During service, veterans and their family members stationed at military bases have been exposed to hazardous cancer-causing chemicals such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The VA does not currently recognize the link between these specific cancers and chemical exposure to PFAS, so they are not classified as service-connected disabilities. If the VA does not recognize or establish a presumption of connection between exposure to a toxic agent and specific diseases, it is up to the veterans to prove a direct service connection, a process that is often time-consuming and entails a case-by-case assessment by the VA. This arduous process heavily affects those who served on military bases, where the infamously harmful PFAS were extensively used for decades.
However, this might change if the 2023 VET PFAS Act initiative becomes law. The legislation would simplify the bureaucratic process behind obtaining healthcare support by establishing a presumption of service connection for those who were exposed to PFAS while stationed at military installations and making veterans eligible for hospital care and medical services.
The health impacts of PFAS
PFAS are a group of man-made chemicals that have become notorious for their bioaccumulation potential and wide range of associated conditions. They are also known as ‘forever chemicals’ due to their extreme persistence and chemical stability. There is no safe amount of exposure to PFAS, and even minimal exposure increases the risk of developing certain cancers, immune system dysfunction, and reproductive problems. Today, PFAS contamination affects around 700 military bases across the US.
Twenty military bases in Virginia have reported PFAS contamination, and hundreds more are under investigation. Located near Hampton and Newport News, Joint Base Langley-Eustis has the highest concentration of PFAS in Virginia. A few years ago, Its PFAS levels of 2,225,000 parts per trillion exceeded the EPA’s regulatory limit by a whopping 556,250 times. Another base with an abnormal level of PFAS is Naval Air Station Oceana, which measured 493,600 parts per trillion.
Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL) limits imposed by the EPA, which is four parts per trillion for PFAS, serve only as benchmarks for public health procedures; they do not represent absolute safety limits for humans; PFAS are harmful even in low amounts. Thus, the servicemen who were stationed at the military bases bear a high risk of developing diseases associated with regular and direct exposure, including thyroid, testicular, prostate, and bladder cancer. This federal nested case-control study found a direct association between PFOS, a type of PFAS, and testicular cancer among US Air Force servicemen.
How the VET PFAS Act could change Veterans’ lives for the better
Section 2 of the act introduces medical care requirements for diagnosed high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, testicular cancer, kidney cancer, and pregnancy-induced hypertension. It includes a clause that ensures the recognition of other potential PFAS-associated illnesses that are not explicitly mentioned. The following section establishes the presumption of service connection, ensuring that veterans will no longer have to provide extensive evidence to prove that their conditions are related to their service. This change will encourage the many veterans who were previously hesitant to apply to seek the medical treatment they need and deserve; it will be essential for veterans with conditions that require early detection and treatment, such as PFAS-related cancers.
About the Author:
Jonathan Sharp is a Chief Financial Officer responsible for case evaluation, financial analysis, and asset management at Environmental Litigation Group, PC. The law firm, headquartered in Birmingham, AL, assists victims of toxic exposure, predominantly civilian and military firefighters.
No tedious diatribe from about how the Democrats are ruining civilization with this bill? Is Paul Plante ok?
Actually, Mary, I am quite fine, but truthfully, I am very concerned about the state of your mental health, which seem to be in a serious state of decline, if you think there is something wrong with this particular bill.
You should give some serious thought and consideration while you still have some shreds of your intellect intact to seeking out a competent mental health specialist.
Here’s a link for you in that regard:
https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=c_and_mh&find_loc=Cape+Charles%2C+VA+23310
And so you know, Mary, and this should be a comfort to you, we are all preying for you in your hour of need here.
And Mary, to help you out here, because I am a compassionate humanist (humanists stand for the building of a more humane, just, and compassionate society using a pragmatic ethics based on human reason, experience, and reliable knowledge – an ethics that judges the consequences of human actions by the well-being of all life on Earth), a “diatribe” is an angry speech.
Given I am actually quite calm when I write to post in here, it logically follows that what I write cannot be considered to be a “diatribe.”
What I am writing is considered contemporary history, in the same sense as Livy, Juvenal, and Suetonius wrote contemporary history back when.
The Cape Charles Mirror is the only publication in Ameri9ca I am aware o0f that has an understanding and appreciation of history, both past and contemporary, which is why I post here about contemporary history and how the Democrats are ruining civilization with their mindless FANATICAL SACRED DEMOCRACY CULT that is reminiscent of the Jonestown Cult and the Branch Davidians, except on a national scale.
As you must surely know, Mary, given it is taught in kindergarten, the purpose of a civilization is to civilize the members of a society, and civility is the goal of a civilization so that the members of a society can live in relative peace and fulfillment.
So you can see, then, how this FANATICAL SACRED DEMOCRACY CULT flies in the face of members of a society being able to live in relative peace and fulfillment here in America, and my writings on contemporary history in here are meant to chronical that.
As to civilization, it is defined as the stage of human social and cultural development and organization that is considered most advanced.
Sadly, we are past that now and are regressing.
Cool.
Anyway, here’s a link to Congresswoman Debbie Stabenow’s page; she is the Democrat who introduced the VET PFAS ACT.
https://www.congress.gov/member/debbie-stabenow/S000770
Forgive my error; SENATOR Stabenow is the DEMOCRAT who introduced the VET PFAS ACT.
https://www.congress.gov/member/debbie-stabenow/S000770
Given I am a Viet Nam veteran poisoned by Agent Orange thanks to DEMOCRAT LBJ, why do you think I would be in opposition to that bill simply because it was introduced by a DEMOCRAT?
And how many DEMOCRATS turned their backs and looked the other way while that PFAS poisoning was happening, given that a DEMOCRAT named Hussein Obama was COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF of the military while that was happening and so bears FULL RESPONSIBILITY, and Mary, this PFAS contamination on military bases is OLD NEWS, so why did DEMOCRAT Debbie Stabenow wait til an election year to do something about it?
The Hill
“Formidable legal bar shields military from PFAS lawsuits”
by Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin
01/27/22
Military installations are a major source of community contamination from a class of toxic chemicals called PFAS, but trying to hold the Defense Department accountable can be formidable due to a labyrinth of legal limitations.
end quote
And why didn’t COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF Joe Biden and his assistant COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF Karmela Harris do anything about it while they had the chance?
And what you have done, for which I thank you on behalf of a grateful nation, is revealed to us that DEMOCRAT Stabenow is nothing more than a cheap political opportunist trying to score some points for the ANTI-CIVILIZATION, PRO-ABORTION DEMOCTAS ahead of the November election.