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bulldozer dumps a load of trash into a burn pit just 300 yards from the runway at Bagram Airfield, January 2012. An Army memo from 2011 found the burn pit is associated with "long-term" health effects on soldiers at Bagram. (Photo: U.S. Army) |
Another 'Agent Orange scenario'?
A recently leaked 2011 Army memo obtained by Danger Room reveals startling negligence by US officials regarding 'burn pits', or toxic waste sites at US bases in Afghanistan.
The leaked memo outlines the “long-term adverse health conditions” for troops breathing in toxic air from military trash burning sites. The adverse health affects have previously been hidden from public knowledge; however, the leaked memo states that high concentrations of dust and burned waste from such burn pits can cause “reduced lung function or exacerbated chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, atherosclerosis, or other cardiopulmonary diseases.”
The memo specifically references Bagram airfield's apparently infamous 'burn pit' known by its expansiveness and pungent smell -- a "smoldering barbecue of trash, from busted furniture to human waste, usually manned by Afghan employees who cover their noses and mouths with medical breathing masks," according to Spencer Ackerman at the Danger Room.
The plumes of trash smoke from the 'shit pit' bellow over the base and into the Parwan Province’s "already dust-heavy air".
The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) have collected hundreds of anecdotes from vets pertaining to health problems tied to US burn pits, but claim their grievances have been consistently ignored by the Army.
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