The largest expansion of VA benefits in decades opened the door for burn-pit, Agent Orange, and radiation-exposed veterans. Here is how to walk through it.
The PACT Act added dozens of presumptive conditions and expanded the list of locations tied to toxic exposure. If you served near burn pits, were exposed to Agent Orange, or worked around other hazards, conditions that were denied years ago may now be presumptive.
Presumptive vs. facts-found
A presumptive condition means the VA concedes the link if you meet the exposure and diagnosis criteria, no nexus letter required. If your condition is not on the presumptive list, you can still win on a facts-found basis by proving the exposure and the medical link directly.
It is not about your MOS alone
Toxic-exposure claims are driven by where you were and what you did, your unit, your locations, and your job duties, not your job title on paper. A TERA (Toxic Exposure Risk Activity) review reconstructs that exposure history. We map your service to the exposure, then to the condition. And no tool or worksheet is the official exposure record, the evidence still has to be built.
The regulatory authority behind toxic-exposure claims lives in M21-1, Part IV, Subpart ii, Chapter 2, Section C (Service Connection for Disabilities Resulting from Exposure to Environmental Hazards). This section governs how raters develop and adjudicate toxic-exposure claims, including burn-pit, Agent Orange, contaminated-water, and radiation claims, and cross-references the PACT Act's conceded-exposure framework under 38 U.S.C. §1168 (TERA). When a C&P examiner renders a negative nexus opinion without addressing the documented exposure pathway, that opinion is inadequate under Barr v. Nicholson, and raters are required to return it for a supplemental opinion. Veterans who receive a denial after a cursory exam should cite the specific M21-1 development procedures the rater failed to follow.
