US forces are still at risk of inhaling dangerous fumes from so-called burn pits, nearly two years after President Joe Biden signed a signature law to address the toxins, says an alarming report.
The Pentagon’s internal watchdog says the US military does not properly track if service members are exposed to the sites, which are essentially giant piles of trash set ablaze.
A 10-page report says US forces serving in the Horn of Africa continue to be exposed to their fumes, years after officials became aware that they cause cancer and other health problems.
Base commanders keep tabs on burn pits run by the Department of Defense (DoD), but don’t always monitor for those operated by other forces nearby, says the report.
Robert Storch, the Pentagon’s inspector general, warned of a worrying ‘policy gap’ and ‘missing information on the DoD’s watch list of known burn pits.’
Camp Lemonnier firefighters tackle a blaze at a dump in Djibouti. US forces at the base continue to inhale potentially dangerous air there to this day
Robert Storch, the Pentagon’s inspector general, says service members are still at risk
‘When this information goes unreported, the long-term health of service members exposed to deadly toxins from burn pits could be put at risk,’ Storch warned.
The Pentagon said it would work to improve its waste-burning rules at military outposts.
Burn pits are where chemicals, tires, plastics, medical gear and human waste are disposed of on military bases.
They were used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan during the War on Terror.
Military veterans long complained of inhaling filthy air causing a range of debilitating conditions, and won a victory in 2022 with the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.
It loosened the rules about who could seek benefits, allowing those who got sick from trash-burning pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, Agent Orange, as well as radioactive material and herbicides.
Biden signed it in August of that year, saying that burn pits had caused the brain cancer that killed his son, Beau, who served in Iraq.
But this month’s report shows how service members still breath the same dangerous fumes.
Officials discovered burn pits in Somalia in June 2023 that were just 800 meters from where US personnel lived and worked.
The pits weren’t being monitored because they were lit by UN peacekeepers, who operated close to the US facility.
A US Army soldier burns spoiled water bottles in a burn-pit in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, in 2013. Veterans now report health problems due to inhaling pollutants
Celebrity activist Jon Stewart famously joined veterans in Washington, DC, in July 2022 to pressure Republican holdouts to help the PACT Act pass
The same went for US forces at Camp Lemonnier, in Djibouti, who inhaled fumes from nearby incinerators and a dump, research from November 2023 through April 2024 showed.
Storch recommended that Pentagon officials revise the policy and require commanders to report on any burn pits within about 2.5 miles of US military sites.
Ronald Tickle, deputy assistant secretary of defense for environmental management and restoration, agreed with the warning and said his office would revise the policy next year.
More than 1 million claims have been granted to veterans since the PACT Act was signed, the administration said in May.
That amounts to some 888,000 veterans and survivors in all 50 states who have been able to receive $5.7 billion worth of disability benefits under the law.
A study of 459,381 military veterans released in May found that exposure to burn pits can lead to small increases in risk of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension.
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