Lung disease of soldier linked to burn pits

Lung disease of soldier linked to burn pits

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jun 30, 2009 17:09:31 EDT

Even as military health officials continue to say there are “no known long-term health effects” caused by open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, a team of Army doctors says a soldier’s cystic lung disease is “related to the burn pits in Iraq.”

A second set of doctors, trying to determine why 56 soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division came back from Iraq short of breath, found each had bronchiolitis that could be diagnosed only with a biopsy.

That disease normally comes with organ transplantation, infection, rheumatoid arthritis or toxic fume inhalation. Because there was no scarring on the soldiers’ lungs, doctors decided it must have been toxic inhalation and added a fifth cause of bronchiolitis to their list: “Iraq.”

Since Military Times began reporting in October about burn pits in the war zones, 400 troops have contacted Disabled American Veterans to say they have breathing problems or cancers they believe came after exposure to the burn pits.

Many say they have been diagnosed with “asthma-like” or “allergy-like” symptoms when they’ve complained of shortness of breath, but their doctors can’t come up with an exact diagnosis.
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Lung disease of soldier linked to burn pits

5 more burn-pit lawsuits filed against KBR

5 more burn-pit lawsuits filed against KBR

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jun 16, 2009 17:12:49 EDT

Lawyers for veterans who believe they became sick after exposure to the smoke from open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan have filed five more class-action lawsuits against KBR, the contractor that operated many of the burn-pit sites for the military.

The new lawsuits — filed in Florida, Kansas, Ohio, South Carolina and Utah federal courts — accuse KBR of exposing troops to toxins from giant burn pits used to dispose of garbage on bases. At Joint Base Balad, Iraq, 250 tons of garbage were burned every day at one point, including 90,000 plastic bottles each day. Troops have also documented the burning of petroleum products, amputated limbs of Iraqis, benzene and Styrofoam, as well as other materials known to produce cancer-causing toxins when burned.

The lawsuit in Florida includes the family of Air Force Maj. Kevin Wilkins, who died of brain cancer five days after a tumor was discovered. He had served at Balad, and when his doctor asked if he had been exposed to any toxins, Wilkins immediately suggested the burn pit.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/military_burnpit_lawsuits_061609w/

Lawmakers to hold news briefing on burn pits

Lawmakers to hold news briefing on burn pits
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jun 10, 2009 17:11:21 EDT

Sponsors of a bill aimed at more tightly regulating the use of open-air burn pits for waste disposal in Iraq and Afghanistan will hold a news conference Thursday to highlight the effects on troops of possible exposure to toxins from burn-pit smoke.

“There is mounting evidence that veterans may be ill — and some may have actually died — as a result of exposure to dangerous toxins produced by the pits,” Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., said in a statement. Bishop co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H.

The news conference will feature veterans who say they were sickened by the plumes, as well as an epidemiologist who specializes in the health risks associated with exposure to burn pits, which are used at bases throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.


The legislation, HR 2419, prohibits building burn pits on new bases that military officials know will exist for more than six months, and it calls for tracking all troops exposed to the black plumes that come from the pits.
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Lawmakers to hold news briefing on burn pits

6 soldiers sue KBR, Halliburton over burn pits

6 soldiers sue KBR, Halliburton over burn pits

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 4, 2009 18:37:26 EDT

SAN ANTONIO — Soldiers are among six Texans suing Houston-based KBR and Halliburton over burn pits at U.S. camps in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The suit filed in a San Antonio federal court alleges the military contractors burned everything from trucks and tires to human corpses in the large war-zone pits. Plantiffs say the burning waste released toxins that harmed at least 10,000 people.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/ap_army_burn_pits_060409/

Nine burn-pit lawsuits filed against KBR

Nine burn-pit lawsuits filed against KBR

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Apr 28, 2009 17:25:00 EDT

Lawyers filed seven class-action lawsuits in seven states on behalf of service members and civilians who say they were sickened by the open-air burn pits on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The lawsuits, including a wrongful death suit, were filed against contractor KBR Inc., as well as its parent company, Halliburton, after a Military Times story that ran last October showed that the burn pit at Joint Base Balad, the biggest U.S. base in Iraq, burned everything from petroleum products to dioxin-releasing plastic water bottles to amputated limbs.

