President Biden Signs PACT Act For Veterans!

FACT SHEET: President Biden Signs the PACT Act and Delivers on His Promise to America’s Veterans

AUGUST 10, 2022

STATEMENTS AND RELEASES
PACT Act Marks Most Significant Expansion of VA Health Care in 30 Years

Today, President Biden is delivering on his promise to strengthen health care and benefits for America’s veterans and their survivors by signing the bipartisan Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act. The PACT Act is the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans in more than 30 years.

In his first State of the Union address, President Biden called on Congress to send a bill to his desk that would comprehensively address toxic exposures that have impacted veterans, as well as their families and caregivers, and provide them with the health care and benefits they have earned and deserve. Thanks to the bipartisan leaders of the House and Senate Veterans Committees, the PACT Act does just that.

President Biden believes that our nation has a sacred obligation to properly prepare and equip the troops we send into harm’s way – and to care for them and their families when they return home. Sometimes military service can result in increased health risks for our veterans, and some injuries and illnesses like asthma, cancer, and others can take years to manifest. These realities can make it difficult for veterans to establish a direct connection between their service and disabilities resulting from military environmental exposures such as burn pits – a necessary step to ensure they receive the health care they earned.

President Biden made clear that supporting those who wear the uniform is a commitment that unites all Americans – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – and why he made supporting our veterans a core element of his Unity Agenda. And, the legislation supports President Biden’s reignited Cancer Moonshot to help end cancer as we know it.

By signing the bipartisan PACT Act, President Biden is delivering for America’s veterans and their families, and demonstrating that we can – and will – come together where we agree to get big things done for our country. 

The PACT Act: Delivering Critical Health Care and Other Benefits for Veterans
Named in honor of Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson, a decorated combat medic who died from a rare form of lung cancer, this historic legislation will help deliver more timely benefits and services to more than 5 million veterans—across all generations—who may have been impacted by toxic exposures while serving our country. Danielle Robinson, the widow of Sergeant First Class Robinson, was a guest of the First Lady at President Biden’s first State of the Union address when he called on Congress to pass a law to make sure veterans devastated by toxic exposures – like her husband – finally get the health care and benefits they deserve.

The PACT Act will:

To ensure veterans can receive high-quality health care screenings and services related to potential toxic exposures, the PACT Act expands access to VA health care services for veterans exposed during their military service. For post-9/11 combat veterans, the bill extends the period of time they have to enroll in VA health care from five to ten years post-discharge. For those combat veterans who do not fall within that window, the bill also creates a one-year open enrollment period. These expansions mean that more veterans can enroll in VA health care without having to demonstrate a service connected disability.
The PACT Act codifies VA’s new process for evaluating and determining presumption of exposure and service connection for various chronic conditions when the evidence of a military environmental exposure and the associated health risks are strong in the aggregate but hard to prove on an individual basis. PACT requires VA to seek independent evaluation of this process as well as external input on the conditions it will review using this framework. The new process is evidence-based, transparent, and allows VA to make faster policy decisions on crucial exposure issues. This new process has already fundamentally changed how VA makes decisions on environmental exposures and ensures more veterans have access to the care they need.
The legislation removes the need for certain veterans and their survivors to prove service connection if they are diagnosed with one of 23 specific conditions. This greatly reduces the amount of paperwork and need for exams that veterans diagnosed with one of these conditions must complete before being granted access to health care and disability compensation, thereby speeding up their receipt of the benefits they have earned. This list includes 11 respiratory related conditions, along with several forms of cancer, including reproductive cancers, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, and brain cancers such as glioblastoma. Survivors of veterans who died due to one of these conditions may now also be eligible for benefits.
To better understand the impact of toxic exposures, the PACT Act requires VA to conduct new studies of veterans who served in Southwest Asia during the Gulf War and analyses of post-9/11 veterans’ health trends. The new law also directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to convene a new interagency working group to develop a five-year strategic plan on toxic exposure research.
Ensuring veterans get the care they need includes ensuring that they are screened for toxic exposure and that VA personnel have the appropriate education and training. The PACT Act requires that veterans enrolled in VA health care be screened regularly for toxic exposure related concerns. This new law also requires VA to establish an outreach program for veterans regarding toxic exposure related benefits and supports, and to require additional toxic exposure related education and training for VA personnel.
This bill also delivers critical resources to VA to ensure it can deliver timely access to services and benefits for all veterans eligible – including those already enrolled. The PACT Act provides VA with mechanisms to enhance claims processing and to increase the workforce. The bill also invests in VA health care facilities by authorizing 31 major medical health clinics and research facilities in 19 states.

