Troops near burn pits to get masks, respirators

Troops near burn pits to get masks, respirators
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 10, 2011 16:51:02 EST
Under pressure from Congress, the Defense Department is moving toward short-term and long-term protections against the risks posed by open-air burn pits that have been used to dispose of garbage in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Protective equipment such as respirators and gas masks are expected to be made available to deployed troops near the burn pits, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen pledged in a letter to two U.S. senators dated Monday. He said a policy on how to promote the use of protective equipment should be ready within 60 days.

For the long term, the U.S. Central Command is buying and installing about 200 solid-waste incinerators that will be used in Afghanistan, Mullen said in the letter to Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

The pits have been used to burn a wide variety of potentially toxic products, including industrial and medical waste, paint thinner and other solvents, batteries and plastic. Schumer and Nelson wrote to the Defense Department in early January after the death of Army Sgt. William McKenna, who had a rare form of lymphoma that the Veterans Affairs Department determined was connected to his exposure to burn pit fumes in Iraq.
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Troops near burn pits to get masks, respirators