Now that CNN has picked up on the story about the burn pit in Iraq, I expect other news outlets to follow suit (dammit!). Simply put, this issue is important enough to pay attention to NOW instead of in 10 years when the after effects have taken its toll on the soldiers and civilians subjected to its poisonous fumes. Bloggers have been talking about how toxic the U.S. military bases’ burn pit fumes for months. Now we finally have major news outlet support:
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, KBR, by a contractor alleges the burn pit also contained body parts.
A special thanks to CNN producer Adam Levine who took the time to speak with myself and others who were exposed to the burn pit during deployments and civilian job assignments.
The video below aired a few days ago on CNN with the follow up report posted just moments ago online. While I feel the video is sorely lacking in reporting the most common symptoms reported by soldiers (skin lesions, blisters, heart arrhythmias, breathing problems, etc), I think Adam Levine put it well when he wrote to me that he, “thought it presented the situation, the concerns of troops and the military’s response in a way to explain it to a general audience that knew nothing of the issue.”
[video]
Perhaps it is a good “introduction” video for the general population to what I hope doesn’t turn into the next “Gulf War Syndrome”. We’re gonna keep riding this one until the bitter end.
ADDITION:
I also wanted to add I’ve experienced headaches and chest pains since returning home from Balad, Iraq in 2006 but have largely ignored as a simply stress associated with my deployment. I made an appointment with my local VA medical clinic to have it looked into in a few weeks (the first available appointment). I’ll post results as my symptoms may or may not be associated with exposure to the Balad burn pit.
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I liked the story better than the inital video they first showed. I wonder if those idiots took into perspective that fire fighters aren’t exposed to harmful smoke 24 hours a day, everyday, for at least a year for some of us….
Fire fighters?
Eh, it was in the cnn story…the government’s rebuttal on the dangers of inhaling the fumes…they said something akin to firefighters being exposed to that type of situation.
Oh yes! I also love how the government rep insinuates that inhaling toxic fumes is simply something to be accepted when living in a war zone.
Everywhere we’ve been in Iraq and Afghanistan is going to be eventually deemed a Superfund site and we’ll keep paying for it out of our tax dollars. WOOHOO!!!
I remember some days the smoke would just sit there at ground level, like fog. Eye's and throat stinging. Most days were clear, but on those days when when the wind brought it to us, we were a very captive audience. "Yea, it's smoke. Get over it." was the official reply.
But not one single thing that you said gives the government the right to stop the mosque. Protest the mosque. Do creative things like building the gay bar next door, but the President was 100% right when he said that they have a First Amendment right to build it there.
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