Biden-Harris Administration Record of Action on Military Toxic Exposures
This historic legislation builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s existing efforts to address the harmful effects of environmental exposures affecting service men and women:

Established Presumption for Rare Respiratory Cancers: In April 2022, VA defined presumptive service connection for several rare respiratory cancers for certain veterans – a step that marked progress toward President Biden’s commitment to end cancer as we know it. Since this change, VA has been able to complete more claims for veterans and survivors involving a possible presumption of rare respiratory cancer. With VA taking steps to raise awareness of these benefits, we expect the number of claims to rise in the months ahead.

Processing Claims for New Presumptive Respiratory Conditions: In August 2021, VA began processing disability claims for asthma, rhinitis, and sinusitis based on presumed exposure to particulate matter. Veterans who served in the Southwest Asia theater of operations and other areas and who developed these conditions within ten years of military service are now eligible to apply for disability benefits and access to VA health care. Since August, VA has completed 33,276 claims, granting over 25,000 veterans and their survivors benefits for one or more conditions, leading to over $93 million in retroactive benefit payments.

Raising Awareness of VA Benefits Related to Military Exposures: Many veterans remain unaware of their eligibility for benefits and services related to potential military exposures. Beginning in November 2021, VA launched a proactive campaign to inform and encourage veterans to file claims related to military environmental exposures.

Requiring Training for VA and Non-VA Providers: Health care providers and compensation and pension examiners sometimes do not have the training to understand or treat veterans’ exposure concerns. To address this challenge, VA directed compensation and pension providers and Veterans Health Administration clinicians to complete a training module on assessing deployment related to environmental exposures. VA is also encouraging all providers who care for veterans outside of VA through the Community Care Network contract to complete training on the TRAIN Learning Network, VA’s publicly available training site. Furthermore, VA employees and community care providers have been directed to utilize the Exposure Ed App to help providers provide information to veterans on health effects associated with certain exposures during military service. More information on the app is available here.

Implementing a Network of Specialized Providers and Call Center: Veterans with concerns about the health outcomes of military exposures experience inconsistent care to address these specific issues, especially outside of VA. Earlier this year, VA launched VET-HOME, The Veterans Exposure Team-Health Outcomes of Military Exposures. VA plans to hire health professionals, including physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants who will specialize in conducting patient assessments regarding the health effects of military exposures. By January 2023, VA expects to have a fully operational call center and network of experts to help veterans concerned about environmental exposure and provide consultative services to veterans in primary care clinics.

The video



PBS a deeper look at this bill

U.S. Senate 86 voted for veterans 11 voted against them

The Senate passes help for veterans exposed to toxins, after a reversal drew fury

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) looks on Tuesday as Susan Zeier, mother-in-law of the late Sgt. First Class Heath Robinson, hugs Rosie Torres, wife of veteran Le Roy Torres, who suffers from illnesses related to his exposure to burn pits in Iraq, after the Senate passed the PACT Act at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The U.S. Senate, in a bipartisan 86-11 vote, approved a measure to provide health care and benefits for millions of veterans injured by exposure to toxins, from Agent Orange in Vietnam to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Known as the PACT Act, the bill no longer would force generations of veterans to prove that their illness was caused by toxic exposures suffered in the military in order to get VA coverage. It had been hailed as the largest expansion of care in VA history, and was expected to cost $280 billion over a decade.

The House passed the measure in July. President Biden, who supports the PACT Act, is expected to sign it into law.

read more here 

You may be wondering who were the eleven Senators voting against taking care of the veterans. You can stop wondering, This list is from Yahoo News

On Tuesday, the 11 no votes included:

• Mitt Romney of Utah

• Rand Paul of Kentucky

• Mike Crapo of Idaho

• James Lankford of Oklahoma

• Mike Lee of Utah

• Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming

• James Risch of Idaho

• Richard Shelby of Alabama

• Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania

• Tommy Tuberville of Alabama

• Thom Tillis of North Carolina

All 11 senators also voted against the bill in June.

Read the Burn Pit bill yourself and know what else was in it, they voted against!

