Service members would get regular brain function tests and some weapons could be modified to reduce blast exposure risks under a wide-ranging bill being introduced in Congress aimed at reducing traumatic brain injuries.
The bill, spearheaded by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., would also require the Pentagon to consider ways to reduce explosive pressure when it buys new weapons and publish safety information for weapons already in use; mandate that service members' blast exposures be systematically logged; create a new brain health program for the special operations community; and order a watchdog investigation of the DoD's efforts to address blast exposure.
The 46-page bill comes amid growing evidence that troops are at risk of exposure to potentially dangerous blasts not just from enemy attacks but also from routine military activities such as repeatedly firing artillery, and that brain injuries from those exposures are causing devastating symptoms for service members and veterans.
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“Too many of our service members are suffering the health consequences of blast overpressure, so we need real change to our approaches to prevent these injuries and protect our service members in training and combat,” Warren said in a statement Thursday. “My bipartisan bill will tackle these pressing…
