Veterans are praising new legislation that, if passed, will provide immediate VA health care and disability benefits to service members exposed to toxic fumes from burn pits.
Following several reports by 8 On Your Side on the burn pit issue, Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R)-Florida announced he has introduced into Congress the “Protection for Veterans’ Burn Pit Exposure Act of 2018.”
“This will enable the veterans battling illness to immediately access VA medical care and disability benefits,” Rep. Biliraksi stated in a Tarpon Springs news conference.
Lauren Price, a navy veteran, worked on the legislation with Mr. Bilirakis.
“It’s the most important fight of my life,” she said.
When Lauren Price went to war in Iraq in 2008, burn pits operated 24/7.
The military dumped any and all waste into pits, doused it with jet fuel, then ignited it.
Price remembers smoke, carrying toxic fumes and particulates, was everywhere.
“No matter what you did you couldn’t hide from it,” stated Price.
Christina Thundathil’s duties in Iraq included burning human waste with jet fuel every day for 300 days.
“My lungs are moderately damaged,” explained Thundathil.
Price and Thundathil now suffer chronic incurable bronchial and lung diseases.
“It was irrelevant where you were, when you were, if you were in the shower, there’s an air conditioner running in the shower room, you were always breathing it,” Price added.
The department of Defense and VA reject any connection between service members contracting rare and inexplicable diseases and open air burn pits.
That means the VA doesn’t cover health care for Price’s and Thundathil’s illnesses or disability benefits.
Price formed a group called Veteran Warriors Advocacy. She is working with Congressman Bilirakis to change that.
“Many of these veterans are now battling a wide range of diseases, some of which have proven fatal,” stated Congressman Bilirakis.
Congressman Bilirakis contends it is no coincidence so many veterans who were exposed are suffering from the same diseases.
Both Mr. Bilirakis and Lauren Price see patterns emerging with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans that are similar to veterans exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War era.
Agent Orange is a powerful and toxic herbicide that the United States used extensively in Vietnam to defoliate the jungle and deprive the enemy cover.
It is linked to several diseases including cancers and Parkinsons disease.
It took the government decades to admit that service members’ health problems were tied to Agent Orange exposure. Many veterans died while the VA took decades to study the issue.
“Burn pit toxic exposure is the Agent Orange of this generation, unfortunately,” Mr. Bilirakis said. “It is a moral imperative that we learn from the mistake in the way Agent Orange was handled.”
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Contact Steve Andrews at sandrews@wfla.com.