Veterans have been camping out on the Capitol steps after GOP blocks burn pit bill

NBC"
By Scott Wong, Ali Vitali and Frank Thorp V
August 1, 2022

WASHINGTON — Jen Burch, 35, a retired staff sergeant in the Air Force, looks strong and healthy from the outside. She says that inside, however, she’s suffering from ailments that she believes are related to her service during the Afghanistan war more than a decade ago.

While they were in Kandahar, Burch and her fellow service members were exposed to “burn pits, incinerators and poo ponds,” she said. When she left, she battled pneumonia and bronchitis. And in the years since then, she has been “in and out of ERs” and has struggled with intense migraine headaches and shortness of breath whenever she climbs a flight of stairs.

“I actually ended up trying to take my life because I just can’t handle it anymore. I just go crazy in my head,” Burch said at a rally Monday outside the U.S. Capitol.
read more here

This is the link to the PACT ACT
Among the things that are in the bill are provisions for those who served at Fort McClellan

(Sec. 801) The VA must conduct an epidemiological study on the health trends of veterans who served at Fort McClellan at any time between January 1, 1935, and May 20, 1999.

Veterans that served in Palomares, Spain and hule Air Force Base, Greenland

(Sec. 402) This section includes veterans who participated in the cleanup of radioactive materials at Palomares, Spain, or in the response effort following the on-board fire and crash of a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber in the vicinity of Thule Air Force Base, Greenland, as radiation-exposed veterans for purposes of the presumption of service-connection for specified cancers.

Vietnam veterans

Veterans Agent Orange Exposure Equity Act of 2022
(Sec. 403) This section expands the presumption of service-connection for diseases associated with exposure to certain herbicide agents for veterans who served in Vietnam between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975. Specifically, the bill expands the presumption to cover veterans who served during specified time frames in Thailand at any U.S. or Royal Thai bases, Laos, Cambodia, Guam or American Samoa or the waters thereof, or on Johnson Atoll. Under the bill, such veterans are eligible for VA hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care.

Read the bill yourself and know that those that voted against this, are lying about the bill.

7,000 US soldiers exposed to Russian toxic dump at K2 Uzbekistan

DOD, VA asked to address allegations saying base made soldiers sick

KCTV News
By Angie Ricono, Zoe Brown
Mar 6, 2020

“The response from the Department of Defense (DOD) has been inadequate. Veterans who deployed to K2 in Operation Enduring Freedom served bravely in defense of the United States, yet many of them have not received answers to their legitimate questions about the potential hazards they may have been exposed to while deployed there.”

The United States House Oversight Committee wants the Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to respond to allegations that a military base made U.S. soldiers sick.

FAIRWAY, KS (KCTV) -- The United States House Oversight Committee wants the Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to respond to allegations that a military base made U.S. soldiers sick.

This concerns Karshi-Khanabad or “K2” in what is now Uzbekistan. Veterans say that base was a toxic waste dump for the Russians.

They said they immediately noticed bad smells and black goo around the base. There were glowing green ponds of water they called “Skittles ponds” because the color was so intense.

K2 has been the focus of previous investigative reports at KCTV5 because a local veteran is collecting information on sickness and death.

The letters point out soldiers from K2 are filling out questionnaires and are already aware of 30 deaths among the 7,000 soldiers who served there. Those deaths are mostly cancer related.
read it here

Hazmat crews clear air at Fairmont San Jose after chemicals used for suicide

Chemicals used in apparent suicide at San Jose hotel force evacuations

ABC 7 News
By Anser Hassan
September 1, 2019

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The Fairmont San Jose reopened late Saturday afternoon after four floors of the high-end hotel were evacuated that morning.

Hazmat units were sent to clear out the 19th floor due to toxic chemicals used in apparent death by suicide.

"Initial reports were saying that somebody had attempted suicide by using chemicals," explains San Jose Fire Captain Mitch Matlow.

San Jose police later confirmed the death by suicide in an email to ABC7 News.

Captain Matlow described the victim only as an adult female. He says the chemicals were found in her room.

"We determined that there were chemicals in the room, what those chemicals are or how many there were, I don't know," says Matlow, adding that, "The hazard was contained to that one room."

He says some guest may still notice an usual odor, but stresses that the air inside the hotel and the surrounding area is not toxic.

