Fort Bragg soldiers exposed to asbestos on base
Several paratroopers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina were exposed to asbestos while cleaning a barracks storage room. The soldiers scraped up old asbestos-containing floor tiles and carried the debris out of the building over a three-week period. As many as ten soldiers have been exposed to asbestos at the base.
An Army spokesperson has said that Army officials did not know about the presence of asbestos in the barracks and that the exposure was at levels too low to be dangerous. Most asbestos experts agree, however, that no exposure to asbestos is safe.
Even low dose and short-term exposures to the toxic mineral can increase an individual’s risk of developing mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer that is related almost exclusively to asbestos exposure.
The Army has agreed to provide health monitoring to the affected soldiers annually for the first five years following the exposure and then at five-year intervals thereafter. Asbestos-related diseases are latent illnesses that generally take decades to develop and be diagnosed.
For the full story, go to the Myrtle Beach Sun News.
