VA Streamlines Burn Pit Registry Enrollment

A newly redesigned Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, launched by the Department of Veterans Affairs, includes automatic enrollment and simplified requirements to improve access to treatment for veterans who have been exposed to airborne hazards and burn pits.

“This tool is a significant improvement in making data available in a way that better serves all those who were exposed to burn pits and other hazards,” Dr. Lester Martínez-López, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said in a DoD news release.

The VA developed the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, also known as the Burn Pit Research Registry, in 2014 to help service members and veterans document their exposure to airborne hazards while deployed overseas.

“Service members can be exposed to environmental hazards from many different sources, including nuclear and radioactive waste sites, open-air trash combustion (burn pits), chemical warfare agents, and even contaminated drinking water—and research suggests that these exposures have been widespread,” according to analysis from the Rand Corp.