Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan

Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030921758X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book

Book Description
Many veterans returning from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have health problems they believe are related to their exposure to the smoke from the burning of waste in open-air "burn pits" on military bases. Particular controversy surrounds the burn pit used to dispose of solid waste at Joint Base Balad in Iraq, which burned up to 200 tons of waste per day in 2007. The Department of Veterans Affairs asked the IOM to form a committee to determine the long-term health effects from exposure to these burn pits. Insufficient evidence prevented the IOM committee from developing firm conclusions. This report, therefore, recommends that, along with more efficient data-gathering methods, a study be conducted that would evaluate the health status of service members from their time of deployment over many years to determine their incidence of chronic diseases.

Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan

Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030921758X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book

Book Description
Many veterans returning from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have health problems they believe are related to their exposure to the smoke from the burning of waste in open-air "burn pits" on military bases. Particular controversy surrounds the burn pit used to dispose of solid waste at Joint Base Balad in Iraq, which burned up to 200 tons of waste per day in 2007. The Department of Veterans Affairs asked the IOM to form a committee to determine the long-term health effects from exposure to these burn pits. Insufficient evidence prevented the IOM committee from developing firm conclusions. This report, therefore, recommends that, along with more efficient data-gathering methods, a study be conducted that would evaluate the health status of service members from their time of deployment over many years to determine their incidence of chronic diseases.

Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan

Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan PDF Author: Committee on the Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780309386616
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book

Book Description
Many veterans returning from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have health problems they believe are related to their exposure to the smoke from the burning of waste in open-air "burn pits" on military bases. Particular controversy surrounds the burn pit used to dispose of solid waste at Joint Base Balad in Iraq, which burned up to 200 tons of waste per day in 2007. The Department of Veterans Affairs asked the IOM to form a committee to determine the long-term health effects from exposure to these burn pits. Insufficient evidence prevented the IOM committee from developing firm conclusions. This report, therefore, recommends that, along with more efficient data-gathering methods, a study be conducted that would evaluate the health status of service members from their time of deployment over many years to determine their incidence of chronic diseases.

Assessment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry

Assessment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309451175
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 253

Get Book

Book Description
Military operations produce a great deal of trash in an environment where standard waste management practices may be subordinated to more pressing concerns. As a result, ground forces have long relied on incineration in open-air pits as a means of getting rid of refuse. Concerns over possible adverse effects of exposure to smoke from trash burning in the theater were first expressed in the wake of the 1990â€"1991 Gulf War and stimulated a series of studies that indicated that exposures to smoke from oil-well fires and from other combustion sources, including waste burning, were stressors for troops. In January 2013, Congress directed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish and maintain a registry for service members who may have been exposed to toxic airborne chemicals and fumes generated by open burn pits. Assessment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry analyzes the initial months of data collected by the registry and offers recommendations on ways to improve the instrument and best use the information it collects. This report assesses the effectiveness of the VA's information gathering efforts and provides recommendations for addressing the future medical needs of the affected groups, and provides recommendations on collecting, maintaining, and monitoring information collected by the VA's Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry.

Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations

Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309679109
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Get Book

Book Description
More than 3.7 million U.S. service members have participated in operations taking place in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations since 1990. These operations include the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, a post-war stabilization period spanning 1992 through September 2001, and the campaigns undertaken in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Deployment to Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Afghanistan exposed service members to a number of airborne hazards, including oil-well fire smoke, emissions from open burn pits, dust and sand suspended in the air, and exhaust from diesel vehicles. The effects of these were compounded by stressors like excessive heat and noise that are inevitable attributes of service in a combat environment. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations reviews the scientific evidence regarding respiratory health outcomes in veterans of the Southwest Asia conflicts and identifies research that could feasibly be conducted to address outstanding questions and generate answers, newly emerging technologies that could aid in these efforts, and organizations that the Veterans Administration might partner with to accomplish this work.

The Burn Pits

The Burn Pits PDF Author: Joseph Hickman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510743200
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Get Book

Book Description
“There’s a whole chapter on my son Beau… He was co-located [twice] near these burn pits.” –Joe Biden, former Vice President of the United States of America The Agent Orange of the 21st Century… Thousands of American soldiers are returning from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan with severe wounds from chemical war. They are not the victims of ruthless enemy warfare, but of their own military commanders. These soldiers, afflicted with rare cancers and respiratory diseases, were sickened from the smoke and ash swirling out of the “burn pits” where military contractors incinerated mountains of trash, including old stockpiles of mustard and sarin gas, medical waste, and other toxic material. This shocking work, now for the first time in paperback, includes: Illustration of the devastation in one soldier’s intimate story A plea for help Connection between the burn pits and Major Biden’s unfortunate suffering and death The burn pits’ effects on native citizens of Iraq: mothers, fathers, and children Denial from the Department of Defense and others Warning signs that were ignored and much more Based on thousands of government documents, over five hundred in-depth medical case studies, and interviews with more than one thousand veterans and active-duty GIs, The Burn Pits will shock the nation. The book is more than an explosive work of investigative journalism—it is the deeply moving chronicle of the many young men and women who signed up to serve their country in the wake of 9/11, only to return home permanently damaged, the victims of their own armed forces’ criminal negligence.

