The struggles of veterans seeking benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs as a result of their exposure to toxins as a result of their military service is not a laughing matter to activist and comedian Jon Stewart.
“This delay is killing people,” Stewart said in the first episode of his new podcast, “The Problem with Jon Stewart” which recently dropped on Apple TV+. “That’s not hyperbole. This is about taking care of a problem that we caused through our negligence to our own service people.”
In that episode, titled “The Problem with War,” Stewart tackles the subject of burn pits, their effects on the health of veterans exposed to them, and the Department of Veterans Affairs response to the issue.
“Now veterans are dying and going bankrupt because the DoD and VA are forcing them to indisputably prove a connection they already internally admit exists,” Stewart said. “And what makes it so incredibly demoralizing is that they are holding the veterans to a standard of proof far beyond the one our own government used to send them to war in the first place.”
Burn pits have been used at U.S. military installations for years. The designated areas are dedicated to burning everything from human waste to excess equipment and other trash. The pits have exposed more than 3.5 million service members to toxic fumes.
“We know that there are who claim that there isn’t `scientific proof’ that exposure to the benzene and dioxins from burn-pit fires causes health issues,” said Stewart. “The Department of Veterans Affairs’ solution is to keep paying for `research' while veterans keep getting sick and dying, studies that they claim are `inconclusive.’”
Stewart showed news videos stretching back years that treat the toxicity of the chemicals as a fact. Internal Defense Department and VA memos obtained by Stewart also show that the dangers of burn pits were well-known.
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“The VA’s whole model is delay, deny, hope you die.” said one veteran interviewed in the episode.
Stewart also grilled VA Secretary Denis McDonough on his agency’s response to veterans’ claims that various cancers and breathing problems they have developed since being exposed to toxic fumes from burn pits are linked to that exposure.
McDonough said VA has now established that if a veteran has rhinitis, sinusitis or asthma they are presumed to come from military service. Stewart shot back that veterans would not say those three conditions are killing them.
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“I won’t stop until the presumptive lists include well beyond that very meager list that we’ve established,” McDonough pledged.
Stewart pressed McDonough on exactly what data would get veterans exposed to toxins the benefits they deserve.
The VA secretary did not provide a direct answer to the question, saying, "we do operate within a series of requirements and we have not been yet able to meet the requirements.”
Stewart told McDonough that as VA secretary, he could rectify that with a stroke of his pen.
“I wish I could, but I can’t,” countered McDonough. “I’ve asked.”
Stewart urged McDonough to begin a program like the one that’s assisting 9/11 responders, which allows health care issues to be addressed as they develop.
Two bills are currently before Congress that address the health care implications of veterans exposed to toxins. On the Senate side, the Comprehensive and Overdue Support for Troops (COST) of War Act of 2021 would provide generations of veterans suffering from toxic exposures their due benefits and care for the first time in VA history. The legislation recently passed the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee in markup unanimously and was introduced by committee chairman Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT).
In appearances on CBS’ Eye on Veterans, both Tester and Rep. Mark Takano pledged the legislation would be passed this year.
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