House wants burn-pit curbs in defense budget

[CommunityEditor]

Two lawmakers have unveiled a bill that would bar the military from operating burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan for longer than six months and also would require the Defense Department to identify service members who already may have been exposed to such toxins.

“We should not continue to recklessly use burn pits to dispose of hazardous waste across Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., who introduced the bill with Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H.

“Disturbing reports are coming to light every day about these burn pits and the toll they are taki

The bill comes in the wake of a series of stories in Military Times documenting that hundreds of tons of waste are burned daily in Afghanistan and Iraq with little oversight. Troops report burning everything from dioxin-producing plastic bottles to petroleum waste to amputated limbs.

In a memo dated Dec. 20, 2006, Air Force Lt. Col. Darrin Curtis, former bioenvironmental flight commander for Joint Base Balad, wrote of the burn pit at that Iraq base: “In my professional opinion, there is an acute health hazard for individuals. There is also the possibility for chronic health hazards associated with the smoke.”

He said contaminants, many highly poisonous, that troops may have been exposed to include benzene, an aircraft fuel known to cause leukemia; arsenic; dichlorofluoromethane, or Freon; carbon monoxide; ethylbenzene; formaldehyde; hydrogen cyanide; nitrogen dioxide; sulfuric acid; and xylene.

Defense officials say the burn pits do not pose serious health risks — only temporary issues, such as coughing or red eyes.

However, more than 200 people have contacted Military Times with similar symptoms that they believe are linked to their exposure to burn-pit smoke, such as lymphomas, leukemia, sudden onset of asthma, chronic coughs, sleep apnea and headaches.

Nine class-action lawsuits have been filed against KBR, the contractor that ran several of the burn pits. Troops ran their own burn pits at the beginnings of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and continue to do so at some smaller bases.

Under military regulations, burn pits are supposed to be a short-term solution for wsate disposal in combat zones. But some pits in Afghanistan and Iraq have operated for years.

The new legislation, “Military Personnel War Zone Toxic Exposure Prevention Act,” HR 2419, asks that the Defense Department identify troops who were potentially exposed to a “hazardous disposal site” as well as any negative health effects that might be related to that exposure.

The bill would require exposed troops and their commanders to be notified of their exposure, and would require the military to keep track of how far each person lived from a burn pit, what was exposed in that pit, how long each person was exposed, what symptoms the person had while deployed and any symptoms the person has after returning home.

Those service members also would be examined within 30 days of determining they were exposed to a burn pit, and every year after that.

The bill would direct the Defense Department to submit a report detailing the illnesses of troops exposed to the pits within one year after enactment.

“Exposure” includes anyone who was at a base with a burn pit for more than a year, was exposed to “intense” amounts of fumes, and displays symptoms that might be linked to exposure.

The bill also would prohibit burn pits from operating for longer than six months if they burn environmental toxins, a combination of toxins that could lead to negative health effects, or low levels of toxins that exceed military exposure guidelines.

“Our troops should be free to focus on fighting the enemy without worrying how their lives may be further endangered by the actions of private contractors operating under different rules,” Bishop said.


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2009/05/military_burn_pits_tim_bishop_052109w/

[garhkal]

About damn time.

[CommunityEditor]

Two lawmakers have called upon the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to determine if open-air burn pits for waste disposal in Iraq and Afghanistan are exposing troops to harm, as well as if there are any alternatives.

“Preliminary reports have indicated that fumes from these burn pits produce a considerable amount of contaminants that may cause short- and long-term harm to our service members serving in proximity to these operations,” wrote Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., in a letter dated July 9.

And on Tuesday, Feingold and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., proposed an amendment to the 2010 defense authorization bill that would “prohibit the disposal of covered waste in an open-air burn pit during a contingency operation lasting longer than one year” and would direct the secretary of defense to submit a report about what is burned in the pits and a plan for alternative options. The House has already passed a similar amendment in its version of the defense policy bill.

The actions come after a series of Military Times articles since last October showed that military environmental health experts had serious concerns about the pits. Since then, 400 people have come forward with respiratory problems and cancers they believe were caused by the burn pits, which are known to have released carcinogens and particulate matter into the air.

