HOW YOU CAN HELP
    Please contact your Representative today and urge
    him or her to cosponsor the ''Military Personnel H.
    R. 2419

     This important legislation requires the Secretary of Defense to establish a medical
    system to identify members of the Armed Forces exposed to chemical hazards
    resulting from the disposal of waste in Iraq and Afghanistan, and prohibits the
    disposal of waste by the Armed Forces in a manner that would produce dangerous
    levels of toxins.

    For the past century, in nearly every war that America has asked her sons and
    daughters to fight, there has proven to be dangers on the battlefield that went
    beyond injuries-dangers that have nonetheless left their disabling mark on hundreds
    of thousands of veterans.  Whether from the mustard gas fields of World War I, to
    frostbite and radiological diseases in World War II and Korea, or to the relentless
    spraying of dioxin containing herbicides in Vietnam; the conflicts in Iraq and
    Afghanistan are shaping up no differently.  In each previous conflict, the
    Government took decades before recognizing such dangers; we now have a chance
    to stop this cycle of disregard.

    Since the beginning of the current conflicts, our troops have been exposed to toxins
    produced in part by dozens of enormous burn pits; some so large that they consume
    upwards of 250 tons of waste every day.  Every imaginable form of waste has been
    burned in these pits, from petroleum products, to unknown chemicals, plastics,
    rubber, Styrofoam, even medical waste containing body parts.  In the recent months
    since this issue has become public, hundreds of current and former service members
    have contacted the DAV explaining how thick and noxious the resulting fumes
    were.  Many have relayed that their living and working environments were
    intolerable to such a degree as to cause uncontrollable coughing so intense that it
    lead to vomiting, or vomiting so hard to nearly produce loss of consciousness.  We
    believe that this chemical exposure may have even been fatal for some – resulting in
    Acute Myeloid Leukemia and other cancers, which have been directly linked to
    chemical exposure.

    If passed, H.R. 2419 will ensure the government lives up to its responsibility of
    finding those exposed, investigating current and future illness in those exposed, and
    preventing further illness by putting an end to these careless and irresponsible
    procedures.  However, in order for this to happen, we need your help to carry this
    message to Congress.

    Contact your House representatives immediately to urge him or her to support and
    cosponsor the "Military Personnel War Zone Toxic Exposure Prevention Act'' (H.R.
    2419).