{"id":36945,"date":"2024-11-11T00:01:15","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T05:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=36945"},"modified":"2024-11-11T09:43:52","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T14:43:52","slug":"pact-act-success-and-reflection-ahead-of-veterans-day-charts-pathway-for-organic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2024\/11\/pact-act-success-and-reflection-ahead-of-veterans-day-charts-pathway-for-organic\/","title":{"rendered":"PACT Act Success and Reflection Ahead of Veteran’s Day, Charts Pathway for Organic"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, November 8-11, 2024) On Veterans Day 2024 we honor those who have served the country and allies.<\/em> In the 117th<\/sup> (2021-2022) U.S. Congress, legislators enacted The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022<\/em><\/a> (PACT Act<\/a>). 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u2019i (See coverage on asbestos exposure continuously impacting veterans, as reported on by Honolulu Civil Beat<\/em><\/a>) and Puerto Rico (See peer-reviewed literature review here<\/a> on toxic heavy metals in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health<\/em>), 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cpresumptive conditions\u201d 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 \u201cThe Dacthal Standard\u201d (See Daily News <\/em>here<\/a>) to suspend the registration of toxic pesticides, including atrazine<\/a> and paraquat<\/a>, and apply the standard of \u201cpresumptive conditions\u201d to expanded funding and support for National Organic Program.<\/p>\n

PACT Act Analysis<\/u><\/p>\n

Environmental, public health, and veterans advocates welcome the impact of PACT Act funds for a systemically neglected subpopulation\u2014veterans.<\/p>\n

There are nearly 4.1 million current enrollees in PACT Act Planning Population (a metric used to \u201cidentify….the impact of the PACT Act on enrollment in VA health care\u201d), 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.<\/p>\n

Since the law was enacted, there have been approximately 259,941 \u201cNew Enrollees in the PACT ACT Planning Population\u201d (\u201cmeasur[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.\u201d) See VA Pact Act Anniversary Performance Dashboard here<\/a> 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<\/a> analysis of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)<\/a> estimates for 2023 calendar year, advocates welcome the increase in enrolled veterans in their care programs as result of the PACT Act.<\/p>\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 VA<\/a>. 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\u2019s death from brain cancer in 2015 to his exposure to burn pits in Iraq.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>), including but not limited to:<\/p>\n