old\/","title":{"rendered":"Law Recognizing Veterans\u2019 Diseases from Toxic Exposure One Year Old; Thank You Veterans for Your Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, November 10, 2023) In a press conference this week just prior to Veteran\u2019s Day, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough affirmed the federal government\u2019s medical support for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals during their service in the military under a law passed last year entitled The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022<\/em>, or PACT Act. The law, passed in August 2022, identifies specific diseases as \u201cpresumptive conditions\u201d caused during specified military service. The passage of the law is a tribute to veterans and the public uproar just over one\u00a0 year ago that demanded that the U.S. Congress recognize and treat diseases caused by toxic chemical exposure during military service.<\/p>\r\n

The passage of the PACT Act in 2022 was controversial and first blocked by Republicans<\/a> in the Senate, but public outrage and high profile support from comedian and activist Jon Stewart ultimately led to final passage. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said, “For too long, our nation\u2019s veterans have faced an absurd indignity: They enlisted to serve our country, went abroad in good health, and came back home only to get sick from toxic exposure endured while in the line of duty.”<\/p>\r\n

Those with presumptive conditions do not need to prove that their service caused the listed condition. Veterans only need to meet the service requirements for the presumption.<\/p>\r\n

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 the U.S. Department of Veterans Administration (VA)<\/a>. The Department of Defense says it has now closed out most burn pits and is planning to close the remainder.\u00a0President Biden has attributed his son\u2019s death from brain cancer in 2015 to his exposure to burn pits in Iraq.<\/p>\r\n

According to the Veterans Administration, 20 burn pit and other toxic exposure presumptive conditions based on the PACT Act. This change expands benefits for Gulf War era and post-9\/11 Veterans and includes the following cancers as \u201cpresumptive\u201d: Brain cancer, Gastrointestinal cancer of any type, Glioblastoma, Head cancer of any type, Kidney cancer, Lymphoma of any type, Melanoma, Neck cancer of any type, Pancreatic cancer, Reproductive cancer of any type, and Respiratory (breathing-related) cancer of any type. Additionally, these illnesses are now presumptive: Asthma that was diagnosed after service, Chronic bronchitis, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Chronic rhinitis, Chronic sinusitis, Constrictive bronchiolitis or obliterative bronchiolitis, Emphysema, Granulomatous lung disease, Interstitial lung disease (ILD), Pleuritis, Pulmonary fibrosis, and Sarcoidosis. The VA identifies specific areas of military service<\/a> with time periods. The act includes other presumptive conditions, including, for example, exposure to Agent Orange (the mixture of herbicide 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T), used as a defoliant in the Vietnam War.<\/p>\r\n

According to the VA, the PACT Act:\u00a0<\/p>\r\n