Recognized Military Toxic Exposures

Each exposure has its own statutory framework — the PACT Act, 38 CFR § 3.307–.309, the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, and others. Pick the closest match to your service to see covered locations, qualifying dates, the presumptive condition list, and the evidence that strengthens your claim.

Vietnam era · 1962–1975 (+ later sites)

Agent Orange & Tactical Herbicides

Vietnam, Korean DMZ, Thailand, Guam, Johnston Atoll, and DoD test/storage sites under 38 CFR § 3.307.

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Post-9/11 · PACT Act

Burn Pit Exposure

Open-air burn pits across Southwest Asia and post-9/11 zones — covered conditions and registry steps.

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All eras

Jet Fuel (JP-8 / JP-5 / JP-4)

Hydrocarbon exposure for fuel handlers, flight-line crews, and aircrew across all branches.

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1953 – 1987

Camp Lejeune Water Contamination

TCE, PCE, benzene, and vinyl chloride contamination — VA presumptives and the Camp Lejeune Justice Act.

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Aug 2, 1990 – present

Gulf War Illness & § 3.317 Presumptives

Undiagnosed illness, MUCMI (fibromyalgia, IBS, CFS), and infectious-disease presumptives under 38 CFR § 3.317 — Southwest Asia & Afghanistan service.

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WWII – 1990s

Radiation Exposure (Atomic Veterans)

Atmospheric tests, occupation forces, and post-incident cleanup — presumptives under 38 CFR § 3.309(d).

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All eras (esp. pre-1980 Navy)

Asbestos Exposure

Mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis claims — shipboard, shipyard, and insulation work.

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All eras

Hazardous Noise & Acoustic Trauma

MOS noise tables for hearing loss and tinnitus — flight line, artillery, armor, infantry, and engine rooms.

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Various

Contaminated Water at Other Bases

Fort McClellan, Fort Ord, K2 Karshi-Khanabad, and other recognized base water contamination sites.

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Gulf War onward

Depleted Uranium Exposure

DU munitions, embedded fragments, and the VA Depleted Uranium Surveillance Program.

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More VA-Recognized Exposures

Additional exposures listed on VA Public Health's A–Z index. Most travel under direct service connection with a nexus opinion; some feed into existing PACT Act or Gulf War presumptions.

1935 – 1999 (Chemical Corps School & WAC Center)

Fort McClellan, Alabama

Fort McClellan housed the U.S. Army Chemical Corps School, the Women's Army Corps Center, and Anniston Army Depot operations. Soldiers, trainees, and base workers ha…

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1985 – present (vehicle and equipment painting)

CARC paint exposure

Chemical Agent Resistant Coating (CARC) is the standard military paint applied to tanks, vehicles, aircraft, and equipment. CARC contains isocyanates (HDI), polyuret…

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1989 – present (anti-malarial prophylaxis)

Mefloquine / Lariam

Mefloquine (brand name Lariam) is an anti-malarial prophylaxis widely prescribed to deployed U.S. service members in Africa, Southeast Asia, Somalia, Haiti, Iraq, an…

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1990 – 1991 (Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm)

Pyridostigmine bromide (PB pills)

Pyridostigmine bromide (PB) is an investigational nerve-agent pretreatment fielded during the 1990 – 1991 Gulf War. Roughly 250,000 U.S. service members took PB on a…

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February – November 1991

Kuwait oil-well fires

Iraqi forces set fire to roughly 600 Kuwaiti oil wells during their February 1991 retreat. The fires burned until November 1991 and produced unprecedented airborne s…

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June 2003

Mishraq sulfur fire

In June 2003, the Mishraq State Sulfur Mine near Mosul, Iraq burned for nearly a month — the largest manmade release of sulfur dioxide on record. U.S. service member…

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All deployments to arid and dust-prone theaters

Sand, dust & particulate matter

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) from desert dust, vehicle traffic, and burn pits dominates ambient air in Southwest Asia and Afghanistan. DoD industrial hyg…

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All eras (especially Vietnam and Gulf War)

Military pesticides

Service members are routinely exposed to DEET skin repellents, permethrin-treated uniforms, and organophosphate area sprays in malaria, sandfly, and tick zones. Duri…

