"White House Finalizes Help For Burn Pit Veterans"

"President Joe Biden announced today [Monday] that the Department of Veterans Affairs will grant extensive health care benefits to veterans experiencing certain debilitating respiratory cancers linked to exposure to burn pits and their fumes.

The VA will add nine respiratory diseases, including lung and throat cancers, to its “presumptive” condition list. Those are illnesses the federal government would presume are related to burn pits and other forms of toxic exposure. The designation automatically opens up the full range of benefits for sick veterans.

Biden first committed to the policy change during his State of the Union address this year, referencing seeing his late son Beau Biden suffer and die from brain cancer after serving in Iraq. The president has long speculated his son’s exposure to burn pits may have caused that cancer (E&E News PM, March 1)."

Nico Portuondo reports for E&E News April 25, 2022.

Source: E&E News, 04/26/2022