§1120 Presumption of Service Connection for Certain Diseases Associated with Exposure to Burn Pits and Other Toxins

Summary

If a covered veteran later shows one of the listed diseases, the law treats that disease as having been caused by or made worse during active military, naval, air, or space service—even if there was no medical record of it while they were serving. This rule is for the purposes of section 1110 and is subject to section 1113. The list includes asthma diagnosed after service; many kinds of cancer (for example, head, neck, respiratory, gastrointestinal, reproductive, lymphoma, kidney, brain, melanoma, and pancreatic); and several lung and respiratory conditions such as chronic bronchitis, COPD, bronchiolitis, emphysema, granulomatous disease, interstitial lung disease, pleuritis, pulmonary fibrosis, sarcoidosis, chronic sinusitis, and chronic rhinitis. It also names glioblastoma and allows the Secretary to add other diseases by rule when they are linked to a substance or airborne hazard on the list in section 1119(b)(2). Covered veteran — see section 1119(c) for who that means.