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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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=69140

Libby Montana gets day in court over asbestos

Asbestos-ravaged town gets its day in court
For much of the last century, people in the small town of Libby, Montana, were surrounded by toxic asbestos. It covered patches of grass, dusted the tops of cars and drifted through the air in a hazy smoke that became a part of their daily lives. Now, federal prosecutors have begun a trial of the mining company they blame for the pollution, which some doctors say left more than 1,000 people ill and more than 200 others dead. full story