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Investigation ordered into chemical exposure
Williams man says cancer developed after Iraq service
From: The Times Mail
Bedford Indiana
The Department of Defense inspector general will initiate an investigation into the U.S. Army’s response to the exposure of hundreds of U.S. soldiers to the deadly chemical sodium dichromate in Iraq.
The investigation came at the request at U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.
In 2003, 142 members of the Indiana National Guard, led by a Williams resident, Indiana National Guard Lt. Col. James Gentry (now retired), were among troops guarding the Qarmat Ali Water Treatment Plant in Iraq. The plant was being rebuilt by the Houston-based construction firm KBR, then a subsidiary of the oil conglomerate Halliburton. Despite on-site assurances that the orange, sand-like dust spread throughout the facility was a "mild irritant," it was later revealed to be sodium dichromate. A major component of sodium dichromate is hexavalent chromium, one of the world’s most carcinogenic substances.
Gentry has since been diagnosed with cancer and told the Times-Mail in December he was convinced his wartime experience involving exposure to sodium dichromate in Iraq caused his illness.
Capitol Hill hearings on the issue have subsequently revealed a number of failures by KBR to warn troops and even their own employees of the exposure and to properly clean up the contamination. Hearings also exposed multiple failures by the Army either to hold KBR accountable or to inform and test soldiers once the Army did learn of the contamination.
"This investigation is an important step in our efforts to learn what went wrong at Qarmat Ali and why members of the Indiana National Guard didn’t receive timely notification about the extreme dangers of sodium dichromate," Bayh said. "The failure of the Army to properly warn our troops of these dangers or to properly clean the site unwittingly exposed hundreds of soldiers to carcinogenic toxins. It is essential that the Defense Department take a hard look at this incident to learn the lessons of Qarmat Ali and make sure that service members are never again needlessly exposed to hazardous chemicals while deployed."
The Department of Defense inspector general’s investigation of the Army’s actions was requested in August by Bayh and six members of the U.S. Senate.
Charles Beardall, the deputy inspector general for policy and oversight, informed the senators by letter that the IG has initiated an investigation that began in September. The senators asked the IG to investigate seven specific areas related to the exposure and the Army’s response to it.
Another concern of the senators has been whether the Army is adequately informing the Department of Veterans Affairs about the exposure and its potentially deadly consequences. Having such information is vital to proper treatment and even the ability of former soldiers to be treated by the Veterans Administration for a "service connected" sickness that could take years after the initial exposure to develop.
Bayh has proposed legislation to create an Agent Orange-style registry for U.S. military personnel exposed to hazardous chemicals while serving in the line of duty. The Bayh proposal would guarantee access to follow-up medical evaluations and priority status at VA medical facilities for service members who have been exposed to occupational and environmental hazards while deployed.
"If you serve in combat conditions, you are entitled to the best care possible," Bayh said. "We must diligently track which soldiers may have been placed at risk and ensure they have access to the best care our country has to offer."
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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=8781
Posted by Bob Higgins on Oct 3 2009, With 0 Reads, Filed under Iraq War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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How about we consolidate of all these exposures, including Agent Orange? Division of Veterans has weakened our position as well as the Veterans of these other conflicts. All of us would benefit from a consolidation of our efforts and perhaps it could be structured under an Adhocractic form of administration to avoid the traditional ineffective Bureaucracy of VA.
I agree with Daniel, and guess would watch it is? Obama’s. He is already jacking up Tri-Care prices…but, we won’t have any tax hikes!!! If any of you believe this man, you are truely a sad person. He B.S. you all the way, you fell for it, now WE ALL pay the price for your stupid vote. Hope you all are happy for screwing us.
Thanks Dennis, I knew we would eventually find common ground.
Take care,
Dan
I come from a long list of veterans in my family, including a great grandfather who fought for the South and the other great grandfather who fought for the North. In the last 70 years they have represented all represented each branches of the service, mostly the Marines. What I feel right now is this,…I have two sons, one who did not want any part of the service and the other who spent four years in the Airforce. If I had sons right now who wanted to go into service, I would attempt to discourage them. Between Vietnam, the Gulf and now Iraq and Afghan, the crap with everything is going to eventually leave the military shorthanded. I have a neighbor, a national guardsman, across the street with three kids. He has been to Iraq three times, Afghan twice and Germany once. He has stated that doing a two year tour is fine, but this 7 months and come home, five months later activated again, repeated over and over is BS. Hes a nurse and its starting to make the family situation somewhat testy.
did someone forgot to mention the burning pit where i was in Balad. When is the government going to investigate that environmental hazard so all of us that were stationed there can be included with the water purification and the agent orange study.
would love to know how many of our vets from operation iraqi freedom, have been diagnosed with cancer??? my son served 2 tours and now has bladder cancer.