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VA considering expanded benefits linked to toxic water at Camp Lejeune

By Danielle Haynes
U.S. Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina line up to attend a visit from U.S. President Barack Obama on Feb. 27, 2009. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said it's considering expanding disability benefits to veterans and their families who were sickened by toxic water at Camp Lejeune. File photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI
U.S. Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina line up to attend a visit from U.S. President Barack Obama on Feb. 27, 2009. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said it's considering expanding disability benefits to veterans and their families who were sickened by toxic water at Camp Lejeune. File photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday it's considering expanding health benefits to veterans and their families who lived at Camp Lejeune and were exposed to contaminated water there.

In August 2012, President Barack Obama signed an act providing healthcare for 15 conditions related to the exposure of toxic water at the Marine Corps base between 1953 and 1987. Testing at the site revealed the water was contaminated with benzene, vinyl chloride, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, chemicals that can cause a number of illnesses, including cancer.

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The VA is now considering establishing "presumptive status" for more conditions known to be caused by long-term exposure to the chemicals found in the toxic water. This means those conditions will automatically be presumed to be associated with the veterans' military service.

The VA said it will also work with the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate whether exposure to the chemicals in question could cause the development of additional diseases.

The VA's announcement comes amid growing complaints about how often the department denies disability claims by veterans stationed at Camp Lejeune. The Huffington Post reported the VA approved one in four disability benefit claims by veterans from the base prior to 2013. That number dropped to one in 20 after 2013, when the VA began consulting with subject matter experts (SME).

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Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., who consulted with the VA about the denied claims, issued a statement saying Monday's announcement means veterans will be given the benefit of the doubt to receive benefits as long as they meet eligibility requirements.

"I'm disappointed that we had to pressure the VA to do the right thing for our veterans in the first place," Burr said. "The scientific research is strong and the widespread denials of benefits will soon end. Now, these veterans and their families members will not have to fight for benefits they are due. I look forward to seeing the commitment Secretary Bob McDonald gave me realized without unnecessary delay and I credit him and Dr. Pat Breysse of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for their commitment to righting this wrong."

As part of the 2012 act, the VA grants benefits to veterans and their families who lived at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days between Aug. 1, 1953 and Dec. 31, 1987, and later had esophageal, lung, breast, bladder or kidney cancer, multiple myeloma, renal toxicity, female infertility, scleroderma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, hepatic steatosis, miscarriages, or neurobehavioral effects.

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