Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) published the Final Rule establishing a presumption of service-connection for eight diseases affecting military members exposed to contaminants in the water supply at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The Final Rules establishes that veterans, former reservists, and former National Guard members, who served at Camp Lejeune or New River Air Station (not Cherry Point) for no less than 30 days (consecutive or nonconsecutive) between August 1, 1953 and December 31, 1987, and who have been diagnosed with any of eight associated diseases, are presumed to have incurred or aggravated the disease in service for purposes of entitlement to VA benefits. The eight diseases which gained a presumption of service-connection are:

• adult leukemia
• aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes
• bladder cancer
• kidney cancer
• liver cancer
• multiple myeloma
• non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• Parkinson’s disease

In a prior blog post, I discussed the proposed regulations issued by the VA to to establish presumptions for the service-connection of these eight diseases affecting military members exposed to contaminants in the water supply at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The Final Rule issued by the VA today was contained in the Federal Register, as shown below:

Download (PDF, 263KB)

For additional information concerning VA compensation and pension benefits, visit: https://vanarellilaw.com/va-benefits/

UPDATED ON JANUARY 16, 2017: The following Press Release was issued by the VA announcing its Final Rule establishing a Presumption of Service Connection for Diseases Associated with Exposure to Contaminants in the Water Supply at Camp Lejeune, NC:

Download (PDF, 139KB)