Respiratory Effects From Burn Pit Smoke Not Yet Settled

Editor's note: DoD officials are saying there's no proof of respiratory illness from burn pits. Do you believe you have had short-term or long-term problems after inhaling smoke from the burning trash in Iraq of Afghanistan? Please let Patch know by emailing daniel.woolfolk@patch.com or calling 760-237-0204.

A study has found not enough data exist on burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan to determine whether smoke from burning trash causes long-term health problems such as cancer and respiratory disease in American veterans, the Department of Defense said in a release this week.

A committee from the Institute of Medicine made recommendations to the department based on information gathered from DoD air samples at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, according to a release from The National Academies.

R. Craig Postlewaite, the DoD’s chief of health assurance, told American Forces Press Service that American forces stopped using the pits in Iraq in 2009 and are drawing down their use in Afghanistan.

The samples for the test were collected between 2007 and 2009 and, while the results by the committee were inconclusive, Postlewaite said some people could have been affected by the smoke.

“We acknowledge there could be short-term, acute health effects” from the burn pits, he told the news service, but he maintained the results were inconclusive.

“The toxicology isn’t there,” he said. “The science isn’t there.”

The DoD, along with the Department of Veterans Affairs will continue to study the matter, he said.