PACT Act · Toxic exposure
Exposed in Service? The PACT Act May Cover You
Signed on August 10, 2022, the PACT Act told the VA to presume certain illnesses came from burn pits, herbicides and radiation when you served in the right place during the right years. For many veterans that removes the hardest part of a claim: proving the link.
- Service location and date check
- Matching your diagnosis to the lists
- Old denials worth reopening
- Survivor and DIC questions
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What the Law Changed for Your Claim
A normal claim needs a medical opinion connecting your condition to service, and for toxic exposure that opinion is hard to get.
A presumption skips that step. If your diagnosis is on the list and your records put you in a covered location during the covered dates, the VA assumes the connection. You still have to show two things:
- A current diagnosis of a listed condition.
- Where and when you served. A DD214, deployment orders, personnel records, travel vouchers or unit records can all place you there.
Conditions that aren't on any list can still be claimed the regular way, with evidence of what you were exposed to and a medical opinion tying it to your illness.
Burn Pits and Other Airborne Hazards
Covered service, including the airspace above
From August 2, 1990, on: Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the neutral zone between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Somalia, plus the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and Red Sea.
From September 11, 2001, on: Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Djibouti and Uzbekistan.
Breathing and lung conditions
Asthma diagnosed after service, chronic sinusitis, chronic rhinitis, chronic bronchitis, COPD and emphysema. Deeper in the lungs: interstitial lung disease, pulmonary fibrosis, constrictive or obliterative bronchiolitis, granulomatous disease, sarcoidosis and pleuritis.
Cancers
Respiratory, head, neck, gastrointestinal and reproductive cancers of any type, lymphoma of any type, plus brain cancer, glioblastoma, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer and melanoma.
Added in January 2025
The VA has kept adding to this list since the law passed. In January 2025 it added urinary bladder and ureter cancers, acute and chronic leukemias, multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes and myelofibrosis. Check VA.gov for the newest version before you rule anything out.
Agent Orange: Two New Conditions, Five New Places
The PACT Act added high blood pressure (hypertension) and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) to the herbicide list, and stretched the map to these locations.
These sit alongside the older covered service: Vietnam and its offshore waters, the Korean DMZ during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and C-123 aircraft crews. Hypertension deserves a hard look. It wasn't on the herbicide list before 2022, so Vietnam-era veterans rated years ago for diabetes or heart disease may never have had it considered. See our hypertension rating guide for how blood pressure readings translate to a percentage.
Three Nuclear Cleanup and Response Missions Added
Taking part in any of these now counts as a radiation-risk activity, which brings the same cancer presumptions other radiation-exposed veterans already had.
VA Health Care Without Waiting on a Rating
Since March 5, 2024, many toxic-exposed veterans can enroll in VA health care without first applying for disability compensation. If you meet the basic service and discharge requirements, you can enroll directly if you:
- served in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan or another combat zone after 9/11,
- deployed in support of the Global War on Terror, or
- were exposed to toxins or other hazards during your service.
Enrolled veterans are offered a toxic exposure screening, a short set of questions about burn pits, Gulf War hazards, Agent Orange, radiation, contaminated water and other exposures, with a follow-up at least once every five years. The screening is a health care step. It doesn't file a claim or count as one.
Denied Years Ago, or Lost a Veteran to One of These Illnesses?
If the VA turned down a claim for a condition that is now presumptive, you can file a Supplemental Claim and have it decided under the current rules. The VA encourages this and says you don't need to wait for it to contact you. Starting with an Intent to File protects your date while you pull your records together.
Families matter here too. When a veteran's death came from a condition that is now presumptive, a surviving spouse, dependent children or parents may qualify for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC). Survivors who were denied before can send in a new DIC application.
PACT Act Questions From Wisconsin Veterans
My records never mention a burn pit. Does that sink my claim?
For a presumptive condition, no. The VA needs your diagnosis and proof you served in a covered location during the covered dates. Orders, a DD214 and personnel records usually do that job.
My illness isn’t on any list. Can I still file?
Yes. You would claim it like any other condition: a diagnosis, evidence of what you were exposed to, and a medical opinion explaining how that exposure could cause your illness.
I deployed with the Guard. Do these presumptions apply to me?
If you served in a covered location during the covered dates on federal orders, yes. Keep the orders and the DD214 from that deployment, since they prove where you were. That holds whether you deployed with the Wisconsin Army National Guard or with one of the two Wisconsin Air National Guard wings, the 115th Fighter Wing in Madison and the 128th Air Refueling Wing in Milwaukee.
Do I need the toxic exposure screening before I file?
No. The screening is part of VA health care and is separate from the claims process. A disability claim starts with an Intent to File or the application itself.
I was on a Thai base but worked nowhere near the perimeter. Am I covered?
For the herbicide presumption, yes. Service at any U.S. or Royal Thai base between January 9, 1962, and June 30, 1976, qualifies regardless of where on the base you were or what your job was.
Wisconsin Veterans: Let’s Look at Your Claim Together
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