Political Quotes

“Open-air burn pits pose serious health risks to our troops; yet, still to this day, our military uses them to dispose of waste and equipment--like human waste, plastics, computers, and jet fuel--on the battlefield. I am a board certified emergency physician and a public health expert, and in public health and in the medical field, we know that, if there is a high enough suspicion with a severe enough illness, which we have with veterans developing rare and permanently severely disabling pulmonary autoimmune diseases and dying of cancer, then we need to act on that suspicion. We can start to do that by doing these three things: one, stop our troops' exposure to dangerous burn pits out on the battlefield; two, conduct public health education for doctors and veterans to train them to recognize subtle changes in their health, help to catch cancer at an early stage when it can still be treated, and save lives; and third, get our veterans and servicemembers the medical treatment they need quickly and ensure it is covered by the VA or the DOD. My amendment will help accomplish this first step by directing the Department of Defense to conduct a feasibility study on ending the use of dangerous burn pits by using incinerators or other technology. I thank the committee leadership for their support of this amendment and on this emerging health crisis for our veterans. I urge a ``yes'' vote to help save our veterans' and men and women in uniforms' lives.”