[CPEO-MEF] Fwd: DISPOSAL: Leaked Afghan burn pit memo

Begin forwarded message:

From: JEGCA@aol.com
Date: May 25, 2012 10:26:33 AM PDT
To: lennysiegel@gmail.com
Subject: Re: [CPEO-MEF] DISPOSAL: Leaked Afghan burn pit memo

Lenny: There were certainly ways to prevent this tragedy. One way, that incorporates pyrolysis technology, was suggested/proposed to the Corps of Engineers in 2006 and was initially received with interest. You will recall the Katrina situation which might have been the first application and others, such as this Afghan Burn Pit, could have been addressed by package, skid mounted equipment capable of safely disposing of 50 tons + of material per day per unit. I have not given up on this approach and am in the process re-initiating the effort but it seems to be a much more inopportune time.

John G.

In a message dated 5/25/2012 7:09:33 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, lennysiegel@gmail.com writes:

Leaked Memo: Afghan 'Burn Pit' Could Wreck Troops' Hearts, Lungs

By Spencer Ackerman
Wired
May 22, 2012

For years, U.S. government agencies have told the public, veterans
and Congress that they couldn’t draw any connections between the so-
called "burn pits" disposing of trash at the military’s biggest bases
and veterans’ respiratory or cardiopulmonary problems. But a 2011
Army memo obtained by Danger Room flat-out stated that the burn pit
at one of Afghanistan's largest bases poses "long-term adverse health
conditions" to troops breathing the air there.

The unclassified memo, dated April 15, 2011, stated that high
concentrations of dust and burned waste present at Bagram Airfield
for most of the war are likely to impact veterans' health for the
rest of their lives. "The long term health risk" from breathing in
Bagram's particulate-rich air include "reduced lung function or
exacerbated chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD), asthma, atherosclerosis, or other cardiopulmonary diseases."
Service members may not necessarily "acquire adverse long term
pulmonary or heart conditions," but "the risk for such is increased."

The cause of the health hazards are given the anodyne names
Particulate Matter 10 and Particulate Matter 2.5, a reference to the
size in micrometers of the particles’ diameter. Service personnel
deployed to Bagram know them by more colloquial names: dust, trash
and even feces - all of which are incinerated in "a burn pit" on the
base, the memo says, as has been standard practice in Iraq and
Afghanistan for a decade.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/05/bagram-health-risk

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street, 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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