Burn pits downrange caused lung disease in service members, court rules

[nitpicker]

https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-army/2018/02/15/burn-pits-downrange-caused-lung-disease-in-service-members-court-rules/

Burn pits downrange caused lung disease in service members, court rules

By: Kyle Rempfer    15 hours ago

Service members and private military contractors who worked around “burn pits” downrange, and later suffered from lung and respiratory issues, may soon get a breath of fresh air. A recent court decision by a judge under the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office for Workers’ Compensation Programs ruled that open-air burn pits are connected to lung disease, Fox News first reported.

The burn pits — where chemicals were released into the air from trash, abandoned hardware, and other waste being incinerated — occurred throughout U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan over the course of the wars there.

The ruling could be a boon for the tens of thousands of service members who signed onto the Veterans Affairs Department’s Burn Pit Registry over the course of the conflicts in the Middle East. The concession may pad the files of plaintiffs seeking medical services for the lung and respiratory ailments they suffered after returning from overseas, but currently are denied coverage by the VA.

The ruling comes after years of veterans advocacy groups pleading for assistance. In October 2016, for instance, a group of 700 veterans and family members with the group Burn Pits 360 wrote an open letter to then-President Barack Obama to record their grievances.
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