Respiratory Health

Respiratory Health PDF Author: Mieczyslaw Pokorski
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319187937
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 114

Get Book

Book Description
The tracheobronchial tree is open to the environment surrounding the body. Respiration has thus the essential bearing on general morbidity, vulnerability to disease and immunity. Further, respiratory function shapes the neuropsychological responses to succumbing to disease, controls the mind-to-body interaction and sets the perception of quality of life. The chapters of this book deal with the preventable drivers of poor respiratory health, the role of health information technology, the improvement in health care delivery and the integration of respiratory health and behavioral health services. Innovative strategies to promote prevention, care coordination and care integration as well as to align disease acceptance and quality of life measures also are tackled. Maintaining respiratory health is of rising research interest as a way of preventing a disease or a non pharmacological therapeutic succor. The book will be of interest to clinicians, family practitioners and medical researchers.

Gulf War Illness and the Health of Gulf War Veterans

Gulf War Illness and the Health of Gulf War Veterans PDF Author: United States. Department of Veterans Affairs. Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Government publications
Languages : en
Pages : 468

Get Book

Book Description
Questions surrounding Gulf War illness and other health problems resulting from service in the 1990-1991 Gulf War have long plagued veterans and government officials. This 450-page report brings together for the first time the full range of scientific research and government investigations on Gulf War illness. The comprehensive analysis resolves many questions about what caused Gulf War illness and what should be done to address this serious condition, which affects at least one in four Gulf War veterans.--Publisher description.

Contaminated Water Supplies at Camp Lejeune

Contaminated Water Supplies at Camp Lejeune PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309136997
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book

Book Description
In the early 1980s, two water-supply systems on the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina were found to be contaminated with the industrial solvents trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE). The water systems were supplied by the Tarawa Terrace and Hadnot Point watertreatment plants, which served enlisted-family housing, barracks for unmarried service personnel, base administrative offices, schools, and recreational areas. The Hadnot Point water system also served the base hospital and an industrial area and supplied water to housing on the Holcomb Boulevard water system (full-time until 1972 and periodically thereafter). This book examines what is known about the contamination of the water supplies at Camp Lejeune and whether the contamination can be linked to any adverse health outcomes in former residents and workers at the base.

Assessment of Long-Term Health Effects of Antimalarial Drugs When Used for Prophylaxis

Assessment of Long-Term Health Effects of Antimalarial Drugs When Used for Prophylaxis PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309672104
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 427

Get Book

Book Description
Among the many who serve in the United States Armed Forces and who are deployed to distant locations around the world, myriad health threats are encountered. In addition to those associated with the disruption of their home life and potential for combat, they may face distinctive disease threats that are specific to the locations to which they are deployed. U.S. forces have been deployed many times over the years to areas in which malaria is endemic, including in parts of Afghanistan and Iraq. Department of Defense (DoD) policy requires that antimalarial drugs be issued and regimens adhered to for deployments to malaria-endemic areas. Policies directing which should be used as first and as second-line agents have evolved over time based on new data regarding adverse events or precautions for specific underlying health conditions, areas of deployment, and other operational factors At the request of the Veterans Administration, Assessment of Long-Term Health Effects of Antimalarial Drugs When Used for Prophylaxis assesses the scientific evidence regarding the potential for long-term health effects resulting from the use of antimalarial drugs that were approved by FDA or used by U.S. service members for malaria prophylaxis, with a focus on mefloquine, tafenoquine, and other antimalarial drugs that have been used by DoD in the past 25 years. This report offers conclusions based on available evidence regarding associations of persistent or latent adverse events.

Green Warriors

Green Warriors PDF Author: David E. Mosher
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833043188
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 253

Get Book

Book Description
Recent experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans have highlighted the importance of environmental considerations. These range from protecting soldier health and disposing of hazardous waste to building water supply systems and other activities that help achieve national goals in the post-conflict phase of contingency operations. The Army has become increasingly involved with environmental issues in every contingency operation and must be better prepared to deal with them. This study assesses whether existing policy, doctrine, and guidance adequately address environmental activities in post-conflict military operations and reconstruction. Findings are based on reviews of top-level policy and doctrine, analysis of operational experience, extensive interviews with diverse Army personnel, and a review of operational documentation and literature. From these sources, a database of 111 case studies was created. The research showed that environmental concerns can have far-reaching and significant impacts on the Army, both direct and indirect, especially in terms of cost, current operations, soldier health, diplomatic relations, reconstruction activities, and the ultimate success of the operation or the broader mission. Some evidence suggests that environmental problems may have even contributed to insurgency in Iraq. Recommendations include updating current policy and doctrine to fully address environmental considerations in contingency operations; ensuring that contractors are carefully selected and managed; and transmitting proactive field environmental practices and lessons throughout the Army.