[CPEO-MEF] HEALTH: Guardsmen exposed to sodium dichromate in Iraq

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Pentagon response to Guard chemical exposure angers Rockefeller
National Guardsmen from West Virginia, as well as units from Oregon and 
Indiana, encountered a toxic chemical during the repair of the Qarmat 
Ali water plant near Basra in southern Iraq in 2003.

By Andrew Clevenger
Charleston Gazette (WV)
August 4, 2009

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller is angry with the U.S. 
Department of Defense because he believes it isn't telling soldiers that 
exposure to a toxic chemical in Iraq may have devastating effects on 
their health.

On Monday, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee held a hearing as part 
of an ongoing inquiry into whether American soldiers and civilians -- 
including members of the West Virginia National Guard's 1092nd 
Engineering Battalion -- were exposed to dangerous levels of sodium 
dichromate, a highly toxic carcinogen.

The guardsmen, as well as units from Oregon and Indiana, encountered the 
chemical during Project RIO, the repair of the Qarmat Ali water plant 
near Basra in southern Iraq in 2003.

"It was powerful, it was tragic, it just infuriated you," Rockefeller 
said Tuesday of the hearing.

Sodium dichromate contains hexavalent chromium, the same chemical that 
Erin Brockovich campaigned against in real life and on the silver screen.

...

For the entire article, see
http://wvgazette.com/News/politics/200908040855
--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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