Beyond the PACT Act, Part Two: Confronting Cumulative and Unseen Exposure Injury

Below is the full transcript of retired Capt. Le Roy Torres, co-founder, Burn Pits 360, testimony on Capitol Hill to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on June 25, 2025.

CLICK HERE to download the full testimonial in PDF format.

Thank you, Ranking Member Takano, and members of this Committee. I am honored to be here today and deeply grateful for your leadership in defending the promise of the PACT Act.

Burn Pits 360 stands in solidarity with all Veterans, advocates, and organizations participating in the "Beyond the PACT Act, Part 2" roundtable. We commend Ranking Member Takano and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs for continuing to confront the collective and unseen injuries faced by our nation’s warriors.

Veteran Story:

Here is a quote from a Veteran emphasizing the urgency in our call to action: “My name is Joshua Weddell, a U.S. Air Force Veteran and I am writing to you in desperate need of medical advocacy and guidance as I am in the midst of a respiratory crisis that has been dangerously mishandled by the VA system in upstate New York. Local ERs and urgent care centers are ill-equipped to safely treat Veterans with toxic burn pit exposure. These facilities lack familiarity with the complex, systemic, and long-term pulmonary damage caused by these exposures. They may misdiagnose me based on a superficial “asthma” label and administer the wrong medication, inhaler, steroid, or nebulizer—any of which could cause rapid deterioration or a life-threatening reaction. I’ve seen the deer-in-the-headlights look too many times, even from VA professionals”

Our independent Burn Pits 360 Registry has now enrolled over 9,000 Veterans, active-duty service members, and contractors exposed to toxic hazards during deployments. The data is clear:

• 70% of registrants report respiratory system symptoms and conditions.
• 21% worked directly at burn pit sites.
• 12% of Veterans with respiratory symptoms underwent lung biopsies, though biopsy rates have dropped over 70% since 2019 due to COVID-related medical disruptions.
• 17% of Veterans with Deployment-Related Constrictive Bronchiolitis have biopsy-confirmed diagnoses.

Women Veterans represent 14% of our registry, slightly higher than their proportion in the overall veteran population. Among them:

• 67% report respiratory symptoms and conditions, including unexplained shortness of breath.
•  11% report a cancer diagnosis.
•  6% of women with respiratory symptoms underwent surgical lung biopsies, and 6% of those with constrictive bronchiolitis are biopsy confirmed.

At Burn Pits 360, we remain deeply committed to advancing research, education, and clinical support to address these invisible injuries. Through our independent registry, we continue to document, analyze, and amplify the lived experiences of exposed Veterans to inform policy, healthcare delivery, and survivor benefits.

Additionally, in partnership with Optum Health, we are leading national continuing medical education (CME) efforts to equip clinicians (civilian, VA, and DoD healthcare providers) with the knowledge and skills necessary to evaluate, diagnose and treat toxic exposure-related conditions. Our CME course, “Toxic Exposures: Implications for Military and Veteran Health”, ensures that providers nationwide are better prepared to care for those impacted by these complex exposures (view course here).

This year, we are also launching our Clinicians Toolkit, designed to provide healthcare professionals with practical, evidence-based resources to improve screening, diagnosis, treatment, and benefits navigation for Veterans and military personnel affected by toxic exposures. This toolkit will bridge critical knowledge gaps to ensure our Veteran community receives the informed and compassionate care they deserve.

It is imperative to recognize that the latency period for many of these illnesses – including respiratory diseases, cancers, neurological conditions, and reproductive impacts – can span years or even decades after exposure. This underscores the importance of long-term surveillance, proactive screening, and presumptive policies to ensure that Veterans are not denied care simply because symptoms emerge long after their service has ended. Veterans should not bear the burden of proof for these complex conditions. (Toxicologist visit with Dr. Rosen– Austin, TX 2011)

From blast overpressure injuries, K2 toxic exposures, and Agent Orange contamination in Guam and at the Panama Canal to sub-concussive trauma, anomalous health incidents, infertility, heavy metals exposure, and other occupational hazards, the burden of toxic wounds is undeniable.

Burn Pits 360 will continue to advocate, conduct research, educate, and support Veterans suffering from ailments due to toxic exposure.  

Call to Action

We call on Congress, the Administration, VA leadership, and medical professionals nationwide to stand with us. Join Burn Pits 360 in ensuring that exposed Veterans and their families receive the recognition, care, and benefits they have earned. We urge policymakers to implement these critical recommendations without delay; help us amplify their voices until no veteran is left behind.

We urge Congress and the Administration to:

1.     Expand the List of Presumptive Conditions

New research continues to reveal additional illnesses linked to toxic exposure, including autoimmune disorders and neurological conditions. Veterans suffering from these diseases must be included under the PACT Act’s protections. Despite repeated advocacy, the previous administration failed to deliver on a diagnostic code for Constrictive Bronchiolitis. Creating a new diagnostic code for CB will enhance the VA’s ability to track this condition, but without accompanying disability criteria, it does not help Veterans with disability determinations. The VA continues to require abnormal pulmonary function testing (PFTs) and/or cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) to assess disability – contradicting what has been known about Constrictive Bronchiolitis for over fifty years. CB is one of the twenty-three presumptive diagnoses outlined in the PACT Act of 2022 and must be implemented as intended to ensure Veterans receive the care and compensation they deserve.

2.     Strengthen Research, Prevention, and Early Screening Programs

Veterans deserve proactive rather than reactive care. Implementing advanced lung screening to identify cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and interstitial lung disease (ILD), while assessing actual lung function, biomarker testing, and toxic exposure health monitoring programs will save lives by detecting diseases early. Burn Pits 360 remains at the forefront of these efforts through ongoing research and partnerships (learn more).

3.     Invest in Education and Outreach

Too many Veterans remain unaware of their eligibility for PACT Act benefits. Partner with Burn Pits 360 and other Veteran organizations to launch a national toxic exposure education campaign, coupled with VA and community staff training on toxic exposure illnesses, to ensure that every eligible Veteran receives the care they have earned. Aside from the CME (continuing medical education) classes [in partnership with Optum], we created a Military Toxic Exposure Guide (MTEG) as a comprehensive resource for clinicians, VA adjudicators, Veterans, and their families.

4.     Ensure Accountability and Transparency

Veterans and their families must not endure long delays or denials due to inefficiencies in the claims process. We urge the administration to streamline VA procedures, hire additional toxic exposure specialists, and enforce strict oversight to guarantee benefits are processed fairly and efficiently. (SGT Steve Price – Panama Canal exposure) DDT – (Leukemia 2019 Dx)

5.     Expand Access to Specialized Health Care and Community Care

We urge the administration to implement a comprehensive healthcare program for Veterans impacted by toxic exposures, modeled after the World Trade Center Health Program. This must include specialized screening protocols, access to community care, and proactive health monitoring to address the long-term and latent impacts of these exposures effectively.

We thank this Committee for prioritizing these critical issues and for centering the voices of those who live with the consequences of exposure every day.