Lawmakers Vote to Create VA Burn Pit Registry

Over objections from the Veterans Affairs Department, a House panel voted Friday to create a registry of people exposed to toxic fumes and chemicals from open burn pits while deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. The registry would be used to monitor the health of service members and veterans to determine if there are any ill effects from being close to or downwind of the open fires used to dispose of solid waste in Iraq and Afghanistan...

The health subcommittee of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee passed HR 3337, the Open Burn Pit Registry Act, sponsored by Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., who has been pushing for the creation of a database to track veterans’ health and give them more information, as well as pressing the Defense Department to do more research into the potential health affects of burn pit smoke...