[CPEO-MEF] Carcinogens found at base

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Saudi Arabia
Carcinogens found at base
Langley airmen among those who have used Saudi facility
By R.W. Rogers
Daily Press
November 28, 2002

Cancer-causing chemicals have been found at Prince Sultan Air Base in
Saudi Arabia, where for a decade American airmen - including those from
Langley Air Force Base - have been sent to help patrol the southern
no-fly zone over Iraq.

Air Force researchers found nine confirmed or suspected carcinogens in
air and water samples taken at the sprawling U.S. base 70 miles
southeast of Riyadh. Five more contaminants considered potential
cancer-causers also were detected, according to a study based on data
collected between 1996 and 1999. Under the Freedom of Information Act,
the Daily Press obtained a copy of the health-risk assessment that was
written in November 2000.

Dawn Ioven, a toxicologist for the Environmental Protection Agency, said
concentrations of benzene, arsenic and other chemicals "would almost
certainly" put Prince Sultan Air Base on the federal Superfund list of
sites to be cleaned up if it were in the United States.

Some of the chemicals found at Prince Sultan, Ioven said, have been
linked to liver, lung and skin cancers.

Until now, the only health concern officially traced to the base had to
do with a 1999 salmonella outbreak.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-01400sy0nov28,0,5190660.story?coll=dp-headlines-topnews

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