Two more lawsuits are expected to be filed Wednesday
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Nine burn-pit lawsuits filed against KBR/

VA to monitor burn-pit exposure data

VA to monitor burn-pit exposure data

Staff report
Posted : Tuesday Mar 17, 2009 15:13:59 EDT

The Veterans Affairs Department is gathering data to monitor potential health problems among troops who say they were made ill by exposure to smoke from open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said in a March 13 letter to Congress.

Responding to a letter sent in early February by Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., and several other House lawmakers, Shinseki said data on exposure to burning trash and waste is already a part of a large, ongoing population-based study comparing the health of 30,000 veterans deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan with the health of 30,000 non-deployed veterans.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/military_burnpits_VA_031709w/

Lawmakers call for action on burn pits

Lawmakers call for action on burn pits
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 4, 2009 10:43:53 EST

Seven members of Congress have added their names to a growing list of legislators concerned about service members who say burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan have made them sick.

“It has come to our attention that a growing number of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are becoming sick and dying from what appears to be overexposure to dangerous toxins produced by burn pits used to destroy waste,” reads a letter from Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., to Eric Shinseki, the new secretary of veterans affairs. “Further conversations with other veterans have revealed that the armed forces have not investigated this threat adequately.”

Bishop’s office sent the letter Monday. It was also signed by Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.; Bill Delahunt, D-Mass.; Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y.; Keith Ellison, D-Minn.; Sander Levin, D-Mich.; and Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa.


Congress first heard about the issue, the letter states, after a series of stories came out in Military Times showing that service members were exposed to everything from burning petroleum products to plastics to batteries in burn pits used to dispose of waste at every base in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Burn Pits problem known and addressed in 2004

Balad
Burn pit at Balad raises health concerns
Troops say chemicals and medical waste burned at base are making them sick, but officials deny risk
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writerPosted : Wednesday Oct 29, 2008 16:31:18 EDT

An open-air “burn pit” at the largest U.S. base in Iraq may have exposed tens of thousands of troops, contractors and Iraqis to cancer-causing dioxins, poisons such as arsenic and carbon monoxide, and hazardous medical waste, documentation gathered by Military Times shows.
The billowing black plume from the burn pit at 15-square-mile Joint Base Balad, the central logistics hub for U.S. forces in Iraq, wafts continually over living quarters and the base combat support hospital, sources say.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/10/military_burnpit_102708w/

Djibouti
I was deployed to Camp Lemonier, Djibouti, for six months. During that time, our living units were about 50 yards from a burn pit. On the days after the nights when it was really bad, I couldn’t even taste the food I was eating, and I could still smell it —it was on my clothes and eventually saturated the walls and bed in my living quarters.
The report I was given when I left says there are no ill effects of exposure. It does outline what was burned, which was anything with the exception of ammunition and batteries.
A lot of us were waving the red flag while we were there, and nobody really seemed to care, nor do they now when I bring it up. I simply get the question, “Do you feel sick now?” Last I checked, long-term effects don’t appear a month after you get back.
Senior Airman Thomas McCaulla
Randolph Air Force Base, Texas
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/11/army_burnpit_letters_111708w/

This is a problem not only at Balad but also at Camp Al Taqaddum. During my tour there last year, I was a maintenance chief, and my Marines worked outside 24 hours a day. Most nights there would be soot or ash falling, and we would breathe this stuff in all night. I also recall many nights waking up in my little 6-by-8 plywood hooch thinking it was filled with smoke because the taste and the smell was so thick.
During the day, you could see usually two separate burns going at the same time with plumes of smoke so black we thought that an oil line was set ablaze. Many of us had the “crud” (hacking coughs, a lot of mucus) for most of the deployment, and like most, we had to suck it up and chalk it up to the environment we were in.
Marine Corps staff sergeant, name withheld
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/11/army_burnpit_letters_111708w/

While I was deployed to Camp Bucca, Iraq, in 2006 and 2007, I recall sitting in a tower or doing simple roving patrols around my compound and having to wear a mask to help with breathing. There would be a nasty haze floating over the camp; sometimes there were even reduced visibility warnings.
Senior Airman Veronica Nieto
Minot Air Force Base
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/11/army_burnpit_letters_111708w/

As you can see, the problems with burn pits is not just in Balad but other parts of Iraq and this practice is also being used in Afghanistan.
There are also reports that the jail Saddam was held in was built on a trash dumb. Every time something was done there, the smell was sickening.
This leads me to this warning. Make sure you keep track of everyone you were with and how to get a hold of them years from now. Don't let it turn into what Vietnam veterans faced after Agent Orange came into their lives years after they were in Vietnam.

