AUSTIN - Today, Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa announces his intention to file legislation this coming session to create a Texas Burn Pits Registry for our veterans so we can begin helping those suffering from exposure to burn pits while having served in foreign lands.

Texas is home to over 1.6 million veterans who have bravely served our country. Tragically, many of our returning soldiers have come home with an unknown enemy to fight -- illnesses caused by toxic exposure on the battlefield. This new Post 9/11 New Agent Orange Crisis is resulting in medical misdiagnosis, a denial of benefits, and financial hardship for veterans and their families.

A lack of awareness and confusion surrounds this new type of disease. There is a critical need for an online resource tool to gather information from service members, medical providers, military families, and stakeholders to examine this new Agent Orange type exposure.

"Our goal is to create a registry that will serve as an outreach tool as well as a resource to accurately gather information, determine to what extent our military men and women have been affected, and to ultimately show proof to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that this is a "real" disease so they will allow our veterans to receive benefits," stated Senator Hinojosa.

"While there is still much work to be done in carefully crafting this legislation, we are successfully moving in the right direction to raise awareness and begin helping our Texas Veterans and their families."

Senator Hinojosa has been working with State Rep. Abel Herrero as well as with Rosie Torres, Executive Director and founder of the BurnPit360 Organization, which was established in 2010 after discovering a community of service members all suffering from illnesses due to toxic exposure. State Rep. Abel Herrero intends to file the same legislation in the Texas House. For more information please visit www.Burnpits360.org

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