"The only issue is a bad odor, that is not dangerous, and the hotel is working very diligently to get rid of the odor by putting fresh air into the building," he says.
read it here

Military service putting the lead in troops?

These US Troops Are Slowly Being Poisoned by Lead in Their Bones

Military.com
By Patricia Kime
4 Apr 2019

One of the those diagnosed, Steve Hopkins, a former Special Forces major who is now retired, called receiving the test results "a big deal." After bouncing from doctor to doctor and being told by Army physicians that he likely had depression or PTSD -- or was malingering -- Hopkins was grateful to put a name to his debilitating illness.

A contractor shows the bullets and rubber that he cleaned in the Training Support Center Benelux 25-meter indoor firing range, on Chièvres Air Base, Belgium, Dec. 6, 2017. (U.S. Army/Visual Information Specialist Pierre-Etienne Courtejoie)

A number of U.S. troops with unexplained symptoms such as impaired concentration, anger, irritability and impulsivity, as well as physical problems such as high blood pressure, peripheral neuropathy and low sex drive, have chronic lead poisoning, according to a report Wednesday in The New York Times Magazine's At War Blog.

Thirty-eight troops -- mostly from Special Forces units -- have gone to Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York for a special test that measures the level of lead in one's tibia bone. Of those, a dozen registered bone lead levels higher than normal, with four having roughly twice the expected amount.

Dozens of other service members sought treatment at the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Functional Medicine for lead and other metal poisoning, including those tested at Mount Sinai.

While the numbers are small compared with the 1.3 million active-duty personnel currently serving, the diagnosis is significant for these troops, who have wrestled for years with symptoms that mimic traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but who also have physical manifestations.

"It was a big weight off my shoulders and off my family," he said. "I mean, we were in crisis."

Hopkins was diagnosed in 2012 after falling severely ill and traveling to Walter Reed National Naval Medical Center, Maryland, where he was seen by Navy Capt. Kevin Dorrance, also now retired. Like Hopkins' physicians at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Dorrance originally thought Hopkins' issues were mental health-related. But he noticed that one medical test, an erythrocyte porphyrin test, consistently came back as elevated.
read more here

UK Study, Gulf War Syndrome being passed onto children

Veterans with debilitating Gulf War Syndrome may have passed it on to children

Mirror UK
By Grace Macaskill
JAN 2019

The American study, funded by the US Veterans Affairs department, will step up the pressure. Dr Michael Falvo, lead researcher at the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center, said the findings were the “first direct biological evidence”

EXCLUSIVE: Stricken families say they want the Ministry of Defence to recognise the condition as the British Legion says it believes 30,000 may be suffering

Medical research has revealed troops who served in Iraq are more likely to have damage to DNA (Image: PA)

British forces veterans suffering Gulf War Syndrome may have given it to their children.

New medical research has revealed troops who served in Iraq are more likely to have damage to DNA that could be passed on during reproduction.

Experts in the US – where the illness is recognised – claim to have found the first proof of a biological link to debilitating symptoms suffered by servicemen involved in the 1990-1991 conflict.

Almost 75 per cent of the 53,000 UK soldiers there were given an anthrax vaccine. Many were also exposed to depleted uranium in some weapons.

Thousands reported a raft of disorders on their return home, including extreme fatigue, dizziness, strange rashes, nerve pain and memory loss – and the British Legion believes 30,000 may be suffering from the syndrome.

And more and more affected families are reporting that their children have developed terrifying symptoms of conditions that can be passed on genetically.

Now they are demanding the Ministry of Defence acts on the latest research and recognises Gulf War Syndrome.
read more here

Burn Pits get studied today, forgotten about from all other wars

Wonder if any of these reporters are aware this is how they got rid of the same stuff in all other wars?

*******

Burn Pits Exposed: A Look at How Military Got Rid of 'Anything and Everything' on Overseas Bases

NBC 10 News
By NBC10 Investigators
Published Nov 16, 2018

They served. Now they're sick. Thousands of former soldiers claim they are suffering ill effects from the garbage disposal methods on overseas bases.

In the middle of the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan, garbage disposal on American military bases was historically a simple thing.

"Anything and everything burned in a burn pit — from mail to dead animals to anything," Ryan Conklin, a former soldier, says.

Asbestos and other chemicals? Yes, retired Army Lt. Col. Dan Brewer, says.

