Army report warned of burn-pit effects

Army report warned of burn-pit effects

Cited long-term damage at odds with DoD posture
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 30, 2009 12:03:53 EDT

Seven months before Defense Department officials said there were no known long-term health effects due to exposure to open-air burn-pit smoke, Army researchers sent out a report on the health effects associated with particulate matter exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan that paints a slightly different picture.

“Particulate matter air pollution is hypothesized to affect health on two time scales,” states the report by the Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. “Long-term exposure, on the scale of months to years, may influence the incidence of chronic disease and susceptibility; and short-term exposure, on the scale of days, may precipitate acute health events. Health effects of particulate matter on both scales may range in severity from subclinical to deadly.”

The report, “Potential Health Implications Associated with Particulate Matter Exposure in Deployed Settings in Southwest Asia,” was submitted for publication to Inhalation Toxicology Journal in December and published in March.

It included data from a second report, “Characterizing Mineral Dusts and other Aerosols from the Middle East,” that showed particulate matter levels at each of 15 sites — including Joint Base Balad, Iraq, where an open burn pit once devoured as much as 240 tons of trash a day — was above World Health Organization, as well as military, standards for fine particulate matter.
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Army report warned of burn-pit effects