VA to monitor burn-pit exposure data

[unhappycamper]

VA to monitor burn-pit exposure data
Staff report
Posted : Tuesday Mar 17, 2009 15:13:59 EDT

The Veterans Affairs Department is gathering data to monitor potential health problems among troops who say they were made ill by exposure to smoke from open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said in a March 13 letter to Congress.

Responding to a letter sent in early February by Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., and several other House lawmakers, Shinseki said data on exposure to burning trash and waste is already a part of a large, ongoing population-based study comparing the health of 30,000 veterans deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan with the health of 30,000 non-deployed veterans.

That study evaluates “self-reported exposures (including burning trash and feces), symptoms, chronic health conditions, functional status, pregnancy outcomes and health care utilization,” Shinseki wrote in his letter, a copy of which was provided to Military Times by Bishop’s office.

Shinseki also said VA will work with the Defense Department to obtain “all relevant exposure data” on veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, “with the goal of establishing potential correlations with health problems among affected veterans.”

“Our scientists will also review data gathered from DoD’s Post-Deployment Health Assessment surveys, which ask about exposure to smoke from burn pits, subsequent symptoms, and a variety of other health-related questions,” Shinseki wrote.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/03/military_burnpits_VA_031709w/%2e