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UPDATE: DEFENSE HEALTH BOARD SAYS NO
TOXIN
OVEREXPOSURE IN IRAQ -- Finding could hurt
Indiana
Guardsmen's chances in lawsuit against defense
contractor.
For a video about soldier's sickened by chemicals
in Iraq, click here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nf
dec08/nf122308-6.htm
For background on this story, use the VA Watchdog
search engine... click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sesse
arch.php?q=dichromate&op=and
Story here...
http://www.indystar.com/artic
le/20081223/NEWS05/812230339/1304/LOCAL
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
-------------------------
Board: No toxin overexposure in Iraq
Finding could hurt Hoosier guardsmen's chances in
lawsuit against defense contractor
By Maureen Groppe
Star Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- The Army correctly concluded that Indiana National Guardsmen
were not overexposed to a toxin in Iraq, according to an independent
review by the Defense Health Board. The review could make it harder for a
group of guardsmen to continue their lawsuit against defense contractor
KBR of Texas.
But a lawyer for the guardsmen said the Army didn't conduct the best test
for the toxin and didn't do it quickly enough.
 Sen.
Evan Bayh, D-Ind., who was briefed on the findings Monday, said he still
has unanswered questions.
"What did KBR know, when did they know it, and what did they do?" Bayh
told CBS News on Monday, according to a transcript of the interview.
"Apparently, it was bad enough that the KBR people weren't going back into
the site."
Bayh had asked the Army for more information after two KBR employees told
Senate Democrats in June that workers and soldiers at a water pumping
plant in Iraq were exposed in 2003 to sodium dichromate, which contains
the carcinogen hexavalent chromium. Members of the Indiana National Guard
were among the soldiers providing protection to defense contractors
working on the Qarmat Ali Water Injection Facility.
Sixteen Indiana guardsmen filed suit earlier this month against KBR,
accusing the contractor of publicly downplaying and privately concealing
the health risks.
The company has said it acted appropriately and is fighting the lawsuit.
The Defense Health Board, an advisory committee to the secretary of
defense that provides independent advice, said
 none
of the 137 soldiers and civilians tested had "substantially elevated"
levels of chromium in their blood.
Bayh has expressed concerns about the type of tests conducted on the
soldiers and their timeliness.
The board concluded that the Defense Department's response was "prompt and
appropriate" and included testing for health effects within approximately
30 days of the last potential exposure.
Mike Doyle, an attorney for the guardsmen, said the health board's review
indicated the Army conducted only total chromium blood level tests and
didn't do so until October 2003. They should've conducted a red blood cell
test at the beginning of August 2003, Doyle said.
"This important information was apparently not forwarded to the Army
personnel attempting to measure the toxic impacts on the guardsmen," Doyle
said.
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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