New Report Highlights Potential Mental Health Effects of Toxic Exposures Among Veterans
The National Academies released their assessment of possible relationships between toxic exposures experienced during military service and mental, behavioral, and neurologic health outcomes, conducted pursuant to Section 507 of the PACT Act
Study Origins
During deployment to combat zones, military personnel can encounter a wide range of environmental and occupational hazards, such as emissions from jet and diesel engines, airborne dust and sand, particulate matter, heavy metals, mold, radiation, fuels and solvents, radiation, incinerator emissions, and open burn pits. Many service members have reported health issues after returning from deployment and have raised concerns that these problems could be related to their exposures while deployed. While research has linked certain health conditions to deployment exposures, most studies have focused on physical health, leaving the connection between deployment-related exposures and mental, behavioral, or neurological conditions less well understood.
Under Section 507 of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022 (PL117-168), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) tasked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine with forming an ad hoc committee to evaluate potential links between environmental and occupational exposures during military service and mental, behavioral, and neurological health conditions, as well as chronic multisymptom illness (CMI).
Findings
The committee’s report presents findings on potential risk-increasing links between 9 categories of exposures with 16 health outcomes. The National Academies committee identified evidence suggesting that several mental, neurological, and chronic health conditions may have a “possible risk-conferring relationship” with toxic exposures experienced during post-9/11 military service. In other words, while the evidence is not yet strong enough to confirm a cause-and-effect relationship, these exposures appear to increase the risk for certain conditions.
The committee identified possible relationships between:
Mental Health Outcomes
Adjustment disorders and exposure to dust, particulate matter (PM), exhaust, or incinerator emissions.
Depression and exposure to PM.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and exposure to dust, PM, exhaust, incinerator emissions, or solvents.
Schizophrenia/psychosis and exposure to exhaust or PM.
Sleep disorders and exposure to PM.
Substance use disorder (SUD) and exposure to dust, PM, exhaust, or incinerator emissions.
Nonfatal suicide attempts and self-harm and exposure to dust, PM, exhaust, or incinerator emissions.
Neurologic Outcomes
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and exposure to exhaust or solvents.
Dementia and exposure to PM.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) and exposure to solvents.
Parkinson’s disease and exposure to dust, PM, or exhaust.
Chronic Multisympom Illness
Chronic multisymptom illness (CMI) and exposure to dust or PM.
While the report highlights potential health risks associated with post-9/11 military exposures, the committee acknowledges significant limitations in its analysis, largely due to gaps in the quality and availability of the required data. The study’s findings apply only to veterans with documented exposures in the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER) who have separated from the military and received care through the VHA between 2017 and 2023. They do not extend to all post-9/11 service members or veterans, including those still serving. The report emphasizes that more robust data is needed to fully understand the long-term effects of military exposures on veterans’ health.