Presumptive Service Connection for Respiratory Conditions Due to Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter

This rulemaking adopts as final, with changes, an interim final rule that amended the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adjudication regulations governing presumptive service connection based on presumed exposures to fine particulate matter. The amendment was necessary to provide health care, services, and benefits to Gulf War Veterans who were exposed to fine particulate matter associated with deployment to the Southwest Asia theater of operations, as well as Afghanistan, Syria, Djibouti, and Uzbekistan. The amendment eased the evidentiary burden of Gulf War Veterans who file claims with VA for asthma, rhinitis, and sinusitis, to include rhinosinusitis.