Pentagon Plays Down Burn Pit Health Risks In Iraq

The Pentagon knew about the risks yet downplayed them, according to a new leaked report dated 2006.

The report stated that testing difficulties caused investigators problems in proving the chemical exposure broke military guidelines, though another report leaked last December indicated that exposure levels regularly jumped above safe levels up to six times.

This second report, released by the editor of VAWatchdog.org, Larry Scott, focused on the Balad Airbase, 70 kilometers north of Baghdad.

An Army investigator stated that the Balad burn pit was the worst environmental site he had ever visited, according to the report.

Coinciding with the leaked report, the Pentagon released a fact sheet downplaying the dangers of the pits to troops, though by their own admission, the fact sheet stated that the levels of toxic particles were higher than military standards in five of every six cases by up to six times the amount in 2007.

The Army Times reported that the samples and their reports taken from Balad were classified.

The toxic chemicals released from the burning garbage pits include arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, sulfuric acid, and dioxin, the infamous poison found in the herbicide Agent Orange used extensively during the Vietnam War.