The Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently published an opinion column by Edwin Rasmussen, a former state commander of the Washington Department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, about U.S. veterans exposed to asbestos during their service from World War II through the Vietnam War. In that era, all of the military services used asbestos widely as insulation. As a result, Rasmussen says, thousands of veterans already have been lost to asbestos-related diseases and more will follow.

Time is already short for these victims, so Rasmussen says it is “regrettable that the U.S. Senate recently let partisan wrangling sideline important legislation that would provide compensation to veterans and other victims of asbestos-related illnesses.”

The passing of the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act is “being held up by a well-funded army of lobbyists doing the bidding of the trial lawyers while military veterans and other victims of asbestos exposure are forced to wait years for their day in court,” he says.

“Asbestos has proven a cash cow for trial lawyers and they won’t give it up easily. So much money is involved that a massive backlog of asbestos cases has been created in the courts. Many of these cases are brought on behalf of people who aren’t even sick but fear that someday they might suffer from asbestos-related illnesses.

The lines at the courthouse door are so long that many victims suffering from asbestos-related diseases — including thousands of veterans exposed while in uniform — will die before they ever get inside,” Rasmussen says.

Because asbestos-exposed veterans were “employed” by the federal government, they have very limited recourse to seek compensation from the government for their illnesses. “Other avenues where veterans might seek compensation have unfortunately proved time-consuming and all too often fruitless. The companies that actually produced and supplied asbestos to the military have gone bankrupt — paying out only pennies on the dollar to victims. Even to receive those pennies, veterans must wait in line behind thousands of other lawsuits,” He says.

National veterans’ organizations support the FAIR Act because it offers a solution to this tragic injustice while protecting existing veterans’ benefits. It also allows veterans to seek reimbursement for medical monitoring costs, so they may get medical attention at the hospital of their choosing rather than forcing them to travel to VA hospitals. The legislation also provides for free legal assistance programs to help claimants to submit claims.

“Congress must act now to compensate those veterans and other victims who must live with the ravages of asbestos-related illness,” Rasmussen says. “I urge all senators, including Washington’s Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, to honor the memory of the WW II veterans who have already been lost to these terrible illnesses do what is necessary to pass the FAIR Act before leaving Washington this year.”