Medical waste? Yes again, according to a doctor now researching the effects of burn pit dust. "It was always burning, always black smoke coming of there," another veteran, Michael Ray, says.

Several former soldiers and medical doctors spoke to NBC10 Investigators about their experiences with burn pits: large holes dug by crews who then filled the pits with trash and lit them on fire with jet fuel. For many soldiers deployed to the desert and living on bases adjacent to the debris disposal, the billowing black smoke was just part of their daily life.
read more here

Add Wurtsmith Air Force Base to contaminated military bases?

Michigan Air Force base water may have caused cancer
By: The Associated Press
August 12, 2018

The chemical was first found in the base's water in 1977, but drinking water wells could've been contaminated for many years before the discovery, according to the report. The Air Force installed a groundwater treatment system to clean up the trichloroethylene in the 1980s after being sued by Michigan.

The Wurtsmith Air Force Base grounds in Oscoda Township, Mich., two years ago. (Garret Ellison/MLive.com via AP)

OSCODA, Mich. — A federal health agency says contaminated drinking water might have caused cancer and other chronic disease among veterans and families who lived at a former northern Michigan military base.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry released last month a draft report about the Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, Michigan, MLive.com reported. The report concluded that people who consumed or had skin contact with Wurtsmith water may be at an increased risk for cancer.

Extremely high levels of benzene and trichloroethylene were documented in the former B-52 bomber base’s water before its 1993 closure.

The report is based on long-term exposure over a period of years. The findings also note that even short-term exposure to trichloroethylene for pregnant mothers during the first trimester could lead to heart birth defects in their children.
read more here  

Military’s burn pit problems ignored by Congress

Veterans fear Congress has forgotten about the military’s burn pit problems
Military Times
By: Leo Shane III
5 hours ago

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Nathanial Fink, left, and Lance Cpl. Garrett Camacho dispose of trash in a burn pit in the Khan Neshin district of Afghanistan in March 2012. (Cpl. Alfred V. Lopez/Marine Corps)

WASHINGTON — For years, Veterans Affairs leaders and administration officials have promised they won’t let health issues surrounding burn pit exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan become another “Agent Orange” in the community.

Now, advocates and a handful of lawmakers are worried it already has.

“The level of awareness among members of Congress on the problems from burn pits is abysmally low,” said Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii and an Army National Guard soldier who served in Iraq in 2004-2005. “Too few understand the urgency of the issue.”

Gabbard and Afghanistan war veteran Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., recently introduced new legislation dubbed the Burn Pits Accountability Act to require more in-depth monitoring of servicemembers’ health for signs of illnesses connected to toxic exposure in combat zones.
read more here

Veterans Get Burned Again By Court After Burn Pits

Court Deals Major Blow to Veterans Suing Over Burn Pits

Special to McClatchy Washington Bureau
By Patricia Kime
5 Aug 2017

"My husband is DEAD because of burn pits," Dina McKenna, whose husband, former Army Sgt. William McKenna, died in 2010 from a rare form of T-cell lymphoma after serving in Iraq, told McClatchy in an email. "I want someone to be held accountable."

A senior airman tosses unserviceable uniform items into a burn pit at Balad Air Base, Iraq, in March 2008. (US Air Force photo/Julianne Showalter)

A federal judge has dismissed a major lawsuit against a defense contractor by veterans and their family members, over burn pit operations in Iraq and Afghanistan that plaintiffs said caused them chronic and sometimes deadly respiratory diseases and cancer.

In the decision, U.S. District Court Judge Roger W. Titus wrote that the company, KBR, could not be held liable for what was essentially a military decision to use burn pits for waste disposal. Titus said holding the Pentagon responsible was outside of his jurisdiction.

"The extensive evidence ... demonstrates that the mission-critical, risk-based decisions surrounding the use and operation of open burn pits ... were made by the military as a matter of military wartime judgment," Titus wrote in an 81-page opinion.

The dismissal -- the second by Titus in the case -- deals a major blow to the more than 700 veterans, family members and former KBR employees who brought the suit.

read more here

VA Lists Disabilities for Camp Lejeune Marines-Families

VA’s rule establishes presumption of service connection for diseases associated with exposure to contaminants in water supply at Camp Lejeune 

VA to provide disability benefits for related diseases

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) regulations to establish presumptions for the service connection of eight diseases associated with exposure to contaminants in the water supply at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, are effective as of today.

