Dod Shows First Signs Of Acknowledging Burn-pit Woes

[allan]

DoD shows first signs of acknowledging burn-pit woes

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By Kelly Kennedy 1/25/2010, page A11, Army Times

kellykennedy@militarytimes.com

Just after returning home from Afghanistan in 2002, Army Maj. Gen. Michael

Dunlavey collapsed from what doctors first thought was a “near-fatal”

heart attack.

“But I’m a general and a judge,” he said with a laugh. “I never use my

heart.” His blood work showed that it was actually a viral infection that

had hit him “like a freight train.” After the attack, the then-56year-old

nonsmoker developed a constant cough and he could never quite catch his

breath. Now, his throat closes up at night and he often must gasp for air.

“I’ve lost the ability to bring in oxygen,” he said.

Dunlavey said he was exposed to particulate matter from burn pits and sand

storms in Afghanistan. He began to wonder how the burn pits played into his

symptoms after reading studies of bronchiolitis cases that doctors believed

resulted from exposure to chemicals and ash emitted by the burning trash in

the pits.

Later, while being treated for his symptoms at Walter Reed Army Medical

Center in Washington, D.C., Dunlavey met other much-younger soldiers dealing

with the same symptoms - but nobody seemed to be listening.

The former commander of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, found

that his general officer status did not seem to carry weight, either. When

he went before his evaluation board for medical retirement, he said a doctor

told him his symptoms were “psychosomatic.” “They almost had me convinced

I was a malingerer - until a heart scan inadvertently revealed scarring of

my lungs,” he said.

Signs of DoD recognition

At a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on Oct. 8, the Pentagon

finally took a step back from its months-long insistence that burn-pit smoke

carries “no known long-term health effects.” R. Craig Postlewaite, the

Pentagon’s acting director of force health protection and readiness,

publicly acknowledged for the first time that the burn pits may be causing

health damage.

“We do feel like some people probably have suffered some untoward health

effects” from burn pits, he told lawmakers. “We don’t feel like the

numbers are large, based on the total numbers of people that were probably

exposed to smoke throughout the theater.” He said about 56 percent of

troops who have deployed to the

war zones report being exposed to burn-pit smoke.

In a Dec. 21 e-mail to Army Times, Postlewaite said: “DoD acknowledges that

burn pit smoke causes acute health effects in some people consisting of

irritated eyes and irritation of the upper respiratory system, which in some

people can lead to a persistent cough. At this time, it is less clear what

other longer-term health effects may be associated with burn pit smoke

inhalation.” In December, Pentagon officials announced the launch of a

study of the possible long-term effects of burn-pit smoke. “Our number one

priority is the health of service members,” Postlewaite said.

Adding up the costs

Dunlavey has no patience for defense officials who insist that levels of

particulate matter in the war zones are safe.

“It’s about cost-benefit,” he said of the military’s approach to dealing

with the huge amounts of potentially toxic trash and waste produced by U.S.

forces in the war zones.

The costs are considerable.

A report last February by Col. John Cawthorne, Air Force deputy director of

installations and mission support, said the average cost of “complex”

clean-ups at some bases in Iraq - sorting, segregating, incinerating,

landfilling with liners and transporting hazardous waste - would run $23

million to $37 million per base. Simpler clean-ups at other bases - “do

what you can” in 100 days - would cost $1 million to $3 million per base.

He estimated the total cost of cleaning up 65 U.S. bases in Iraq at $401

million to $750 million.

But if epidemiology experts, doctors and service members who say burn pits

are making them sick are right, the related health issues also could

ultimately cost the government untold millions, just as Agent Orange did

after Vietnam. Respiratory illnesses, cancers and other conditions linked to

particulate matter among troops have been on the rise since 2001.

Dr. Bob Miller, assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine

at Vanderbilt University, began testing soldiers at Fort Campbell, Ky., who

were exposed to the Mishraq Sulfur Mine in Mosul, Iraq, when they began

noticing their physical fitness run times were increasing. Biopsies showed

bronchiolitis - a disease that essentially shuts down the small airways in

the lungs.

But as his work progressed, he found cases of bronchiolitis in 44 other

soldiers at the post who also had deployed to Iraq but had not been exposed

to the mine fire.

He said people have called him since he discussed his work with Army Times

several months ago to ask if he could test them as well.

“Almost all reported inhalational exposures were common to the Iraqi

experience, including fumes from burn pits, burning human waste, fire and

dust from combat, burning oil and diesel exhaust,” he said at the same Oct.

8 Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing at which Postlewaite testified.

“We have received … communications from soldiers and providers throughout

the country, leading us to believe that this condition is present but not

being diagnosed at other facilities,” Miller said.

He told Army Times he did not think the damage came just from blowing sand

because there was no evidence of silica in the lungs of the troops he

tested.

David Mannino of the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the

University of Kentucky, said people exposed to dust, gases and fumes “can

certainly develop respiratory symptomology like this.” “We have known for

years that exposure to smoke by a firefighter, say, can result in bronchitis

and bronchiectasis,” he said. “Exposure to any type of smoke can result in

respiratory disease.”

Dr. Coleen Weese, an expert in environmental medicine with the U.S. Army

Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, has written a paper

that notes the symptoms being reported are consistent with what would be

expected from heavy exposure to particulate matter.

“The potential for health hazards from this one is real,” said Weese, who

is working on a study of long-term health effects of particulate matter in a

young, healthy population.

‘Unusual’ findings

Shira Kramer, an expert on environmental health and author of an

epidemiology textbook, said it’s about more than potential.

“Open, uncontrolled burning of solid and liquid wastes, including plastics,

paper, wood, metals, oils, fuels, paint and human waste, generates some of

the most harmful chemicals known to man and represents an unacceptable

health risk,” she said. “You would not expect to see [chronic obstructive

pulmonary disease] in a young, healthy population - certainly not in this

age range. It’s an extremely unusual and unexpected finding.” There are

two kinds of COPD: emphysema, which destroys the air sacs in the lungs, and

chronic bronchitis, which causes airways in the lungs to swell. Both reduce

lung capacity. Symptoms include coughing, fatigue, respiratory infections,

shortness of breath and headaches. There is no cure.

Dr. Anthony Szema, chief of the allergy section at the VA Medical Center in

Northport, N.Y., told lawmakers in November that he is seeing more young

veterans with respiratory problems.

“Until 2004, I mostly saw 80year-olds,” Szema said. “From 2004 to

present, I have begun seeing young men … previously healthy, capable of

passing basic training and performing combat operations … [who are

suffering] from a variety of respiratory illnesses, including asthma and

difficulty breathing during exertion, and are not fit for continued military

duty.” He said VA reports that the rate of new-onset adult asthma diagnoses

in Iraq war veterans is double the rate for troops who did not deploy there.

“It is common sense and widely known that smoke from any fire can affect

health,” he said. □

[gbsepter]

I have actually aquired a letter that was produced for the Balad Airbase and the issue for the burn pit there. It was an "OSHA" type report. It was written in 2006 and outlines the issues that they found... " Balad's burn pit was quated as being the worst environmental site I have personally visited....." signed LTC Curtis.

I am new to this and can forward the file to you if you need it. I cant seem to add the file here. gbsepter@aol.com