Suffolk Reporter

Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Suffolk County) announced the passage of his seventh bipartisan bill in the 118th Congress, H.R. 4424, known as the Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act.

“As an 11-year Navy Veteran, I'm proud that my seventh bipartisan bill to pass the House will ensure Vietnam Veterans gain better access to the VA care they deserve,” said LaLota. “Despite clear evidence linking liver fluke disease to their service, the VA still refuses to recognize it as a service-connected condition. My bill addresses this critical failure and acknowledges that these Veterans cannot afford to wait any longer. The House has acted decisively, and now the Senate must move swiftly to provide the care these Veterans urgently need and have earned.”

In 2018, a study at Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New York examined liver fluke infection among Vietnam Veterans using a sample size of 50 veterans. The findings indicated an urgent need for a larger-scale investigation and standardized treatment protocols for affected veterans at VA facilities nationwide.

Following this initial study, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) conducted the Vietnam Era Veterans Mortality Study. This research compared mortality rates from cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) between veterans deployed to Vietnam and those who served elsewhere. The study suggested a potential link between parasitic infections contracted through contaminated freshwater fish and an increased risk of cholangiocarcinoma among Vietnam veterans.

Despite these findings, during a Legislative Hearing before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health, representatives from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) stated that further research on this topic was not supported by the VA. Additionally, cholangiocarcinoma has not been designated as a service-connected condition by the VA.

The Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act mandates that the VA collaborate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct a comprehensive study on liver fluke infections' prevalence among Vietnam veterans. This legislation aims to secure necessary care and recognition for affected veterans.

With this recent legislative success, Representative LaLota has now passed more bills than 97% of House Members and 99% of House Freshmen during this two-year session.