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Bill would help soldiers exposed to toxins

INDIANAPOLIS — U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh said Tuesday he would reintroduce legislation to create a medical registry for military personnel exposed to toxic chemicals following reports that Indiana National Guard troops were exposed to a toxin in Iraq.

The legislation would establish a registry to track military service members exposed to industrial toxins during wartime service, guaranteeing them access to priority care at Veterans Administration hospitals.

It would also authorize a scientific review of evidence linking exposure to adverse health effects.

Bayh, D-Ind., said in a prepared statement that he would reintroduce the legislation when Congress reconvenes in January.

“Our government has a responsibility to remove needless obstacles to care for soldiers exposed to potentially lethal quantities of toxic chemicals in service of their country,” Bayh said. “We should be guided by our government’s response to Agent Orange in Vietnam, when we changed our VA claims system so veterans placed at risk did not bear the burden of proof if health conditions developed later in life.”

Bayh’s statement followed a report Monday on CBS on Indiana National Guard troops that were assigned to guard the Qarmat Ali water pumping plant in Basra, Iraq, shortly after the U.S. invasion in 2003. Sixteen soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry, filed a federal lawsuit this month against defense contractor KBR Inc., saying its employees knowingly allowed them to be exposed to sodium dichromate, a known carcinogen, while guarding the water plant.

The chemical, used to remove pipe corrosion, is especially dangerous because it contains hexavalent chromium, which is known to cause birth defects and cancer, particularly lung cancer, according to the suit. The cancer can take years to develop.

KBR has said it notified the Army Corps of Engineers after finding the chemical at the site and the Corps concluded the company’s efforts to remediate the situation were effective.

Bayh’s statement said the Army had expressed “low” to “medium” confidence in its own environmental testing at Qarmat Ali, which was conducted after KBR had remediated the site.

“I think the burden of proof at this point is on the company to come forward and very forthrightly explain what happened, why we should trust them and why the health and well-being of our soldiers should continue to be in their hands,” Bayh said in the statement.

The Associated Press left a phone message seeking comment Tuesday from KBR.

KBR used to be a subsidiary within Halliburton Co., the oilfield services conglomerate whose chief executive from 1995 to 2000 was Vice President Dick Cheney. KBR became a separate public company last year.

Related reading:

Board: Guardsmen were not overexposed to toxin