The most perplexing part of all of this is what was done in Afghanistan in 2004. The following report was written in 2004 when the military was addressing the problems there. The question is, why is it still a problem in Iraq and why aren't the troops taken care of exposed to these dangers?

"One-stop" waste disposal—enhancing force protection in Afghanistan

Engineer: The Professional Bulletin for Army Engineers, Oct-Dec, 2004
By Lieutenant Colonel Garth Anderson and Lieutenant Colonel Whitney Wolf
Sound environmental practices in the theater of operations, principally hazardous and solid waste management, are truly an area of force protection. How much waste can a contingency base camp generate? Seemingly more than it can handle. By Spring 2002, units at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, were faced with a growing human health and environmental threat caused by huge amounts of waste that required collection, management, and disposal. This waste, not just from US forces, included vast amounts of destroyed equipment, trash, and hazardous waste left behind by Taliban forces that were routed away from the airfield.

Uncontrolled Waste Disposal


During the initial stages of base camp development, there were no easy disposal solutions. Most of the land in and around the airfield was potentially laden with mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO), which meant waste collection, consolidation, and disposal activities were limited to cleared locations close to soldier living and work areas within the camp. Off-site disposal was not an option since the local population was still unfriendly, and local disposal facilities did not exist. The first disposal area at the airfield consisted of a shallow trash burn pit surrounded by a large junkyard of old Soviet equipment, barrels of hazardous waste, discarded US materiel, trash, and small-caliber ammunition. This disposal site was uncontrolled, and many items--regardless of their potential hazard or reuse value--were thrown into or around the burn pit. The uncontrolled nature of the disposal area created a number of unacceptable conditions:
click link for more about what they did to address the problem.
COPYRIGHT 2004 U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center

While the Indiana National Guard has been reporting problems with their health, it appears this is a much larger problem that will have to be faced. Does the military plan on just waiting for the problems to be problems or will they finally address what they expose the troops to?

KBR, Indiana National Guard and Lung Cancer?

Iraq Veterans Poisoned: War Contractors Knew But Concealed
Dr. Phillip Leveque Salem-News.com
Phillip Leveque has spent his life as a Combat Infantryman, Physician, Pharmacologist and Toxicologist.

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - The Oregonian Newspaper headlined Oregon Troops exposed to toxic chemicals by Julie Sullivan January 9th 2009. She wrote that KBR, a Haliburton company, disregarded and downplayed the extreme danger especially of lung cancer.

The chemical was Hexavalent Chromium Salts best exemplified by various Dichromate salts usually used to remove ALL traces of organic material by chemically burning them from any other material.

This corrosive action also acts on human skin where it causes severe irritation and especially the nose, trachea and lungs where it causes nosebleeds, coughing, pain on breathing and headaches, but especially lung cancer.
click link for more

Troops worry smoke from waste burn pits carries toxins

The U.S. military burns waste -- including medical waste -- in pits near an Air Force base in Iraq.

Effects of toxic smoke worry troops returning from Iraq
Story Highlights
Troops worry smoke from waste burn pits carries toxins

Plastics, food and medical waste from base among trash burned

Troops stationed at U.S. base call coughing caused by smoke "Iraqi crud"

Pentagon says any harmful health affects from smoke are temporary
By Adam Levine
CNN Supervising Pentagon Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The pervasive smoke spewing from the junk heap at Balad Air Force Base in Iraq is causing many returning troops to be concerned about the effects on their long-term health.

For four years, the burn pit was a festering dump, spewing acrid smoke over the base, including housing and the hospital.

Until three incinerators were installed, the smelly pit was the only place to dispose of trash, including plastics, food and medical waste.

"At the peak, before they went to use the real industrial incinerators, it was about 500,000 pounds a day of stuff," according to a transcript of an April 2008 presentation by Dr. Bill Halperin, who heads the Occupational and Environmental Health Subcommittee at the Defense Health Board. "The way it was burned was by putting jet fuel on it."



