TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas said Tuesday a newly introduced Senate bill would compel the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct a collaborative 10-year research project to study health implications of low-level blast injuries among veterans.
Results would be reported to Congress to develop legislation to better aid veterans subjected to repetitive blasts or high-caliber weapon discharges in combat and training while in the U.S. military.
A research goal would be to improve diagnosis of their health problems. The project would identify clinical interventions having a positive influence on patients. It would study use of growth hormone replacement therapy in terms of cognitive function, quality of life, brain structure and other negative symptoms on patients with low-level blast injuries.
“This legislation will help us start to better understand why and how blast exposures are impacting servicemembers and veterans and make certain VA is able to quickly incorporate these findings into clinical care for our veterans to receive a diagnosis and a treatment plan,” Moran said.
Moran, a Republican member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said the Precision Brain Health Research Act would help make certain veterans had evidence-based health care and benefits they deserved. It would expand work done under a VA mental health improvement law adopted in 2019.
“Recent studies have tied low-level blasts, which servicemembers are exposed to during training and in combat, to high rates of brain and mental health conditions, as well as suicides,” the senator said.
The legislation would require the VA to report every two years to Congress on the research project. The measure would appropriate $5 million for the research to be performed under contract with the National Academies of Sciences.
U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, joined with Moran to introduce the bill in the Senate’s VA committee. He said horrible tragedies could occur when traumatic brain injuries were left untreated.
“They can be traced to large blasts in small amounts or smaller blasts that add up over time, so we need to address them in all their forms,” King said. “We have a duty to expand our understanding of the impact these blasts have on mental health, and to protect the long-term health and well-being of our military community.”
