Asbestos and toxic exposure risk low for troops in Haiti

Burn pits and contaminants in the water of Iraq were also not supposed to be a problem, just as Agent Orange use in Vietnam. Is this one more problem that will arise years later for the troops?

Toxic exposure risk low for troops in Haiti
Officials say samples show contaminants below hazard levels
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, April 4, 2010

Air, water and soil samples taken from places where U.S. troops have been operating in Haiti do not contain high levels of toxic substances, according to the U.S. Southern Command.

The U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine tested the hundreds of samples for some 200 contaminants, including silica and asbestos.

“Everything we have been able to analyze so far has not presented a risk that is expected to be long-term, short-term or one we can’t mitigate,” said Lt. Col. Eric Milstrey, SOUTHCOM’s public health officer.

Teams from the Army, Air Force and Navy collected the samples from sites where U.S. military personnel have worked in Haiti since January’s deadly earthquake. Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, who provided security for earthquake rubble removal in Port-au-Prince, have reported sore throats and coughing that they blame on dust inhaled on the job.

The Army’s preliminary results suggest that asbestos levels found in dust from the Haiti earthquake are low enough that it would have been safe for soldiers to work without masks. The only place where a significant quantity of asbestos was detected in Haiti was at an AIDS clinic used by the U.S. Public Health Service, where an asbestos ceiling tile was discovered, Milstrey said.

Furthermore, testing of 14 wells used to supply shower water to troops in Haiti turned up quite a few contaminants, including harmful bacteria, that could be a health risk if the water was untreated, Milstrey said.

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