Troops sick from burn pits urged to contact DAV

Reporting illnessesTroops sick from burn pits urged to contact DAV
Military official: Situation improving; troops report health complications
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Nov 15, 2008 7:02:03 EST


Top News StoryBurn pit falloutDisabled American Veterans has issued a call to all service members and veterans who think they may have illnesses related to burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq: Contact the DAV so they can collect data and look for trends.


“Anyone out there who thinks they may have had a long-term health effect ... needs to file a complaint” with the Department of Veterans Affairs, said Kerry Baker, DAV’s associate national legislative director.

Noting that it took Vietnam veterans 20 years to gain benefits for exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange, Baker said, “We don’t want to see these guys have to wait 20 years. We want to see Congress act right away.”


He said service members should be alert for respiratory-related problems, such as allergies, sleep apnea, trouble breathing, asthma and lymphocytic leukemia, as well as skin diseases. Of the 300 to 400 disability cases Baker said he has personally reviewed since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, he said 30 percent potentially could be linked to the burn pits. He said he’s amazed by the numbers of troops reporting sleep apnea.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., also has demanded an investigation in an Oct. 31 letter to Army Gen. David Petraeus, the new chief of U.S. Central Command.

“After years of helping veterans of the Vietnam and Gulf Wars cope with the health effects of toxic battlefields, we have learned that we must take exposures to toxins seriously,” Feingold wrote.

He asked Petraeus to inform him of pending investigations into the “prevalence of health care conditions among those potentially exposed to toxins and particulates,” as well as why more incinerators are not taking the place of burn pits in Iraq.
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