“Establishing these presumptions is a demonstration of our commitment to care for those who have served our nation and have been exposed to harm as a result of that service,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Dr. David J. Shulkin. “The Camp Lejeune presumptions will make it easier for those Veterans to receive the care and benefits they earned.”

The presumption of service connection applies to active-duty, reserve and National Guard members who served at Camp Lejeune for a minimum of 30 days (cumulative) between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987, and are diagnosed with any of the following conditions:

Adult leukemia

Aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes

Bladder cancer

Kidney cancer

Liver cancer

Multiple myeloma

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

Parkinson’s disease

The area included in this presumption is all of Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River, including satellite camps and housing areas.

This presumption complements the health care already provided for 15 illnesses or conditions as part of the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012. The Camp Lejeune Act requires VA to provide health care to Veterans who served at Camp Lejeune, and to reimburse family members or pay providers for medical expenses for those who resided there for not fewer than 30 days between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987.

Teenager's Life Cut Short By Accident, Soldier's Life Extended By Love

Teen who died following ladder fall donates kidney to veteran
KOMO
by Suzanne Phan
August 26th 2016

SILVERDALE, Wash. (KOMO) - A Kitsap family is preparing to bury their beloved teenage daughter on Saturday, but they find hope and promise that a part of her lives on.

Sixteen-year-old Emily Ramm was a bold, daring, and outspoken teen with big dreams and a lot of ambition, according to her family. Her life was cut short after she fell from a ladder at a construction site at Silverdale Elementary School on Aug. 13.

Loved ones say she was climbing to find higher ground and a better place to watch the meteor shower that night with friends.

KOMO News has heard from a military veteran who received Emily's kidney right after she passed.

"There's no words to describe how grateful I am. For the family, the loss is huge. I can't say thank you enough,” said Daniel Mendoza from his home.
read more here

Why Are Marine Veterans Forced To Fight Government After Camp Lejeune?

Marine’s toughest fight: getting compensated for exposure to Camp Lejeune’s toxic water
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KEITH ROGERS
August 20, 2106

Between 1952 and 1987, nearly 1 million Marines, sailors, civilian employees and military family members unknowingly drank, cooked with and bathed in contaminated water while living or working at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

There’s no doubt in Stanley Furrow’s mind that his health problems and those of his wife, children and grandson come from drinking contaminated water and bathing in it years ago when he served in the Marine Corps at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

CHEMICALS IN THE WATER

They all have classic symptoms, according to the EPA, of people who have consumed water tainted with a witch’s brew of benzene, solvents and compounds with long names such as perchloroethylene, trichlorethylene and vinyl chloride. That is what was leaking into the camp’s water supply when Furrow, a Vietnam War vet, and his wife, Linda, lived there in the early 1970s.

He blames his exposure for the migraine headaches and neurological maladies he’s suffered from for years.

They believe it also explains why Linda had miscarriages; their son was born with only three fingers on his left hand; their daughter has battled cysts and tumors on her head all her life; and their 13-year-old grandson, Joseph, was born with twisted legs.

Jolie Furrow: “I just think it’s crazy. Why would you treat someone who served their country this way?” read more here

Camp Lejeune Marine Veteran Fights Toxic Exposure and VA

Desperately ill Marine veteran finally gets some good news
KOMO News
BY TRACY VEDDER
JUNE 21ST 2016

SEATTLE -- The KOMO Investigators are getting results for a local veteran who is desperately ill.

Spike George developed a terminal illness after drinking contaminated water at a Marine Corps base. After being denied benefits numerous times, George is now resting easier knowing at least the bill for his current month-long hospital stay will be covered.

George is in the last stages of systemic scleroderma. It's a disease that attacks the body from the inside out; in George's case hardening his skin and his internal organs. As of June 21st, he weighs just 107 pounds. Still he feels better than when KOMO news first interviewed him more than a month ago.
read more here

Do reporters ever check facts?

"But last year, the VA denied George's health care benefits, saying he made too much money working as a King County Corrections Officer."

A "service connected disability" will cover what is related to the disability after the VA ties service to the disability. For veteran with 100%, everything they need is covered. Making too much money only applies when the veteran has no "approved" claim and is seeking free care.

His claim should have been approved a long time ago considering matching his service record to exposures would be easy to do.

