On Veterans Day, the Biden administration announced actions to address health risks for veterans exposed to "contaminants and environmental hazards," including new support options for those impacted while serving overseas.
The Biden administration kicked off a major a federal effort on Thursday to better understand, identify and treat medical conditions suffered by troops deployed to toxic environments.
"As we mark Veterans Day and honor those who have worn the uniform of the United States, the Administration is moving forward to support our service members and veterans who may have encountered environmental hazards," the White House wrote in a statement, before announcing the actions they are taking, including:
- Making it easier for veterans to prove that they were exposed so they can receive benefits faster
- Adding new presumptive conditions, noting that Department of Veterans Affairs began processing disability claims for asthma, rhinitis, and sinusitis based on presumed exposure to particulate matter in August
- Instructing the VA to assess a possible connection between exposure and other conditions, including rare cancers
Also, Veterans will now be able to make claims within 10 years of service.
These steps, the White House says, aim to "improve our understanding of the health effects of military-related exposures, educate providers and veterans about these exposures, and provide timelier access to health services and benefits for individuals who were exposed."
“You have endured and survived challenges most Americans will never know. You've come through the trials and testing. Brave dangers and deprivations. Faced down the tragic realities of war and death,” Biden said Thursday in remarks at Arlington National Cemetery to mark Veterans Day. “You've done it for us. You've done it for America — to defend and serve American values. To protect our country and our Constitution against all enemies, to lay a stronger, more secure foundation.”
"On Veterans Day and every day, we honor that great debt and recommit ourselves to keeping our sacred obligation as a nation to honor what you’ve done," Biden added, pledging to work with Congress in a bipartisan manner on "expanding presumptive conditions for toxic exposure and particulate matter, including Agent Orange and burn pits."
"We’re going to keep pushing on this front to be more nimble and responsive," he continued. "We’re reviewing all the data and evidence to determine additional presumptive conditions that make sure our veterans don’t have to wait to get the care they need."
Burn pits were used in Iraq and Afghanistan to dispose of human waste, chemicals and other hazardous material. According to a survey conducted by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, 86% of post-9/11 veterans reported exposure to burn pits and other toxins, with 88% believing they may be or are already experiencing symptoms from burn pits or toxic exposure.
Just 53% of those who have been exposed are registered in the VA's burn pit registry, per the survey.
For President Joe Biden, the issue is a personal one: The president has said he believes there is a link between burn pits and the death of his son, Beau, who died in 2015 from an aggressive form of brain cancer.
"He volunteered to join the National Guard at age 32 because he thought he had an obligation to go," Biden said in 2019. "And because of exposure to burn pits, in my view – I can't prove it yet – he came back with stage four glioblastoma."
There is not yet scientific evidence to establish that link.
The U.S. military has been aware for years of health risks associated with open-air burn pits. In 2013, federal investigators found a military camp in Afghanistan was operating a pit for more than five years, nearly four times longer than Pentagon rules allowed. The Defense Department has said burn pits should be used only as a temporary last resort when no other alternative trash disposal method is feasible.
"We’re discovering there is a whole host of lung conditions related to deployment,” Dr. Richard Meehan, an immunologist and rheumatologist and a retired U.S. Naval Reserve officer, told The Associated Press. Meehan, who is investigating the role of inhalation exposures among
The issue has also drawn other high-profile supporters, notably Jon Stewart, the former "Daily Show" host, who has accused Congress of not doing enough for U.S. veterans who were exposed to toxic hazards and advocated for legislation to aid them as recently as this year.
"These individuals who volunteered to fight in these wars are now fighting their own government," Stewart said in May, ahead of House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chair Mark Takano, D-Calif., introducing a bill which would remove "burden of proof" for veterans and mandate that the VA "presume certain illnesses are linked to exposure to hazardous waste incineration."
"Congress' reticence and inaction has caused our veterans community over these many years to negotiate against itself," he continued. "To negotiate against the need that they have and the need that their population has against the purse strings that the VA and the Congress were holding over them."
"Defense contractors can’t view the U.S. Congress as Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, while veterans are back there like Oliver with a bowl of gruel asking, ‘Please, sir, may I have some more?" he continued. "It's bull**** and it's got to stop. And if these bills can finally end this cycle for the veterans ... then we have to get this done."
Stewart, who made similar efforts for 9/11 first responders, dedicated an episode of his new show, "The Problem" on Apple TV+, to this issue.
"Now veterans are dying and going bankrupt because the DoD and VA are forcing them to indisputably prove a connection they already internally admit exists," Stewart says in the episode. "And what makes it so incredibly demoralizing is that they are holding the veterans to a standard of proof far beyond the one our own government used to send them to war in the first place."
Le Roy Torres, the co-founder of Burn Pits 360, a nonprofit which seeks to advocate for veterans impacted by exposure to toxic materials, was an Army captain for 23 years. Torres told Spectrum News that he was exposed while serving in Iraq, and has been diagnosed with Toxic Brain Injury and constrictive bronchiolitis.
Torres' wife Rosie, who founded the organization with him, said that the president's announcement doesn't go far enough: "We don't need studies. If we cant burn it in our backyard in America, obviously, there's a reason it kills you. It’s toxic."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.