Soldiers sue defense contractors for burning asbestos and other toxic waste in Iraq
Two soldiers who served in Iraq have filed suit against a number of defense contractors they say burned toxic waste—including asbestos insulation, plastic, rubber tires and latrine waste—near military bases and camps in Iraq and Afghanistan and endangered the health of U.S. servicemen. The lawsuit names the following companies as defendants: KBR Inc.; Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc.; Kellogg, Brown & Root LLC; and Halliburton. The lawsuit claims that the practice has been going on since 2004 and continues today.
The soldiers say that exposure to toxic fumes from the open pits injured soldiers stationed nearby, resulting in a range of health problems from headaches and respiratory illnesses to cancer and even death.
Because some of the risks implicated in the suit, particularly the risk of developing cancer—like mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer—can appear decades after the toxic exposure that triggers it, some small percentage of soldiers who were exposed to asbestos, dioxin and other toxins from the open burning of waste could develop mesothelioma or other occupational cancers.
This is one of a number of similar suits filed by veterans.
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