The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs play distinct roles in dealing with chemical and biological exposures and are responsible for developing DOD deployment occupational and environmental health surveillance, risk assessment and risk management policies. DOD identifies and validates veteran’s exposure to CB agents and monitors deployment-related exposure incidents and trends. This ensures effective programs are in place to prevent occupational and environmental injuries or illnesses during deployment.
The Public Health Division collaborates with their DOD partners and the VA on long-term medical care and benefits for our service members. The division also provides the names of these individuals along with their exposure information to the VA. The VA then notifies individuals of their potential exposure, provides treatment, if necessary, for these individuals and adjudicates any claim for compensation.
These combined efforts are shaping the future of military medicine by supporting enhanced individual exposure assessment methods. The Public Health Division partners with federal research institutes on many projects to include:
- Development of exposure biomarkers
- Individual chemical dosimeters
- Individual Longitudinal Exposure Records
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The Department of Veterans Affairs developed the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry to better understand the potential health effects of exposure to airborne hazards during military service, support ongoing research, and inform future decisions round airborne hazards to keep service members and veterans healthy and safe. This toolbox ...
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Oct 8, 2020
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Print and hand out this wallet card in military hospitals and clinics and at outreach events to direct service members to learn more about the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry.
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Jul 1, 2005
The National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals provides an ongoing assessment of the U.S. population’s exposure to environmental chemicals using biologic monitoring (biomonitoring). Biomonitoring is the direct assessment of people’s exposure to chemicals by measuring the chemicals or their breakdown products (metabolites) in blood or ...
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Mar 10, 2005
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The Capstone Depleted Uranium Human Health Risk Assessment determined there would be little or no impact on the health of service members who breathe in depleted uranium dust particles while inside tanks or other vehicles hit by DU munitions.
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Oct 1, 2004
This report, which documents the Capstone study, is the sourcebook of data from which reasonable and appropriate data could be selected for assessing exposure and characterizing human health risks to personnel who were exposed to aerosols
during the Gulf War/ODS or potentially could be exposed to aerosols in future military activities.
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Jan 1, 2001
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This report presents the findings of the first-ever international assessment of the environmental impact of depleted uranium (DU) when used in a real conflict situation. It has been carried out as part of the post-conflict assessments conducted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in the Balkans.
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Nov 19, 1997
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This press release from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense announces the award of $12 million for 12 new research projects on Gulf War Illness.
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Jan 1, 1996
In July 1994, the U.S. Department of Defense asked the Institute of Medicine to establish a committee to evaluate the Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program. This report identifies the major issues the committee has identified since the first meeting in October 1994
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Last Updated: December 12, 2025