Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LaLOTA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, a Marine Corps veteran, for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, there is an obvious link between liver fluke disease and our Vietnam veterans' service in that war, but the VA won't cover their care. My bill would help fix that and do right by our Vietnam veterans.

Data from multiple studies clearly demonstrate Vietnam veterans have a much greater chance of contracting, suffering from, and dying from the liver fluke parasite, yet the VA does not help veterans who are fighting liver fluke disease. That is wrong, Mr. Speaker.

The correlation between the liver fluke parasite and service in Vietnam is obvious. In 2018, the Northport VA Medical Center conducted a first-of-its-kind study using a 50-veteran sample size. The initial results of that study highlighted three things: a substantial need for greater study of this issue; two, the development of standardized treatment options; and three, broader accessibility of care for veterans at VA facilities across the country.

That study was 6 years ago and could have been justification enough for the VA to start covering affected Vietnam veterans, but the VA insisted on another study. A second study was ordered. After years of delays, supposedly due to the pandemic, a more recent study finally concluded in 2024. The 2024 study affirmed what so many Vietnam veterans have been saying for years, that there is indeed a link between the liver fluke disease and service in Vietnam.

Specifically, the study in which Marine Corps veterans participated demonstrate that there is a 30 percent greater risk of mortality from this liver fluke disease for marines who served in the Vietnam war theater as compared to marines who served elsewhere.

Mr. Speaker, you would think these findings, coupled with the 2018 findings, would be justification enough for the VA to start covering affected Vietnam veterans. Yet, after multiple in-depth studies which corroborate the link between our veterans' service in Vietnam and the rare liver fluke disease, the VA still says these studies still are not enough.

To fight the VA's ambivalence towards these Vietnam veterans, I am urging all of my colleagues to support my bipartisan legislation, H.R. 4424, the Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act.

This act would require the VA, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to conduct a third study to determine the prevalence of liver fluke amongst the Vietnam veteran population.

If the VA won't take action, then we will continue to force them to confront the facts until they come to the same conclusion as the rest of us.

Our Vietnam veterans are dying every day, and we do not have the luxury of time. Too much time has passed already. We went through a similar and terrible situation with our blue water Navy veterans and Agent Orange. Let us not make the same mistake with liver fluke.

I thank Chairman Bost and Ranking Member Takano for their leadership and support of this critical legislation. Together, we can make sure that our Vietnam veterans get the care, recognition, and support they so rightfully deserve.

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