Bills would help vets who cite burn pits for ailments
Rep. Castro leads call for VA to treat wartime exposure to toxic emissions
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro has laid groundwork in the new Congress for an offensive to aid tens of thousands of veterans with bronchial problems and other ailments they say were caused by breathing the toxic smoke of battlefield burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Castro, D-San Antonio, has filed bipartisan legislation that would add severe bronchial disease to the list of health problems that would enable treatment at no cost and possibly provide disability benefits. Another Castro bill would change the Department of Veterans Affairs’ burn pits registry to allow
participation of the family of survivors — a means to create a full picture of the harm that burn pits caused before they were banned in 2010.
Castro, who has more than 60,000 veterans in his district, has rounded up co-sponsors and sees broad support amid growing attention to problems from wartime exposure to toxic emissions. Last week, a federal appellate court ordered the VA to grant benefits to sailors stationed offshore who were exposed to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War after denying them for decades.
Expect “a full-court press” from his office to get the legislation passed, Castro said. “We should stand up for our veterans the way they stood up for us, especially veterans who went overseas to war. San Antonians appreciated that. Ours is a city that respects its veterans.”
Nearly 166,000 veterans and active-duty service members have signed up for the VA’s Airborne Hazards and Open Pit Registry and filled out government questionnaires. Roughly 10 percent are from Texas, twice the number from any other state.
Many on the list report having lived or worked near several hundred open-air burn pits, some more than an acre in size, that incinerated chemicals, weapons, munitions, plastics and even body parts.
Critics contend that neither the VA nor the Pentagon has responded sufficiently to a health crisis. Congress also is considering legislation requiring the Pentagon to determine if personnel leaving the military had been exposed to airborne poisons and then include the potential harm in periodic health assessments.
The VA is conducting research but argues that there’s no evidence of long-term health problems linked to the burn pits. Two years ago, the National Academy of Sciences found many shortcomings to the VA registry, including failure to gather relevant information about the problem.
In Texas, Rosie Torres, who has been in the forefront of pressing for change, praised for the new legislation. She runs Burn Pits 360 just outside Corpus Christi, founded after her husband, LeRoy, returned home from his Army service in Iraq suffering from a debilitating lung disease and neurological problems.
Torres, who worked at the VA for 23 years, advises veterans and lobbies for them in Austin and Washington, D.C. Her organization was invited to brief members of Congress and staff in April about what she has experienced in Texas.
Torres is dismayed by the VA’s refusal in most cases to award compensation to veterans suffering from illnesses such as constrictive bronchiolitis, which Castro’s legislation addresses.
“Veterans are dying and killing themselves, giving up on the VA because the VA has given up on them,” she said.
Air Force veteran Wesley Archuleta, 47, of San Antonio, applauded the decision by Castro and others to take up the legislation. Part of his duty in Iraq was burning surgical waste and other refuse, which he believes led to his debilitating breathing problems.
“There are many illnesses that could be directly attributed to the burn pits, but they (the VA) are basically ignoring us,” he said.