Nobody is helping veterans with chronic illnesses from burn pits

Millions of veterans are struggling to survive painful, gruesome and precarious symptoms of toxic exposure. The Senate has the opportunity to change the trajectory of their medical benefits and ultimately, their lives. It’s time to provide lifesaving care to veterans who have suffered unspeakably.

Army Veteran Nick Ooley, 35, deployed to Iraq in 2008. Today, Ooley cannot jog or play basketball with his 11-year-old. He can’t go anywhere without his inhaler and carries his breathing machine everywhere. He and other veterans are suffering from burn pit exposure — and being denied, ignored and uncompensated by the U.S. government.

A burn pit is an open-air, uncontrolled hole in the ground used by the military to dispose of waste. Discarded toxic items such as paints, chemicals, plastics, metals, Styrofoam, rubber, medical and human waste, batteries, ammunition and more burn constantly, penetrating bases with their toxic smoke. At times, jet fuel or kerosene is used as ignition for the fires.

Beginning on overseas military bases began during Operation Desert Storm and continuing today, burn pits particularly affect service members in the Middle East. “Burn pits were everywhere. We did convoy security, so we would travel to Al Taqaddum, Fallujah, Baghdad, all over. When we would drive through or get stationed in those areas, we would breathe this smoke all the time. It was so thick during the day that the lights would come on like it was dark,” says Ooley.

Burn pits are known as “the Agent Orange of the post-Desert Storm and 9/11 generations.” Veterans exposed to the smoke have reported asthma, lung injuries, cardiovascular problems, rare cancers, tumors and many other problems.

For years, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) refused to acknowledge the hazards that veterans faced from toxic exposure and denied nearly 78 percent of disability claims related to toxic exposure. The VA argued there is insufficient data to substantiate claims that burn pits are to blame. To validate claims related to toxic exposure, the VA forces veterans to identify the specific toxic chemical emitted by a specific burn pit on a specific date, causing the specific disability for which the veteran applied. 

Today, the VA has a burn pit registry, where veterans can detail their exposure, as well as any health problems they are experiencing, in an effort to create causation between health issues and burn pit exposure, which would expedite their claims. But claims are still being denied or taking too long to be approved, leaving veterans and their families without the health care and benefits they deserve.

Ooley recently developed neurological issues, including headaches, progressive vision loss, and loss of function in his right hand and leg. With no help from the VA, he went to the Cleveland Clinic for a nerve test. The test concluded that the nerves on his right side are unresponsive. In August, Ooley woke up and couldn’t talk. Speech therapy has helped him to regain some speech, but he has a long way to go. Doctors still can’t explain why this is happening. 

Ooley and other veterans aren’t asking for anything they don’t deserve. They knew the risks inherent in military service, but never imagined the horrors of toxic exposure. In addition to the VA’s lack of assistance, the U.S. government is barring veterans from pursuing justice: the Supreme Court rejected an appeal allowing veterans to sue the companies contracted to dispose of trash overseas.

The House and Senate both introduced strong, broad veteran toxic exposure bills in 2021. The Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2021 was introduced by VA Chairman Mark Takano and, over the last year, the House and the Senate aggressively negotiated the final bill we have today. Both chambers have passed the bill, but unfortunately, the Senate version had a minor administrative error, which could have invalidated the entire law.  The House had to make the correction and send it back to the Senate, which is where we are today.

This bill provides health care for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals through burn pits and airborne hazards, streamlines the VA review process, and requires medical exams for Veterans with toxic exposure disability.  

While The Independence Fund directly supports exposed veterans and fights on Capitol Hill against the VA’s apathy to toxic exposure, we need your help. Help us bury Congress in an avalanche of letters from voters by signing our letter to your senators. Members of Congress are accountable to voters, and they need to know that the urgency is real. The lives of heroes remain in the balance.  

Bob Carey is vice president of advocacy and strategy at The Independence Fund. Follow him on Twitter @ShoebobCarey.