Senate Passes Bill to Help Veterans Exposed to Toxic Burn Pits

The U.S. Senate on Aug. 2 passed a bill to expand healthcare coverage that would benefit veterans who had been exposed to military toxic burn pits.

The vote to approve the PACT Act was 86–11.

The bill now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk. In a statement, Biden called the bill’s passage the “biggest expansion of benefits for service-connected health issues in 30 years and the largest single bill ever to comprehensively address exposure to burn pits.”

Until the mid-2010s, the U.S. military used burn pits to dispose of various waste on foreign bases, exposing U.S. service members to fumes that resulted from the burning of various substances, from chemical waste, cans, rubber, plastics, as well as ammunitions and human waste.

“For the millions of veterans who may have been exposed to harmful toxins, this bill means quicker access to health care services and other benefits,” Biden said. “This could be the difference between life and death for many suffering from toxic-related illnesses.

“For the spouse or child of a servicemember who died from toxic exposure, struggling to put their lives back together, this bill will be a lifeline. It means a monthly stipend for a surviving spouse and kids, and access to tuition benefits to help cover the cost of college. It means access to life insurance, home loan assistance, and help with health care,” he added.

The legislation directs the VA to presume that certain respiratory illnesses and cancers were related to burn pit exposure, allowing veterans to obtain disability payments to compensate for their injury without having to prove the illness was a result of their service.

Roughly 70 percent of disability claims related to burn pit exposure are denied by the Veterans Affairs (VA) due to lack of evidence, scientific data, and information from the Department of

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases