Burn pit

During the Gulf War (1990–1991) and continuing through the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, military bases throughout the region used burn pits as a way to dispose of waste. General David Petraeus, commander, US Central Command and Multi-National Force-Iraq, stated commanders' concerns were about basic needs (food and water) of the soldiers under his command and not burn pits, at the time. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found burn pits to be indefensible because their emissions are potentially harmful to US servicemembers. Examples Support Area in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War in 1991. Joint Base Balad (JBB), the largest U.S. base in Iraq had a burn pit operation as late as the summer of 2008, burning 147 tons of waste per day when the Army Times published a major story about it and related health concerns. The burn pit at JBB was 10-acres and the waste produced by each person assigned to JBB is estimated to be between of waste per day. An Air Force spokesman speaking for the 609th Combined Air and Space Operations Center Southwest Asia vigorously contested allegations of health effects and emphasized mitigation efforts. In Afghanistan, at its peak, more than 400 tons of waste was disposed using burn pits daily. According to Leon Russell Keith, a military contractor stationed at Balad who testified at a Senate hearing in 2009, ash was everywhere, including on beds and clothes. He described that the thick black smoke was present even in the barracks, where it permanently stained sheets. One soldier described the smoke as “like San Francisco fog.” Another called it “pollen dust.” The color of the smoke could be blue and black, or yellow and orange, but was usually black. Duration Burn pits were allegedly adopted as a temporary measure but remained in use several years after alternative methods of disposal such as incineration were available. == Use in the United States ==

Hazardous materials are burned in open piles at military installations in the United States, including the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Virginia. == Materials burned and combustion products ==

team member destroying opium and drug-making chemicals at a burn pit at a Forward Operating Base in Marjah, Afghanistan The waste burned using burn pits included chemicals, paints, medical waste, human waste, metal and aluminum products, electronic waste, munitions (including unexploded ordnance), petroleum products, lubricants, plastics, rubber, wood, and food waste. "Burning solid wastes in an open pit generates numerous pollutants. These pollutants include dioxins, particulate matter, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, hexachlorobenzene, and ash. Highly toxic dioxins, produced in small amounts in almost all burning processes, can be produced in elevated levels with increased combustion of plastic waste (such as discarded drinking water bottles) and if the combustion is not at high incinerator temperatures. Inefficient combustion of medical or latrine wastes can emit disease-laden aerosols." Hexachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (colloquially known as dioxin) is the same chemical found in Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War. Additionally, burn pits also created particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and PM 10 pollution. Below is a table that has all of the known pollutants that have been detected in burn pits. ==Health effects==

In 2009, growing concerns regarding the health effects of burn pits led President Barack Obama to direct federal agencies to consult recent scientific findings regarding burn pits to protect US military personnel, and for military commanders to implement recommendations to protect those under their command. Anthony Szema, MD of Stony Brook School of Medicine stated that humans exposed to air pollution, especially particulate matter (PM), have high risk of death and lung disease (e.g. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Benzene (a component of JP-8) is a known carcinogen and was a commonly used accelerant for burn pits. Burn pits operate at lower temperatures which causes more incomplete combustion, which results in greater amounts of aerosolized toxic by-products. In November 2009, the Veteran's Administration (VA) and the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) began an 18-month study to determine the long-term health effects of exposure to the burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. The VA and the Department of Defense (DoD), the Board on the Health of Select Populations of the Institute of Medicine formed the Committee on Long-term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan which held its first meeting on February 23, 2010, in Washington, D.C. In 2011, the Institute of Medicine reviewed the scientific literature related to the possibility of adverse long-term health effects of open burn pits. The report, Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan • Autoimmune disorders: A study found no elevated occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus among veterans deployed within 3 miles of burn pits. • Cancers: One veteran believed her fatal pancreatic cancer was caused by burn pit exposure. Other veterans were concerned that exposure contributed to illnesses including cancer, but many were denied compensation claims due to a "lack of evidence establishing a connection to military service." More recently, the USDVA lists several forms of cancer as presumptive conditions for burn pit exposures. • High blood pressure: A study from the Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry found that one-third of those exposed to burn pits were diagnosed with high blood pressure. • Respiratory disorders: The Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry shows that 30% of participatants have been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. According to the Army, proper waste management practices have reduced the spread of infectious diseases that contributed significantly to mortality and morbidity in military populations. established in 2014 to gather information about veterans and service members collected through a question regarding exposure to burn pits air. Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn or 1990-1991 Gulf War veterans and service members can use the registry questionnaire to report exposures to airborne hazards (such as smoke from burn pits, oil-well fires, or pollution during deployment), as well as other exposures and health concerns. Reports on the registry data: 1. Report on Data from the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit (AH&OBP) Registry, June 2015 - Between April 25, 2014, and December 31, 2014, nearly thirty thousand Veterans and Active Duty Servicemembers filled out the registry survey. This report highlights health conditions and physical limitations experienced by burn pit registry participants. • The most common doctor-diagnosed health problems reported were insomnia and neurological problems. • Other commonly diagnosed health problems reported include allergies, high blood pressure, and lung disease like emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and asthma. • It is important to remember that Registry findings alone can't tell if exposure to burn pits, dust storms, or other hazards caused these health conditions. 2. Report on Data from the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit (AH&OBP) Registry, April 2015 As of December 31, 2019, 186,051 veterans and active duty members have completed the questionnaire since June 2014. Proposed health tracking US Army veteran and University of Pennsylvania graduate student Chad Baer has vocally asserted that claims of inclusive results are due to faulty research design. Baer was selected as a SVA/VFW Legislative Fellow in 2019, and traveled to Capitol Hill to advocate for a predictive analytics model. Baer has asserted that technological advances have made longitudinal studies of all veterans feasible, except that this is not possible so long as the Department of Defense refuses to give VA researchers more complete data. The data in question would be the personnel data that would allow the VA to establish "clusters", based on items such as physical location, job specialties, or other relevant data points. == Legislative response ==

Congressional action taken includes: • 2009 – HR 2419, Military Personnel War Zone Toxic Exposure Prevention Act • 2013 – President Obama signed the National Burn Pit Registry into law as part of the Dignified Burial and Veterans' Benefit Improvement Act of 2012. • 2018 – President Trump signed the Helping Vets Exposed to Burn Pits Act. • 2022 – President Biden signed the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act A Minnesota mother, Amie Muller, was a victim of the exposure and her senator, Amy Klobuchar (MN-DFL), carried a bill called the “Helping Vets Exposed to Burn Pits Act” that was passed and signed into law by President Donald Trump (as H.R. 5895) on September 21, 2018. Through 2019, it provided $5 million for burn pit research, education and evaluation of the exposure of other U.S. service members and veterans to burn pits and toxic airborne chemicals. == See also ==