Burn pit

It has been reported that 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. A typical burn pit used jet fuel (usually JP-8) as the accelerant.[8] The burning of such material created clouds of black smoke.[6] According to an Air Force fact sheet, "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, as well. Below is a table that has all of the known pollutants that were discovered in burn pits.[9]

Service member disposing of uniforms.[10]

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 about 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 3.6 and 4.5 kg of waste per day.[11] 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.[12] In Afghanistan, at its peak, more than 400 tons of waste was disposed using burn pits daily.[13]

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 the thick black smoke was even in the barracks. The ash permanently stain sheets. One soldier described the smoke as thick “like San Francisco fog.” Another called it “pollen dust.” The color of the smoke could be blue and black, or yellow and orange. However, it was mostly black. Everyone inhaled and ingested it. It was absorbed by their skin.[14]

The burn pits were allegedly adopted as a temporary measure but remained open long after alternative methods of disposal such as incineration were available. After some years the American military did adopt other methods.[6] Burn pits were used during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.[7] As of July 2019, there are still 9 sanctioned burn pits in operations in Syria, Afghanistan and Egypt. Per the DoD, this is a last resort when no feasible alternative exists. For longer term enduring location, conventional solid waste practices are used.[15]

On August 6, 2009, President Barack Obama directed that federal agencies use the best science regarding burn pits to protect US military personnel and then have military commanders implement recommendations to protect those under their command.[16] Anthony Szema, MD, Stony Brook School of Medicine, stated, humans exposed to air pollution, especially particulate matter (PM) have high risk of death and lung disease, i.e. premature emphysema, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Benzene (a component of JP-8) is a known carcinogen and it is a commonly used accelerant for burn pits. Since the burn pits are at low heat, more by-products of incomplete combustion are created and more particles are generated. Also when plastic bottles are burned it produces a neurotoxin called n-Hexane.[17]

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 February 23/24, 2010 in Washington, D.C.[18] 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[19][20] noted U.S. Department of Defense air quality monitoring data measured levels of particulate matter (PM) higher than generally considered safe by U.S. regulatory agencies. It also cited work linking high PM levels to cardiopulmonary effects, particularly in individuals at increased risk due to pre-existing conditions such as asthma and emphysema. They concluded that there is only limited evidence suggestive "of an association between exposure to combustion products and reduced pulmonary function in these populations." If there is sufficient evidence of a connection between exposure to burn pits and subsequent illness and disability, it might serve as the basis for congressional enactment of a "presumption of service connection" similar to that in place for exposure to Agent Orange.

Currently, there has been research in the following areas to determine exposure to burn pit and health effects:

• Reproductive Health Outcomes: There is some research to suggested that toxins from burn pits can have adverse birth outcomes (low birth weight, preterm delivery, and increased risk of birth defects. Additionally, there is growing evidence to suggest a reduction in sperm quality associated with burn pits.[21]
• Autoimmune Disorders: The US Army Public Health Center has noted a some toxins associated with burn pits to suppressed the antibody response.[22] Additionally, the immune system can become hypersensitive to the toxins (toxicants).
• Cancers: It is believed one veteran's fatal pancreatic cancer is associated with burn pit exposure.[5] Another veteran is believed to have brain cancer from the exposure.[23] One study using Burn Pits 360's registry, there is a higher rate of proportionate cancer mortality among deceased veterans.[24]
• High Blood Pressure: A study from the Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, one-third those exposed to burn pits were diagnosed with high blood pressure.[25]
• Respiratory Disorders: The Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, 30% of participates have been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.[25]

The Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry[26] established in 2014 of to gather information[27] 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[28] - 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[29]

As of December 31, 2019, 186,051 veterans and active duty members have completed the questionnaire since June 2014.

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.[30] [31] [32]

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”[33] that was passed and signed into law by President Donald Trump (as H.R. 5895) on September 21, 2018.[34] Through 2019, it will provide $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.[35]

Congressional Action

• 2009 – HR 2419, Military Personnel War Zone Toxic Exposure Prevention Act
• 2013 – President Obama signed National Burn Pit Registry into law as part of the Dignified Burial and Veterans' Benefit Improvement Act of 2012
• 2018 – President Trump signed Helping Vets Exposed to Burn Pits Act.