The Returned & Services League of Australia (RSL) has released the findings of a major independent study into the health and wellbeing of Australian veterans who served in the Middle East Area of Operations, establishing a strong foundation of evidence and action with this cohort.

The Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) Veteran and Families Project Scoping Study was fully funded by the RSL, conducted independently of government, and ed by a multidisciplinary consortium of Gallipoli Medical Research, Griffith University, and Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research.

The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) is alarmed that the Government’s landmark legal action against 3M, brought to recover the cost of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination at 28 Defence bases across Australia, turns its back on the very veterans who handled these chemicals. The land is being defended. The firefighters who were exposed to it are not.