{"entity":{"id":"pact-act-2022-cancer-presumptions","kind":"term","name":"PACT Act 2022: cancers presumed service-connected for US veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins","aka":["PACT Act","Honoring our PACT Act of 2022","Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022","Public Law 117-168","38 U.S.C. 1120","burn pit presumptive cancers"],"tldr":"A 2022 US law means a veteran who served where burn pits and other toxins were used, and later develops one of a listed set of cancers, does not have to prove the service caused it to receive veterans' benefits. The list covers head, neck, respiratory, digestive, reproductive, kidney and brain cancers, lymphomas, melanoma, pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma.","summary":"United States, Public Law 117-168, approved 10 August 2022, cited as the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, or the Honoring our PACT Act. Section 406 adds 38 U.S.C. 1120: a listed disease becoming manifest in a covered veteran is treated as incurred or aggravated during service, \"notwithstanding that there is no record of evidence of such disease during the period of such service.\"\n\nThe cancers listed in section 1120(b)(2): head cancer of any type; neck cancer of any type; respiratory cancer of any type; gastrointestinal cancer of any type; reproductive cancer of any type; lymphoma cancer of any type; lymphomatic cancer of any type; kidney cancer; brain cancer; melanoma; pancreatic cancer. Glioblastoma is listed separately at (b)(14). The Act phased the presumptions in: respiratory and brain cancers and glioblastoma from enactment; head, neck, gastrointestinal, reproductive, lymphoma and pancreatic cancers from 1 October 2024; kidney cancer and melanoma from 1 October 2025; with all of them available from enactment for veterans who were terminally ill, homeless, in extreme financial hardship, over 85, or showing other sufficient cause.","asOf":"2026-11-04","links":[{"label":"govinfo: Public Law 117-168 (PACT Act), full text","url":"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-117publ168/html/PLAW-117publ168.htm"}],"tags":["law","us"],"related":[],"cancers":["head-and-neck","glioblastoma","melanoma","pancreatic","rcc"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["risk-factor","wtc-health-program-covered-cancers"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Which veterans count as 'covered' is defined in 38 U.S.C. 1119(c), by place and period of service; that definition is not reproduced here.","Congress.gov refused a script; the text was read from govinfo.gov."],"category":"Regulation & policy"},"route":"/terms/pact-act-2022-cancer-presumptions/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"glioblastoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Glioma & glioblastoma","route":"/cancers/glioblastoma/"},{"id":"head-and-neck","kind":"cancer","name":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/head-and-neck/"},{"id":"melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Melanoma","route":"/cancers/melanoma/"},{"id":"pancreatic","kind":"cancer","name":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","route":"/cancers/pancreatic/"},{"id":"rcc","kind":"cancer","name":"Renal cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/rcc/"}],"term":[{"id":"risk-factor","kind":"term","name":"Risk factor","route":"/terms/risk-factor/"},{"id":"wtc-health-program-covered-cancers","kind":"term","name":"World Trade Center Health Program and the cancers it covers (Zadroga Act)","route":"/terms/wtc-health-program-covered-cancers/"}],"trial":[{"id":"inova-burn-pit-screening","kind":"trial","name":"Inova burn pit veterans cancer screening pilot","route":"/trials/inova-burn-pit-screening/"}]}}