The House Veterans Affairs
Committee wants to hear from troops and veterans about their environmental
exposures while serving in the U.S. military.
Committee Chairman Rep. Mark
Takano, D-Calif., has set up an online survey for veterans asking about what
they've experienced as effects of toxic exposure.
The request for help gauging the
impact of exposure was announced just before Takano's planned roundtable with
veterans organizations Wednesday, titled "The True Cost of our Promise to
Toxic Exposed Veterans."
The survey seeks info on the
extent of exposure, health conditions possibly related to environmental
pollutants, the VA's response and what lawmakers can do to help affected
veterans.
"Your responses will help
the Committee better understand veterans' experiences with toxic exposure and
how Congress can help ensure these veterans receive the benefits they have
earned and deserve," Takano wrote in an announcement last week.
Takano is the lead sponsor of the
Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or PACT, Act, which would
broadly expand affected veterans' access to health care disability benefits
from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The $282 billion proposed
legislation would designate 23 diseases as presumed to be related to
battlefield environmental exposures in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
It also would expand eligibility
to veterans who have faced challenges applying for benefits, including those
who served in Vietnam and have hypertension, as well as Vietnam-era veterans
exposed to Agent Orange and other defoliants outside the war zone.
An unknown number of post-9/11,
Persian Gulf War and Vietnam-era veterans are suffering from respiratory
illnesses, cancer and other diseases that many believe are related to exposure
to chemicals, radiation and heavy metals during their military service.
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