[CPEO-MEF] HEALTH, GLOBAL: "U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait have inhaled microscopic dust..."

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Navy researcher links toxins in war-zone dust to ailments

By Kelly Kennedy
USA TODAY
May 11, 2011

U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait have inhaled microscopic  
dust particles laden with toxic metals, bacteria and fungi - a toxic  
stew that may explain everything from the undiagnosed Gulf War  
Syndrome symptoms lingering from the 1991 war against Iraq to high  
rates of respiratory, neurological and heart ailments encountered in  
the current wars, scientists say.

"From my research and that of others, I really think this may be the  
smoking gun," says Navy Capt. Mark Lyles, chair of medical sciences  
and biotechnology at the Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the  
Naval War College in Newport, R.I. "It fits everything - symptoms,  
timing, everything.

Lyles and other researchers found that dust particles - up to 1,000  
of which can sit on the head of a pin - gathered in Iraq and Kuwait  
contain 37 metals, including aluminum, lead, manganese, strontium and  
tin. The metals have been linked to neurological disorders, cancer,  
respiratory ailments, depression and heart disease, according to the  
Environmental Protection Agency. Researchers believe the metals occur  
both naturally and as a byproduct of pollution.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2011-05-11-Iraq-Afghanistan- 
dust-soldiers-illnesses_n.htm

--

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

_______________________________________________
Military mailing list
Military@lists.cpeo.org
http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/military-cpeo.org