>>156822, >>156823, >>156824, >>156825
Catherine Herridge @C__Herridge - A Serious Redline Has Been Crossed: When the VA Denies Presumptive Service Cancers
This is an injustice that you need to know about.
In February, 48-year old Army veteran Jackson was diagnosed with stage 3 prostate cancer.
“My doctor said ‘1000%.’ It’s related to toxic exposure in the Army,” Jackson explained.
In June, the VA denied Jackson’s prostate cancer claim.
Jackson said the VA was given electronic and physical copies of his prostate cancer diagnosis. The notion that no records were provided to the VA is demonstrably false.
“I laughed,” Jackson said of receiving the VA denial of his cancer. “Of course they (the VA) denied it. That has been my entire experience. I fought for the PACT Act. Of course, they denied me. The system won.”
Under the PACT Act, a law that expanded VA coverage for burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic exposures, Jackson’s prostate cancer should have been covered.
It’s called a "presumptive service connection” which means the VA “automatically assume (or “presume”) that your service caused your condition.”
DEEP DIVE
Jackson and I met nearly six years ago when I was the senior investigative correspondent at CBS News reporting on toxic exposure illnesses among U.S. service members.
Jackson has a nickname, the "accidental activist.”
An Assistant Special Agent in Charge with Army Criminal Investigations, Jackson became an outspoken advocate for 15,000 veterans who also served at the Karshi-Khanabad airbase in Uzbekistan after 9/11.
Known as K2, the base supported highly classified counterterrorism missions into neighboring Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was also a dumping ground for toxic waste by the Russians.
An Army whistleblower Nick Nicholls first came forward to me last year, with the 2001 environmental testing records from K2 that showed yellowcake uranium in the soil and air.
The military environmental report said the air they breathed was the "pathway of greatest exposure concern," as well as "severe subsurface soil fuel contamination."