LaLota, Vietnam Veterans Demand VA Cancer Action
Rocky Point, NY – On Wednesday, June 18, 2025, Representative Nick LaLota (R-Suffolk County), Navy Veteran and member of the Military Construction & Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, was joined by Brookhaven Councilwoman Jane Bonner, Vietnam Veteran Gerald Wiggins, members of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 11, and members of Rocky Point VFW Post 6249 to call for urgent action to expand VA care and support for Vietnam Veterans suffering from bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) linked to their military service.
The event followed the April 7, 2025 House passage of LaLota’s bipartisan Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act, which directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct a comprehensive study on the connection between liver fluke exposure during the Vietnam War and bile duct cancer in Vietnam Veterans compared to Veterans in other theaters. The bill passed the House unanimously, with a vote of 411–0.
“The facts are clear: Vietnam War veterans who served in-theater are 30% more likely to develop bile duct cancer than those who served elsewhere. Yet the VA still refuses to acknowledge the connection. That must change.
We’ve passed a corrective bill out of the House twice, but only after Gerald Wiggins walked into my office two years ago and said, ‘Nick, you’ve got to step up for the rest of us.’ And we did. Now it’s time for the Senate—and the VA—to do the same.
The VA could fix this with the stroke of a pen. They don’t need another study. But if that’s what it takes, we’ll keep pushing until this bill becomes law and the VA finally does right by our Vietnam Veterans,” said LaLota.
Gerald Wiggins, a Vietnam Veteran and Suffolk County resident in attendance, who has been instrumental in sparking legislative attention to this important issue, shared his personal story of delayed diagnosis, limited treatment options, and the emotional toll of navigating a system that has not formally recognized his illness as service-related.
“The disease lasts for 30, 40, 50 years. They don’t know how or why in your bile duct. It releases, goes to your liver. By the time you know about it, you’re dead. They say, ‘Well, the Vietnam Veterans are alcoholics and drug addicts, so that’s why their liver went bad.’ There are 800,000 Veterans in New York State. There are 134,000 Veterans on Long Island. If you push this bill through, you’re a hero,” said Wiggins. “Can someone explain to me in the Senate now why you can’t pass this bill? If 800,000 Veterans come together in Washington, D.C., like they did in the ’60s and ’70s—maybe something will go through. I’m positive. I’m still positive. I have a disease in me that, once it hits another organ, I could die. Right now it’s in my body, but I’m still alive.”
To read the full text of the bipartisan Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act, click HERE.
Background:
LaLota initially introduced the Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act during the 118th Congress, and it passed the House in September 2024. The Senate failed to act.
The Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act seeks to address this gap by requiring the VA, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to conduct a comprehensive study on the prevalence of liver fluke infections among Vietnam Veterans. This legislation aims to ensure that Vietnam Veterans receive the care and recognition they deserve for this debilitating condition.
To watch LaLota’s remarks ahead of the bill's passage in the House, click HERE.
In 2018, the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New York conducted a groundbreaking study on liver fluke infection among Vietnam Veterans, using a 50-Veteran sample size. Although the study was smaller than most, its findings highlighted an urgent need for a larger-scale investigation, the development of standardized treatment protocols, and expanded access to care for affected Veterans at VA facilities nationwide.
Following this, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) initiated the Vietnam Era Veterans Mortality Study, comparing mortality rates from cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) between Veterans deployed to the Vietnam War theater and those who served elsewhere. The study suggests a potential link between exposure to parasitic infections, contracted through contaminated freshwater fish, and a heightened risk of cholangiocarcinoma among Vietnam Veterans.
Despite this evidence, during a Legislative Hearing before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) indicated that the VA does not support further research on the topic. Additionally, the VA has yet to designate cholangiocarcinoma as a service-connected condition, despite the findings of the Vietnam Era Veterans Mortality Study.
LaLota recently sent a letter to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins, urging him to designate cholangiocarcinoma as a presumptive, service-connected condition for Vietnam-era Veterans. Additionally, LaLota was successful in including language in the House Report attached to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, directing the Department of Veterans Affairs to report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations within 180 days of enactment of the bill on steps taken to review existing evidence, update claims adjudication guidance if necessary, and enhance outreach to potentially impacted Vietnam-era Veterans.
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