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(KTVI – FOX2now.com)— New hope for soldiers exposed to toxic burn pits. MO Congressman Todd Akin announced a new bill Thursday that would start a burn pit registry. Fox Files investigator Chris Hayes first exposed the problem last April and explains the new political plan to save soldiers.

You can see the evidence, but many people just don’t believe it’s hazardous. It was common practices to burn waste on military bases until late last year. They’re usually called burn pits — trash dumps on military bases that contain any kind of waste imaginable. A former KBR employee testified that it included medical waste, plastics and even nuclear waste. Yet the Government said the smoke from burning it — was harmless.

Veteran Tim Wymore said, “I believe it’s going to be worse than Agent Orange. I really do. Down the road it’s going to be worse.”

Veteran Tim Wymore first told us about the practice in early 2010, at a time when few people believed it was tied to medical problems. Congressman Todd Akin was one of the few who believed him. Thursday, Akin announced a new bill that would create a registry. While at the U.S. Capitol he said, “We can then track people, because a lot of different ailments can take place over a long period of time. We know cancer can become something that may take a number of years before it manifests itself.”

Wymore said a registry could save soldiers, because it’s a recognition this is a real problem. That’s something Wymore said he’s slowly been able to convince his doctors. He believes that may be the only reason he’s still alive.

Wymore said, “I’ve kind of convinced them hey, there is a problem here. It’s not so much me, sure it’s been a long road for us but I’m worried about the guys behind me and hopefully it helps the people behind us.”

He says “us,” because his wife Shanna has fought with him. She recently created an informal registry called burnpits360.org.

Wymore said an ‘official’ registry will be much better, “That’s a big thing getting this registry and they can keep track of how many people are out there, because right now there’s really no track.”

If the burn pit registry gets through Congress, we might soon see just how many vets forever suffer for their service.

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