A lawsuit filed against the burn pit operators by a contractor alleges the burn pit also contained body parts.

The story
The pervasive smoke spewing from the junk heap at Balad Air Force Base in Iraq is causing many returning troops to be concerned about the effects on their long-term health.
For four years, the burn pit was a festering dump, spewing acrid smoke over the base, including housing and the hospital.
Until three incinerators were installed, the smelly pit was the only place to dispose of trash, including plastics, food and medical waste. Read full article »

"Wild dogs in the area raided the burn pit and carried off human remains. The wild dogs could be seen roaming the base with body parts in their mouths," says the lawsuit filed in Texas federal court.

Aside from Balad, there are similar pits at bases elsewhere in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some still have no incinerators.

Many of the soldiers who went through Balad since the beginning of the war had become used to "Iraqi crud," as they dubbed the symptom.

"I had a chronic cough, irritation, shortness of breath," said Dr. Chris Coppola, an Air Force surgeon who worked on base in 2005 and again in 2007, "I was coughing up phlegm, sometimes black stuff and dust."

While Coppola said he didn't work in the burn pit, he knew the medical waste was going there.
click links above for more

In Eustis, wife seeks answers about Iraq veteran's deadly tumor

In Eustis, wife seeks answers about Iraq veteran's deadly tumor
Amy C. Rippel Special to the Sentinel
December 12, 2008
EUSTIS - When Kevin Wilkins died suddenly in April from a brain tumor, there was nothing his wife, Jill, could do.

Within days of being diagnosed, he was dead. There was no time to react. No time to help. No time to say goodbye.

But now Jill Wilkins is questioning whether his tumor might have been because of exposure to chemical clouds when he served in Iraq, and she has taken matters into her own hands. Time is on her side now. And she wants answers.

She has launched a one-woman campaign to find out if her husband's contact with the smoke from burn pits was the reason for his brain tumor. In Iraq, where Kevin Wilkins served two tours, trash is burned in pits. Everything from chemicals to plastics is burned, releasing toxins into the air, according to one report.



The U.S. Air Force recently said that the burn pits pose no long-term health risks. However, an earlier Air Force report said the pits were a "health concern."

The Eustis woman said if her husband's death is related to his military service, she and her children -- a 17-year-old son and a 16-year-old daughter -- don't stand to gain a lot financially. Mostly, she's pursuing it this she could possibly help other families, she said.
click above for more

Down the bottom of this blog there is a video on the burn pits.

I also just found this on Army Times.

Petraeus: Military studying burn pit fumes
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 12, 2008 17:10:38 EST

In response to a question about the burn pit at Joint Air Base Balad, Gen. David Petraeus, the chief of U.S. Central Command, said the need for burn pits will continue, but the military is trying to minimize exposure to possible toxins.

“Much effort has gone into locating/relocating pits in remote areas of the operating bases to minimize exposure, training personnel on proper operation, developing/circulating operating procedures and assessing burn pit operations to include corrective action,” Petraeus wrote.

After Military Times investigated possible chemicals and dioxins troops may have been exposed to in Afghanistan and Iraq from giant open-air pits that were burning everything from plastic bottles to used petroleum products, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., wrote a letter to Petraeus asking if the burn pits were being investigated.

Petraeus said thousands of air, water and soil samples have been tested. However, Military Times has learned that the Balad is the only base where the burn pit specifically has been checked.

A military report found toxin levels in the plume at acceptable levels; however, data on testing for particulate matter in that plume has not yet been released.

More than 100 service members have contacted Military Times saying they became sick with asthma, sleep apnea, heart palpitations, bronchitis, and lymphoma or leukemia while at Balad. click link in this section for more

Senator Akaka wants answers on burn pit toxins

Akaka wants DoD, VA to review war-zone toxins

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Dec 1, 2008 19:08:25 EST

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has asked that the co-chairs of the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs Oversight Committee begin a review of environmental toxins — including those coming from burn pits — at bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Reports of possible exposure to smoke from burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan have come to the committee’s attention,” Akaka wrote in a letter dated Dec. 1. “Concerns about such exposure would appear to be an ideal opportunity for focused efforts to track the location of service members in relation to the possible exposure sites.”

