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UPDATE: INDIANA GUARD SOLDIERS SUE OVER
TOXIC
EXPOSURE -- Filed a federal lawsuit against
military
contractor KBR, alleging it allowed soldiers to
be exposed
to a carcinogen while guarding a water pumping
plant.
For two previous stories on this issue, click
here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.p
hp?q=indiana+dichromate&op=and
Story here...
http://www.indystar.com
/article/20081203/NEWS02/81203047
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
-------------------------
Indiana Guard soldiers sue over toxic exposure
By Jon Murray and Maureen Groppe
A band of 16 Indiana National Guard soldiers who served in Iraq in 2003
filed a federal lawsuit today against a military contractor, alleging it
allowed the soldiers to be exposed to a carcinogen while guarding a water
pumping plant.
The potential exposure of soldiers and the contractor's workers in the
months after the U.S. military invasion of Iraq was at the center of a
U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing in June. Sen. Evan Bayh,
D-Ind., requested an investigation by the Army in September, and his
office said today that Bayh planned to attend a briefing on the Army's
findings next week.
Advertisement
The soldiers mostly served with a Tell City, Ind., unit that was sent to
Iraq with the Indiana Guard's 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry Regiment,
based in Jasper. They were among 139 Hoosier soldiers sent to
 guard
the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant in Basra, Iraq; they provided
security as private firm KBR, working under contract with the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, oversaw restoration of a plant that supplied water to
oil wells, according to the suit.
KBR, the suit says, withheld from the soldiers information about the
presence of sodium dichromate, an industrial chemical used to remove pipe
corrosion, even after blood tests of American civilians revealed elevated
levels. The chemical -- contained in orange, sand-like dust covering much
of the plant and ground -- contains hexavalent chromium, known to cause
several health problems ranging from nosebleeds to a heightened risk of
cancer of the lungs and respiratory tract.
The lawsuit, filed today in the Evansville division of U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of Indiana, alleges negligence and gross
negligence on KBR's part. It also names other KBR-related companies.
A KBR spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.
The complaint says many of the soldiers still are experiencing effects
from chemical exposure and seeks damages to compensate them for the
exposure, its effect on their lives and further medical care.
"What these knowing acts and omissions meant to the Tell City Guardsmen
providing security for the actual work at Qarmat Ali, along with the
British troops and the American civilians actually carrying on the work at
Qarmat Ali, was months and months of unprotected, unknowing, direct
exposure to one of the most potent carcinogens and mutagenic substances
known to man, hexavalent chromium," the 23-page lawsuit says.
Star Washington Bureau reporter Maureen Groppe
contributed to this story.
Call Star reporter Jon Murray at (317) 444-2752.
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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