Vets Recount Challenges 2 Years After Burn Pit Law

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Frances Gavalis, 332nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron equipment manager, tosses unserviceable uniform items into a burn pit at Balad Air Base, Iraq, on March 10, 2008. Military uniform items turned in must be burned to ensure they cannot be used by opposing forces. U.S. Department of Defense, Public Domain

U.S. Military veterans sickened by burn pits and other toxins are still struggling to get the Department of Veterans Affairs to address their needs two years after Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.

Open-air burn pits were a daily fact of life for many troops deploying throughout the Middle East and Africa during the 1990s, 2000s, and early 2010s. The U.S. military used these pits to dispose of everything from electronic waste to human remains, all the while exposing those around them to harmful dioxins.