Military veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts may be at risk for mesothelioma and other serious respiratory issues because of exposure to airborne toxins, according to a recent issue of the Marine Corps Times.
A growing number of veterans from the Middle East conflicts believe the contaminants they inhaled around the open burn pits or in desert dust is to blame for their rare medical conditions. Doctors have diagnosed some with mesothelioma, constrictive bronchiolitis and the newly-named “Iraq/Afghanistan War Lung Injury.”
The Veteran Administration’s environmental health strategic care group says it is working to understand the unexplained health problems, but that it will take research and time to discover the causes.
A study is already in progress at New York’s Stony Brook University Medical Center to evaluate symptoms, diagnoses, place and date of assignment, age, gender and other data. Known as the “Burn Pits 360” study, it has recruited nearly 300 veterans with exposure-related health problems like mesothelioma.
We hope current and future studies are able to determine the cause of these illnesses. Soldiers face enough risks without having to add asbestos exposure to the list.
Cappolino Dodd Krebs, LLP – mesothelioma attorneys