Priority Group 7
Veterans with gross household income below the geographically-adjusted income limits (GMT) for their resident location and who agree to pay copays

Priority Group 8
Veterans with gross household income above the VA and the geographically-adjusted income limits for their resident location and who agrees to pay copays

Here are the other group listings from the VA 

Priority Group 1

Veterans with VA-rated service-connected disabilities 50% or more disabling Veterans determined by VA to be unemployable due to service-connected conditions

Priority Group 2

Veterans with VA-rated service-connected disabilities 30% or 40% disabling

Priority Group 3

Veterans who are Former Prisoners of War (POWs) Veterans awarded a Purple Heart medal Veterans whose discharge was for a disability that was incurred or aggravated in the line of duty Veterans with VA-rated service-connected disabilities 10% or 20% disabling Veterans awarded special eligibility classification under Title 38, U.S.C., § 1151, "benefits for individuals disabled by treatment or vocational rehabilitation" Veterans awarded the Medal Of Honor (MOH)

Priority Group 4

Veterans who are receiving aid and attendance or housebound benefits from VA Veterans who have been determined by VA to be catastrophically disabled

Priority Group 5

Nonservice-connected Veterans and noncompensable service-connected Veterans rated 0% disabled by VA with annual income below the VA’s and geographically (based on your resident zip code) adjusted income limits Veterans receiving VA pension benefits Veterans eligible for Medicaid programs

Priority Group 6

Compensable 0% service-connected Veterans Veterans exposed to Ionizing Radiation during atmospheric testing or during the occupation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Project 112/SHAD participants

Veterans who served in the Republic of Vietnam between January 9,1962 and May 7,1975 Veterans of the Persian Gulf War who served between August 2, 1990 and November 11, 1998 *Veterans who served on active duty at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days between August 1, 1953 and December 31, 1987 Veterans who served in a theater of combat operations after November 11, 1998 as follows: Currently enrolled Veterans and new enrollees who were discharged from active duty on or after January 28, 2003, are eligible for the enhanced benefits for five years post discharge. **Combat Veterans who were discharged between January 2009 and January 2011, and did not enroll in the VA health care during their five-year period of eligibility have an additional one year to enroll and receive care. The additional one-year eligibility period began February 12, 2015 with the signing of the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for America Veterans Act.

Burn Pits Killing OEF and OIF Veterans

Iraq, Afghan vets may have their own Agent Orange
Star Tribune
Mark Brunswick
June 18, 2016

“It makes me really mad,” said Muller, who monitored and edited video feeds from Air Force fighter jet missions while in Iraq. “I inhaled that stuff. It was all day, all night. Everything that they burned there, is illegal to burn in America. That tells you something.”

ELIZABETH FLORES – STAR TRIBUNE

Amie Muller received a chemotherapy treatment at Mayo Clinic, Thursday, June 16, 2016.

While it took nearly three decades for the U.S. government to eventually link Agent Orange, the defoliant used in Vietnam, to cancer, President Obama has pledged quick action to make determinations about the effect of the burn pits on perhaps as many as 60,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

ROCHESTER – They are known as the Agent Orange of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars: Massive open-air burn pits at U.S. military bases that billowed the toxic smoke and ash of everything from Styrofoam, metals and plastics to electrical equipment and even human body parts.

The flames were stoked with jet fuel.

One of the most notorious was in Balad, site of the largest and busiest air base operated by the military in Iraq. More than 10 acres in size, the pit burned at all hours and consumed an estimated 100 to 200 tons of waste a day. It was hastily constructed upwind from the base, and its plumes consistently drifted toward the 25,000 troops stationed there.

During two deployments to Balad with the Minnesota Air National Guard, Amie Muller worked and lived next to the pits. And now, she believes, she is paying the price.

Diagnosed last month with Stage III pancreatic cancer, the 36-year-old mother of three from Woodbury has just completed her third round of ­chemotherapy at the Mayo Clinic here. As she undergoes treatment, she struggles with anger and awaits a VA determination on whether a host of ailments from migraines to fibromyalgia is connected to her military service at Balad.
read more here

News Investigation Gets Justice for Camp Lejeune Marine

TV news investigation prompts action on Camp Lejeune poison water VA claim
WJHL News
By Mark Douglas
Published: June 2, 2016

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Bob Miranda-Boulay says he suffers from 16 medical conditions brought about by toxic water he drank at Camp Lejeune while training as a recruit in the Marine reserves 21 years ago.

