Noteboom The Law Firm

Burn Pit Exposure Could Cause Serious Health Risks

August 11, 2010 - Balad Air Force base in Iraq had an open-air burn pit next to it for years. The pit was used to burn the Army's trash and that trash included just about everything imaginable. Once the trash was in the pit, it was coated with jet fuel and set ablaze, which produced black clouds drifting over the base. Among other things, the waste in the burn pit consisted of: 

• Plastics;
• Batteries;
• Appliances;
• Medicine; and
• Dead animals

The military ended up ruling that exposure to these open-air burn pits was responsible for soldiers' medical problems. Veterans numbering in the hundreds have made claims for their medical issues relating to their exposure to the burn pits. The Pentagon eventually limited the use of burn pits and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) launched an investigation.

The Department of Defense (DoD) and the VA are handling claims on a case-by-case basis and are not quick to link burn pits with causing soldiers' symptoms. Neither agency has developed extensive policies on how to handle these disability claims.

The VA funded a large study on the links between symptoms and the burn pits but the results won't be released until next year. The Pentagon is performing their own review of the situation. Further, the military must now justify to Congress any further use of the burn pits.

The use of these burn pits has not only resulted in soldiers developing crippling symptoms, but class actions lawsuits being filed against the contractors operating some of the pits. There have been multiple studies done finding both for and against causality. Hopefully veterans will not have to wait too long for their disability claims to be awarded.