[CPEO-MEF] Military Personnel and Families

[Pauline Simon <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

[From Lenny Siegel]

Sandy Steele's report on the toxic exposures of her daughter, a military
wife, raises a significant issue. While the military often tells us that
environmentally destructive activities are necessary to protect our
fighting men and women, the military itself exposes service men and
women, as well as their families, to hazardous substances. Nuclear
testing, herbicides, and depleted uranium are now recognized as real or
potential sources of long-term health problems, but "routine" toxic
contamination on military bases may be causing significant problems as
well.

I recall the findings at the Fort Sheridan (Illinois) landfill, where
emissions of vinyl chloride were considered insignificant - that is,
cancer risks fell below the legal threshold - because the military
families living in nearby base housing never stayed at the base very
long. Did any of them face similar hazards at other bases where they
lived? Are those exposures cumulative?

Does anyone know of health studies of "nomadic" military personnel or
families that considered the potential impact of a series of short-term
situations adding up to significant cumulative toxic exposure?

Lenny
-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org


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