 Hello everyone. I am Shane Learman, DAV Deputy National Legislative Director and today we will explore one of DAV's 2021 critical policy goals, toxic exposures including burn pits, Agent Orange and other known exposures. Although there has been some notable progress achieved over the past two decades for veterans who suffered illnesses due to toxic and environmental exposures, there are still too many who have yet to receive the full recognition healthcare and benefits our nation owes to them. Therefore, we are focusing our advocacy on five different streams within toxic exposures. First, burn pits and the concession of exposure. As there are no current presumptives for burn pits, VA has adjudicated over 12,000 direct service connection claims for diseases related to burn pit exposure. Roughly 80% of those claims have been denied. Many of these denials are due to veterans not knowing what toxins they are exposed to thus impeding their ability to obtain a medical opinion relating their disability to those specific toxins. In September 2020, the National Academy's report on airborne hazards concluded that there was insufficient evidence to determine associations for respiratory conditions and noted additional studies were needed. However, instead of waiting for more studies and presumptive service connection, Congress can take action now and enact legislation to concede burn pit exposure and remove the obstacles for veterans having to prove their individual exposures to burn pits and the types of toxins emitted for claims based on direct service connection. What about presumptive diseases and positive scientific association, you ask? Well, over the past four years, VA has failed to add diseases that have been determined to have a positive scientific association with Agent Orange and it took Congress to add the three diseases of bladder cancer, hypothyroidism and Parkinsonism. The December 2018 National Academy's report stated there is sufficient evidence of a relationship between hypertension and monoclonal gamopathy of undetermined significance, MGUS and Agent Orange exposure. However, since VA has failed to take action on the three aforementioned diseases, we call on Congress to intervene and enact legislation to add hypertension and MGUS as presumptive diseases. What about the 15,000 veterans exposed to toxins at Kashi Canabad or K2 in New Pakistan? Well, a U.S. Army study found that veterans exposed at K2 have a 500% increased likelihood of developing cancer, but yet VA does not recognize service at K2 as exposure to toxins. Thus, there are no presumptives or a concession of exposure for these veterans. Therefore, Congress must enact legislation to allow K2 veterans access to VA health care by amending 38 USC says section 1710 and expedite all studies and research on the toxic exposures at K2. As we previously mentioned, the presumptive decision-making process, we are concerned that this process is not consistent among all of the different types of exposures. We want Congress and VA to avoid piecemeal legislation or regulatory provisions without addressing these much larger issues facing exposed veterans today and in the future. Therefore, we believe an overall presumptive process framework needs to be established by Congress and that it must improve DOD and VA data collection and record keeping, establish a concession of exposure or a recognition of the toxic exposure, require statutorily mandated future studies on known exposures, provide a time requirement for action by the VA, maintain the standard of positive association versus causation and update the classifications of scientific association. As we've established, our servicemen and women are consistently exposed to dangerous locations and harmful environments with contaminants and toxins. We have concerns over additional exposures and we need VA and Congress to expand known exposures such as Agent Orange in Thailand and they need to study the adverse long-term health effects of other toxic exposures such as at Fort McClellan, PFAS-contaminated water found at over 600 military installations and the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. We ask that you join us to ensure veterans who were exposed to toxic substances receive full and timely benefits. Thanks for watching and for more information on this and all of DAV's critical policy goals, please visit our site at DAV.org backslash 2021 mid-winter. Thanks.