Shut down burn pits, lung association urges - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Shut down burn pits, lung association urges

The American Lung Association called for the military to ban open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The association “is deeply concerned by reports of the use of burn pits and negative effects on lung health on soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan,” H. James Gooden, chairman of the association’s board of directors, said during a Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing Wednesday.

“Emissions from burning waste contain fine particulate matter, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and various irritant gases such as nitrogen oxides that can scar the lungs,” he said.

He added that burn-pit emissions contain chemicals that are known or are suspected to be carcinogens.

“We urge the [Defense Department] to immediately find alternatives to this method of waste disposal,” Gooden said.

The hazards of the burn pits were first reported in Military Times in October 2008.

Paul Billings, vice president of National Policy and Advocacy for the association, said the association first learned of the problem from the Military Times reports. He said association members have since approached members of Congress to try to bring an end to the burn pits.

“We’ve encouraged VA and the [Defense Department] to monitor people who have been exposed,” Billings said.

Defense Department statistics show that respiratory problems, such chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic bronchitis, have increased greatly since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as have cases of sleep apnea.

The Veterans Affairs Department recently sent out a 30-page training letter asking doctors and adjudicators to inform veterans that they might have been exposed to environmental hazards from the burn pits and that they might be eligible for service-connected benefits.

“For vulnerable populations, such as people with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, asthma and chronic respiratory disease, exposure to these burn pits is particularly harmful,” Gooden said. “Even short exposures can kill. Healthy, young adults who work outside — such as our young men and women in uniform — are also at greater risk.”

Gooden cited a recent Environmental Protection Agency study that found that particulate matter — such as that found in the burn pits — causes heart attacks, asthma attacks and early death.