Now, after three years of waiting and medical claim denials by the VA Boulay has a glimmer of hope, thanks to an 8 on Your Side investigation that caught the attention of VA claims managers in Louisville, Kentucky. They arranged for a Skype hearing at the VA Service Center at Bay Pines Friday. “If it wasn’t for you doing the story I wouldn’t be here today,” said Boulay after the hearing.

Boulay’s attorneys say out of the blue they received a call from a VA hearing officer about a week after we reported on Boulay’s inability to get assistance from the VA. The story had been re-broadcast by other Media General TV stations and was linked on a number of websites catering to veterans.
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Camp Lejeune Marine Reservist "I Don't Count"

‘I don’t count’ – Camp Lejeune Marine reservist suffering after exposure to tainted water
News Channel 8
Investigative Reporter Mark Douglas
Published: May 9, 2016

Boulay wore the same uniform, crawled through the same mud and drank the same tainted water at Camp Lejeune as regular Marines, but doesn’t qualify for any benefits under the Camp Lejeune Family Act of 2012 because he was a Marine Reservist who was never called up for active duty.

“I don’t count,” Boulay said.

(WFLA) – Like thousands of other former Marines who served at Camp Lejeune Bob Miranda-Boulay suffers a long list of serious and life-threatening illnesses that he attributes to the toxic water that tainted wells at that training base in North Carolina over a period of 34 years.
“This was the Marine Corps that did this to us,” Boulay said.

Boulay insists he enlisted out of patriotism, but now feels betrayed by the Corps.

“I wanted to make a difference,” Bouley said. “I love my country and I wanted to do the right thing. I wanted to be a Marine.”

Boulay says he was an amateur boxer in perfect health prior to his two months of infantry training at Camp Lejeune. About 30 years later he now suffers from liver and kidney disease and has survived a brain tumor. He takes a dozen medications to make it through the day and activated a pacemaker at bedtime to keep from dying in his sleep.

For years Boulay’s various maladies puzzled doctors who at one point chalked up his troubles to Lyme Disease. Now, Boulay’s doctor attributes his medical ills to the chemical-laced drinking water he consumed during training at Lejeune.

“Eventually like my doctor says I’m going lose the battle,” Boulay said. I’m only going hold it off so long.”

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Iraq Veteran Warns Others About Lung Cancer After Burn Pits

Iraq war veteran warns other vets to get their lungs checked
FOX2 News St. Louis
BY PAUL SCHANKMAN
MARCH 16, 2016

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO (KTVI) - An Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran from South St. Louis County is warning fellow veterans to have their lungs checked by a doctor.

His name is Tim Smith. He`s 37-years-old, and even though he says he has never been a smoker, doctors recently discovered he has lung cancer.

Now he's wondering if it might have been caused by a different kind of smoke.

'We`d see black smoke all the time, we`d see some weird colored smoke clouds up in the air that would turn different colors at times. We really didn`t know what it was,' said Smith.

He owns Patriot Contract Commercial Cleaning, which hires veterans to tidy up offices and schools.

But he says when he served in Iraq, there was no one hauling off trash.
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VA’s Camp Lejeune decision ‘idiotic’

Sen. Nelson: VA’s Camp Lejeune decision ‘idiotic’ 
News Channel 8
Investigative Reporter Steve Andrews
Published: December 11, 2015

“This is illogical. It’s idiotic that that veteran would get an answer like that,” Senator Bill Nelson

Drinking and bathing in toxic water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina has caused medical nightmares for countless Marines and their families.

“They’re losing major organs from their body, they’re dying, and it seems like they don’t care,” Judy Zambito said. Judy’s husband Joe is a former Marine, stationed at Camp Lejeune. Joe lost his right kidney to cancer in 1999. He lost his bladder then his left kidney to cancer in 2010.

“So his life now is to live the rest of his life on dialysis,” Judy explained. The Zambitos learned about Camp Lejeune contamination from the news. When Joe went to the VA to be evaluated in 2012, Judy points out that he was never seen by a VA doctor.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ties kidney and several other cancers to the Camp Lejeune water contamination. But in Joe’s case, the VA didn’t. Records show Joe’s private doctors were not consulted nor were his private medical records reviewed. Nonetheless, the VA determined his kidney cancer was not connected to Camp Lejeune, but his bladder cancer was.
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