Environmental Medicine

Last Updated: September 12, 2024
Gas mask

​​​Environmental medicine refers to the military's efforts to assess health impacts associated with potential exposures to substances or mixtures of contaminants such as in air, water, soil or surfaces, present in deployment or garrison settings.

Exposure data, clinical health outcomes, and toxicological data are all considered when evaluating the potential relationship between environmental exposures and short-term and long-term health effects. Multi-disciplinary groups of experts including those from other Federal agency and academic experts are often consulted. Findings are often not definitive due to inherent gaps in data and science. 

Clinicians and public health prof​essionals routinely assess and document what is known about environmental exposures of concern to Active Duty and family members. See information on:

After years of study that have not identified clear answers, the Veteran's Administration (VA) will often classify certain exposures and specific health outcomes as presumptive conditions (meaning the exposure may have contributed to ​increased risk of that health outcome in certain people, so being in service at a time and place may support disability compensation). This determination can take time and does not address all exposures or health effects. See here for some of VA's presumptive conditions.External Link ​