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Pre-1980 (especially Navy and shore-based electrical systems)

PCB exposure

Polychlorinated biphenyls were widely used in military electrical transformers, capacitors, hydraulic systems, and shipboard cable insulation until U.S. manufacture …

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All eras (especially aviation maintenance, motor pools, paint shops)

Industrial solvents

Military maintenance operations rely on industrial solvents — trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), benzene, toluene, xylene, MEK, and others — for deg…

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All eras

Lead exposure

Military lead exposure happens at indoor and outdoor firing ranges (airborne lead from primer dust and bullet fragmentation), in old lead-based paint on installation…

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Combat injuries — Gulf War onward (with earlier-era applicability)

Toxic embedded fragments

Service members injured by IEDs, mortar, RPG, or small-arms fire frequently retain metal fragments — including depleted uranium, lead, tungsten, and other toxic meta…

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1998 – present (Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program) and others

Military vaccination injuries

DoD vaccination programs — most notably the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program (AVIP, 1998 – present) and the smallpox vaccine program reinstated in 2002 — produce…

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Khamisiyah: March 1991 · Edgewood/CHASE: 1955 – 1975

Khamisiyah & chemical warfare agents

Three distinct warfare-agent exposure events have VA recognition. Khamisiyah (March 1991): U.S. forces demolished an Iraqi ammunition depot that contained sarin and …

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All eras (recent attention: anomalous health incidents 2016 – present)

Directed energy / RFR

Radiofrequency radiation (RFR) exposure from military radar, communications, and electronic warfare systems is a long-standing occupational concern. More recently, a…

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All eras (notably Korea, Aleutians, Bastogne, and any cold-weather operation)

Cold injury

Frostbite, immersion (trench) foot, and other cold-weather injuries leave residual peripheral neuropathy, cold sensitivity, skin discoloration, arthritis in affected…

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All eras (notably Iraq, Afghanistan, Persian Gulf, training environments)

Heat injury

Heat stroke and severe heat exhaustion can leave lasting residuals — heat intolerance, autonomic dysregulation, exertional rhabdomyolysis recurrence, cognitive sympt…

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All eras (rotary-wing aviation, armor, combat engineers)

Vibration exposure

Sustained whole-body vibration (helicopter aircrews, armor crews, fast watercraft) and hand-arm vibration (chainsaws, jackhammers, impact tools) cause cumulative inj…

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1917 – 1994 (closed under BRAC; EPA Superfund site since 1990)

Fort Ord, California

Fort Ord on California's Monterey Bay was a major Army training installation that operated for most of the 20th century. EPA designated the base a Superfund site in …

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Releases documented 2014 and November 2021

Red Hill fuel spill, Hawaii

The Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility above Pearl Harbor leaked jet fuel into the Navy drinking-water system serving Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) and sur…

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Approx. 1985 – 2001 (Shinkampo incinerator operations adjacent to NAF Atsugi)

NAF Atsugi incinerator, Japan

The Shinkampo Industrial Waste Incineration Complex operated immediately upwind of Naval Air Facility (NAF) Atsugi housing in Japan and burned mixed industrial and m…

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January 17, 1966 – mid-1967 (cleanup operations)

Palomares, Spain

On January 17, 1966 a U.S. B-52 carrying four thermonuclear weapons collided with a KC-135 tanker over Palomares, Spain. Two of the four weapons released plutonium a…

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January 21, 1968 – September 1968 (Project Crested Ice cleanup)

Thule, Greenland

On January 21, 1968 a U.S. B-52 carrying four thermonuclear weapons crashed onto the sea ice near Thule Air Base in northwest Greenland. The conventional explosives …

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1977 – 1980 (post-test radiological cleanup)

Enewetak Atoll cleanup

From 1977 to 1980 roughly 4,000 U.S. servicemembers — primarily Army, Navy, and Air Force support personnel — cleaned up the residual contamination from 43 atmospher…

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Educational content only — not legal or medical advice. Recognized exposures, qualifying service dates, and presumptive condition lists change as Congress and VA update them. Confirm your specific situation with VA.gov or a VA-accredited representative. Oakridge Claims is a private business and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.