A bulldozer pushes trash into a burn pit near the Long Binh Post in Vietnam in 1971. The Army operated a base at Long Binh, outside of Saigon. (National Archives)
WASHINGTON — Vietnam War veterans were exposed to open-air burn pits common during deployments, yet benefits for illnesses presumed to be related to airborne toxins does not extend to them under the PACT Act, according to a federal watchdog.
A new report by the Government Accountability Office found the Department of Veterans Affairs has not examined potential connections between Vietnam veterans’ health problems and exposure to burn pits, despite pressure from a veterans advocacy group.
The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxins Act of 2022, known as the PACT Act, provides disability and health care coverage to veterans who served in Southwest Asia since 1990 for medical conditions presumed to be related to their exposure to burn pits or other airborne hazards, according to the GAO.
But no presumptive service connection has been established for veterans who served in the Vietnam War that could be related to toxic exposures from open-air burns that incinerated large amounts of waste, the GAO said in a report submitted July 31 to the House and Senate Appropriations committees’ subpanels on military construction and veterans affairs.
Approximately 2.7 million service members were deployed to Vietnam from 1961 to 1975, the GAO said. About 1.4 million of those veterans are alive today. A service member who served in 1969 in Vietnam as a 21-year-old, for example, will turn 77 this year.
The PACT Act does include provisions related to Agent Orange exposure for Vietnam veterans. The legislation identifies specific medical conditions such as hypertension on the list of presumptive conditions from exposure to the herbicide, the VA said.
The military’s use of open-air burns in certain operations since 1990 is well documented, the GAO said.
“However, little has been reported about open-air burning during the Vietnam War,” the report said.
VA reviews of the available data haven’t indicated exposure was a major contributor of veterans’ health problems, the GAO said. But an examination that the agency did of military archives showed a lack of documentation on the extent of open-air burns during the Vietnam War.
The GAO report said more research, including interviews with aging veterans, is needed to understand the scope and frequency of open-air burns, as well as potential toxic exposures of service members.
Open-air burns often were done in “burnout latrines,” burn pits and burn barrels, the GAO report said.
A former radio operator who served in Vietnam, for example, reported latrines were burned two to three times a week within 50 feet of his work area and sleeping quarters, the report said.
“VA said additional data — e.g., the extent of veterans’ exposure — would be needed to research health effects, but such data doesn’t exist,” the GAO said.
The VA also advised while researchers could collect some information from veterans, it would be limited by their recollections of events more than 50 years ago, the GAO said. Former service members who deployed to Vietnam also might have been exposed to a variety of other environmental hazards, the VA said.
To conduct its research for this report, the GAO said it reviewed military archives from the Defense Department, The Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University and the National Archives.
“Further, we obtained information from a Department of Defense database on the use of open-air burning in Vietnam. We also asked officials from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force about this, obtaining such information when available,” the GAO said.
The GAO conducted its audit between March 2024 and July 2025. Investigators said they found numerous examples of open-air burns during the Vietnam War.
A Marine Corps instructional document used in the 1960s, for example, advised burning human waste with approximately 100 gallons of diesel fuel and two people working 10 hours to manage the incineration. The document warned burnout latrines cause “excessive air pollution detrimental to the health of the personnel in the immediate area.”
Investigators also interviewed veterans who served in Vietnam between 1964 and 1975. Nearly 90% of a sample group of 145 veterans expressed concern about their exposures to open-air burns, the GAO said.
A veteran who worked in military intelligence described a burn pit at Long Binh, the location of a former Army post, that was 8 to 10 acres in size and continually burning, the GAO said. Items burned included trash, tires, batteries, plastics, electronics, vehicles, medical waste, food and spent ammunition, veterans said.
Diesel fuel, jet fuel, incendiary grenades and other accelerants were used to burn materials, they said.
Open-air burns were conducted as close as 10 yards to their quarters or up to four miles away, veterans said.
“Some veterans shared that they received no personal protective equipment, such as masks or gloves, to protect themselves from exposure to open-air burning, regardless of other aspects of their experience,” the GAO report said.
Interviews with veterans are required to “inform any future research” because of the lack of comprehensive documentation about open-air burns, GAO said.
Having a presumptive service connection eases the process for veterans to file disability claims and receive health care coverage for illnesses and injuries connected to their military service, according to the GAO report.
Vietnam veterans without a presumptive service connection might still receive benefits connected to illnesses developed from open-air burns, but the process is more difficult, the GAO said. The veterans must present a medical diagnosis and demonstrate the link to a service-connected “event, injury or disease,” the VA said.
