bad news for US soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan

[ensho]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php


US soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with an apparently untreatable and incurable lung disease are being dismissed as out of shape because tests appear normal. A civilian physician who has diagnosed more than 50 soldiers with constrictive bronchiolitis says the life-altering disease is linked to service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr Robert Miller, of Vanderbilt University, says: "This scarring of the small airways in the lungs is common in people who have had bone marrow transplants or lung transplant rejection not people who have passed military fitness exams. "What we can say is that this disorder is linked to service in the Middle East. But we haven't been able to definitively link what the cause is for the black lacy pigment. It's something that's inhaled that shouldn't be there." Last month the New England Journal of Medicine published a study by Dr Miller and colleagues which documented the condition of soldiers who had served in
Iraq and Afghanistan and were diagnosed with constrictive bronchiolitis. However, their analysis doesn't reveal how common the condition is in troops or positively identify the cause of constrictive bronchiolitis in troops.

The diagnoses were made after lung biopsies. At least half the soldiers have left the service with a disability rating making them eligible to receive anywhere between $123 to over $3,100 per month depending on the level of their disability and number of dependents. In certain instances the Department of Veterans Affairs recognises a link between the disorder and service. But compensation is based on pulmonary function testing (PFT) and soldiers with constrictive bronchiolitis have normal PFT results despite having scarring of the airways, black lacy pigment in their lungs and severe exercise limitations. A further complication is that deployed troops do not receive pre- and post-deployment pulmonary function tests that could help doctors know the extent of lung damage. Dr Sylvia Waters serves in the US army and is a practicing anaesthetist. She used to run every day but after serving in Iraq she had to give up her passion. "After a six-month tour in Mosul, Iraq I get shortness
of breath and an excruciating burning in my lungs after running just a quarter of a mile. I can't run any more." Army physicians tried routine tests including X-rays, pulmonary function tests and chest CT scans. They tried inhalers and steroid treatments but nothing worked and all tests results kept coming back normal.

-snip-

When asked why they had stopped referring patients to him, the Department of Defense issued a statement saying despite this, it is still committed to investigating respiratory health risks. Craig Postlewaite, Director of Force Readiness, Health Assurance, Health Protection and Readiness Programs said that the Department continues to collect medical surveillance data and perform epidemiological studies to evaluate health risks associated with breathing dust or smoke. Dr Waters says the year-long journey to get diagnosed was arduous even though she's a health professional. "There is no way a typical Private would get to see Dr Miller, because they don't know what to research. They're being told by a physician 'you're normal, everything's fine, go suck it up and run' but then they fail their physical fitness test. "These are young kids, 18 years old, they have no clue. I found it was difficult even for me to get diagnosed and I'm a
physician."

[starroute]

1. A lot of people are blaming open pit burning

The first quote is from a long article by someone who went over to Afghanistan and checked it out. The second is about ailing veterans suing KBR and Halliburton. There's also a Burn Pits Action Center at http://sites.google.com/site/burnpits/Home.

http://www.guernicamag.com/features/2972/burn_pits_afghanistan_8_15_11/

Military officials declined to comment on the decision to use open burn pits, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency bans open pit burning of materials that discharge toxic chemicals and whose smoke can contribute to the risk of cancer, asthma and reproductive problems. The EPA also prohibits open pit burning grass and leaves, food and petroleum products such as plastic, rubber and asphalt.

In Afghanistan and Iraq the expediency of burning trash trumps environmental and health concerns. In a memo dated December 20, 2006, Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight Commander and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Darrin L. Curtis warned of acute and chronic health risks posed by the Balad Airbase burn pit in Iraq.

Whether through a lack of forethought, a desire for expediency, or the logistical demands of the battlefield, the military chose burn pits as its means to destroy trash. And there is a lot of it. There are more than 100,000 troops currently deployed in Afghanistan—and thousands more private contractors—and the Department of Defense (DoD) estimates that each soldier and contractor generates about ten pounds of solid waste per day.

Veterans Administration and private physicians have seen a significant increase in respiratory problems in soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Other physical problems among war veterans include shortness of breath, headaches and coughing up blood. Almost all of these soldiers had exposure to burn pits as well as battlefield smoke and dust storms. It seems unlikely that the thousands of Iraqis and Afghans working on U.S. military bases or living nearby have escaped such debilitating ailments themselves.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38588943/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts#.TkqETmGtNA0

Some 241 military personnel and contractors who became ill after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq are suing a Houston-based firm, claiming they were poisoned by smoke from trash fires, the Washington Post reported Friday.

The claimants, who are from 42 states, are suffering from a range of conditions including cancer and severe breathing problems, which they blame on the thick, black smoke. The symptoms were reportedly nicknamed "Iraqi crud" by troops.

They are taking legal action against Kellogg Brown & Root, which operated more than two dozen burn-pits in the two countries, the Post reported. It used to be a subsidiary of Halliburton, which is a also a defendant in the case.

[ensho]

4. thanks for this info

(just ran to the library so late in replying to you)

[w8liftinglady]

2. My son said "The Crap" is bothering a lot of OIF vets

He was at camp Anaconda during one of his deployments
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/balad-ab.htm

here's hoping it doesn't take as long for these vets to get compensation as it did for the Agent Orange -exposed vets of Viet Nam...

[Pooka Fey]

3. K&R