The letter was addressed to Gordon England, deputy defense secretary, and Gordon Mansfield, deputy VA secretary.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/military_akaka_burnpits_120108w/

Burn Pit Video at the bottom of this blog

Also on Army Times on this

PREVIOUS STORIES
• Burn pit at Balad raises health concerns
• Possible contaminants and their potential effects
• Senator wants answers on dangers of burn pits
• Burn pit fallout
LETTERS
What the troops are saying
EDITORIAL
Pentagon must recognize burn-pit health hazards
VIDEO
An interview with a patient at Walter Reed who believes burn-pit fumes caused her leukemia
DISCUSS
CONTRIBUTE YOUR STORIES AND PHOTOS

Army report shows chemicals at burn pit site

Army report shows chemicals at burn pit site

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Nov 19, 2008 17:42:11 EST

A soldier concerned about his tour at Forward Operating Base Hammer near Balad, Iraq, this year sent Military Times a report showing high levels of particulate matter and low levels of manganese, possibly due to materials destroyed in a burn pit.

“The high risk estimate is due to the average (particulate matter) level being at a concentration the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers ‘hazardous,’ and is likely to affect the health of all troops,” wrote Jeffrey Kirkpatrick, director of health risk assessment for the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. “Manganese was also detected above its one-year military exposure guidelines.”

It was sent to the command surgeon general’s office for U.S. Central Command.

Particulate matter can lead to coughing, difficulty breathing, decreased lung function, aggravated asthma, chronic bronchitis, irregular heartbeat, nonfatal heart attacks and premature death in people with heart or lung disease, according to the EPA.

Long-term levels of high exposure to manganese can lead to problems in the central nervous system, such as slow visual reaction time, inability to keep the hands steady, and poor eye-hand coordination. It can also lead to feelings of weakness, tremors, a mask-like face and psychological effects. It can also lead to impotence and loss of libido, according to the EPA.

“I just returned from a 15-month deployment from Iraq with 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division to FOB Hammer, and some of us found a document saying that the level of a certain type of metal in the air was above military standards and to expect soldiers to become ill,” wrote the soldier, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions. “There were burn pits there, and our base was located less than two miles from an Iraqi brick factory.”
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/military_burnpit_chemicals_111908w/

Troops sick from burn pits urged to contact DAV

Reporting illnessesTroops sick from burn pits urged to contact DAV
Military official: Situation improving; troops report health complications
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Nov 15, 2008 7:02:03 EST


Top News StoryBurn pit falloutDisabled American Veterans has issued a call to all service members and veterans who think they may have illnesses related to burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq: Contact the DAV so they can collect data and look for trends.


“Anyone out there who thinks they may have had a long-term health effect ... needs to file a complaint” with the Department of Veterans Affairs, said Kerry Baker, DAV’s associate national legislative director.

Noting that it took Vietnam veterans 20 years to gain benefits for exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange, Baker said, “We don’t want to see these guys have to wait 20 years. We want to see Congress act right away.”


He said service members should be alert for respiratory-related problems, such as allergies, sleep apnea, trouble breathing, asthma and lymphocytic leukemia, as well as skin diseases. Of the 300 to 400 disability cases Baker said he has personally reviewed since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, he said 30 percent potentially could be linked to the burn pits. He said he’s amazed by the numbers of troops reporting sleep apnea.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., also has demanded an investigation in an Oct. 31 letter to Army Gen. David Petraeus, the new chief of U.S. Central Command.

“After years of helping veterans of the Vietnam and Gulf Wars cope with the health effects of toxic battlefields, we have learned that we must take exposures to toxins seriously,” Feingold wrote.

He asked Petraeus to inform him of pending investigations into the “prevalence of health care conditions among those potentially exposed to toxins and particulates,” as well as why more incinerators are not taking the place of burn pits in Iraq.
click link for more
Watch video at top of side bar.

Balad Iraq "burn pit" raises health concerns

Burn pit at Balad raises health concerns
An open-air “burn pit” at the largest U.S. base in Iraq may have exposed tens of thousands of troops, contractors and Iraqis to cancer-causing dioxins, poisons such as arsenic and carbon monoxide, and hazardous medical waste, documentation gathered by Military Times shows.