And even though the belief that Black people have naturally lower lung capacity has largely been debunked, the majority of spirometers in the United States still use a different equation for Black patients, and the consequences are profound, especially for veterans.

So my name is Peter Sporn.

I am a professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

I'm also a staff physician at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center here in Chicago, Illinois.

We can't speak to the media on behalf of the VA, so I'm not speaking to you on behalf of the VA.

I asked Peter Sporn and Cheryl Conner what they thought about the VA's position.

We don't want anybody to lose economic benefits, and it's not our position to recommend how policymakers should institute these changes.

But race-neutral equations would actually lessen economic inequality.

And even though the belief that Black people have naturally lower lung capacity has largely been debunked, the majority of spirometers in the United States still use a different equation for Black patients, and the consequences are profound, especially for veterans.

So my name is Peter Sporn.

I am a professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

I'm also a staff physician at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center here in Chicago, Illinois.

We can't speak to the media on behalf of the VA, so I'm not speaking to you on behalf of the VA.

I asked Peter Sporn and Cheryl Conner what they thought about the VA's position.

We don't want anybody to lose economic benefits, and it's not our position to recommend how policymakers should institute these changes.

But race-neutral equations would actually lessen economic inequality.

And even though the belief that Black people have naturally lower lung capacity has largely been debunked, the majority of spirometers in the United States still use a different equation for Black patients, and the consequences are profound, especially for veterans.

So my name is Peter Sporn.

I am a professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

I'm also a staff physician at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center here in Chicago, Illinois.

We can't speak to the media on behalf of the VA, so I'm not speaking to you on behalf of the VA.

Cheryl and Peter say they understand the VA's concern, but they're frustrated.

We agree that it needs further study, but we didn't think that was a reason for, uh, not abandoning the unscientific and clearly inferior use of race-specific equations.

We felt that was a real abdication of responsibility.