Veterans, service members and advocates speaking at a roundtable hosted by lawmakers on Wednesday said that the U.S. military isn’t doing enough to prevent long-term health effects tied to toxins and other risks troops are exposed to during their time in uniform, calling for reforms in existing toxic exposure laws.
Air Force Lt. Col. Jacob Berry, an active-duty occupational and environmental medicine physician, said during the roundtable hosted by members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee that the 2022 toxic exposure law known as the PACT Act needs to be upgraded. The military and Department of Veterans Affairs need to better probe and respond to growing cases of service members who are experiencing a wide range of issues tied to contact with chemicals and carcinogens leading to infertility and illness, as well as those harmed by traumatic brain injury and radiation while in uniform, he said.
“We have the data,” Berry said. “We have the science. We have the technology. What we need now is the will. We’ve built a military system capable of defeating enemies abroad. Now is our opportunity to build one capable of protecting those who serve.”
Read Next: Army Disbanding Most Ceremonial Horse Units
Wednesday’s discussion, hosted by Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, brought together more than a dozen veterans service organizations and other advocacy groups for them to tell their personal stories and professional criticisms of the military’s occupational health support.
While the sweeping legislation known as the PACT Act mostly focused on toxic exposures from burn pits and chemicals overseas, advocates want to see additional changes such as more thorough medical records, changes to occupational medicine strategies, and more rapid investigations to tackle potential health concerns among service members and their families.
“I am proud of the work we did on the PACT Act, but we’re far from finished,” Takano said in his opening remarks.
One problem facing troops is there are often few occupational health specialists placed in high-sensitive or classified jobs in the military, which opens up more risks, Berry added.
As an example, Berry cited the growing diagnoses of cancer among troops who work at America’s nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile bases. Military.com detailed those growing concerns in an investigative series last year, as well as the warnings that went ignored for two decades. Some reforms to occupational health records have followed amid an ongoing Air Force cancer study.
A recent independent health study examining diagnoses of non-Hodgkin lymphoma among those who served at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, found that service members were diagnosed at younger ages compared to the wider population.
Other veterans echoed Berry’s concerns.
Dave Crete, an Air Force veteran and chairman of The Invisible Enemy, a nonprofit that advocates for veterans exposed to radiation at the Nevada Test and Training Range, said he and others were exposed to radiation not only through the nature of their jobs, but just by living in those areas.
Crete recalled that his dormitory was just over two miles from a nuclear detonation site.
“Exposure isn’t the acute exposure that you got from sitting there watching the glass,” Crete said. “It’s what you get from breathing the air, crawling in the dirt, drinking the water, and the issues manifest themselves 20 to 30 years later.”
Cases of deaths tied to toxic exposures are on the rise, advocates say.
Wednesday’s roundtable was the second one held this year; the first focused on expanding the PACT Act to those impacted by domestic toxic exposures. The conversation also comes as the Department of Veterans Affairs, under President Donald Trump’s administration, plans to shrink its workforce by 30,000 this year, which veterans advocates fear will harm the quality of their care and benefits.
“These conversations are not easy. They are not fun. But they are necessary,” Takano said in his opening remarks. “They are especially necessary right now in this time of great uncertainty for the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
Related: Veterans, Service Members Detail Health Struggles from Toxic Exposure at Domestic Bases
Story Continues
Read the full article here