Military morbidity reports also show the number of service members with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has increased from 13,554 in 2001 to 24,555 in 2008, and chronic sinusitis cases have increased from 9,793 cases to 31,534 over that time. Recent reports showed that a group of pulmonary doctors in Hawaii determined unanimously that one soldier’s bronchiolitis was “probably due to the burn pits.”

A doctor at Vanderbilt University also determined that 56 airborne soldiers who have been short of breath since deploying to Iraq have bronchiolitis due to “inhalational exposure.”

Feingold and Filner asked the GAO to review the extent of the burn-pit operations and what pollutants are emitted, as well as what measures are being taken to monitor those pollutants. They also asked the GAO to investigate other options to using burn pits to dispose of waste during contingency operations, as well as if those options have been pursued.

The amendment would direct the military to explain why alternatives are not viable, if that is the Defense Department’s conclusion. According to Defense regulations, burn pits are meant to be short-term solutions, but some of the pits in Iraq and Afghanistan have been operating since the start of the wars. Initially, the pits were used to dump everything from petroleum products to plastic water bottles to Styrofoam to amputated limbs, military documentation shows, although efforts have been made recently to restrict some types of material burned in the pits, suich as plastic water bottles.

Defense Department officials did not directly respond to a Military Times question about whether service members are being monitored for their illnesses after several doctors connected a number of troops’ ailments to “inhalational exposure.”

But in an e-mail dated July 13, Craig Postlewaite, senior analyst for the Pentagon’s force health protection directorate, noted there are now 27 incinerators in place in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that many burn pits have been closed or relocated so troops would not be exposed to the smoke.

He reiterated that an assessment of the burn pit at Joint Base Balad, the largest U.S. facility in Iraq that at one time was burning more than 250 tons of waste per day in its open-air pit, found “no indication of any long-term health risks in personnel.” A previous report that said there were, in fact, risks associated with the Balad pit has been classified, as have environmental exposure reports throughout the war zones.

“We continue to investigate and monitor the environment throughout theater to determine if our service members may be exposed to any health hazards that would place them at risk for either short-term or long-term health risks,” Postlewaite said in the e-mail. “The health of our service members is very important to us. If a service member has a health concern, they should visit their medical treatment facility or Veterans Affairs facility for medical evaluation.”


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2009/07/military_burnpit_legislation_071509w/

[CommunityEditor]

Thirty-two members of the House of Representatives signed a letter Friday imploring the Senate to include an amendment in the final version of the 2010 defense authorization bill to restrict the military’s operation of open-air burn pits for waste disposal in the war zones.

“Hundreds of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and service members are becoming sick and even dying from what appears to be overexposure to dangerous toxins produced by open-air burn pits used to destroy large quantities of waste,” the letter states, citing reports by Military Times. “We urge you to support this provision, which will begin protecting our service members from these dangers.”

At Joint Base Balad, the largest U.S. installation in Iraq, the burn pit sprawls over 10 acres. Most bases — even the smallest — in Iraq and Afghanistan also have burn pits. Military morbidity reports show that annual cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which usually hits older smokers, have gone up by 10,000 in the military health system since 2001.

More than 400 service members have contacted Disabled American Veterans to report cancers and respiratory illnesses they believe came from burn-pit exposure since Military Times first reported the story last year.

The amendment to the 2010 defense authorization bill passed by the House would prohibit the disposal of hazardous waste in open-air burn pits for longer than 12 months during a contingency operation. It also would require the secretary of defense to submit a report on the use of burn pits and what alternatives are available.

The amendment “was strongly endorsed by the American Legion, disabled American Veterans, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Military Officers Association of America, National Guard Association of the United States, Veterans and Military Families for Progress, and Veterans of Foreign Wars,” the letter states. “Several of these organizations expressed concern when they learned that the provision might not be retained and have alerted their members across the country.”

Signers include Tim Bishop, D-N.Y.; Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H.; Bob Filner, D-Calif.; and 28 other Democrats. Republican Reps. Ron Paul of Texas and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington also are co-sponsors.

Article: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/09/military_burnpits_budget_091109w/
Burn Pits Action Center: https://sites.google.com/site/burnpits/