{"id":53442,"date":"2019-12-04T17:27:11","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T17:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/12\/04\/these-maps-can-help-you-figure-out-your-burn-pit-exposure-risk\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:03:16","slug":"these-maps-can-help-you-figure-out-your-burn-pit-exposure-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/12\/04\/these-maps-can-help-you-figure-out-your-burn-pit-exposure-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"These maps can help you figure out your burn pit exposure risk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Though the Pentagon has acknowledged the risks posed by breathing fumes from burn pits<\/a> used to dispose of trash downrange, it can be difficult for service members and veterans<\/a> to get care<\/a> based on the time they spent around them. A pilot project from the Center for a New American Security and the Wounded Warrior Project aims to help troops connect those dots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the Defense Department\u2019s own records, a team put together two maps<\/a>, broken down by location, time period and types of particulate matter recorded. Veterans can pinpoint their potential exposure based on their past deployments, look up those documents and share them with their medical providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile these files do exist \u2015 they are available and folks can go and download them and look <\/a>\u2015 for the layperson to be able to know that these files are there and know what to pore through would be difficult,\u201d Kayla Williams, a former Army linguist and director of the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security, told reporters Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A heat map, based on data from Defense Department Periodic Occupational and Environmental Monitoring Summary documents, showed burn pit risks in Afghanistan during 2010 (Center for a New American Security).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The maps show particulate tests of both less than 2.5 micrometers and between 10 and 2.5 micrometers, measured at different sites across the countries over a period of years. The shade of red at each site indicates the short-term health risks evaluated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They shouldn\u2019t be taken as gospel, Williams said, because DoD hasn\u2019t done a thorough job documenting exposure to the tiny particles and vapor droplets launched into the air by burning food, equipment and other refuse in open pits. You can tell the Pentagon\u2019s level of confidence in those calculations based on how many dashes are used to indicate each site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c… we do caution that, again, the information as it\u2019s currently available is simply inadequate for most locations,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pilot ended up having two purposes, in effect: It sought to create a heat map of potential risks, but it also concluded that DoD did an insufficient job of cataloging those risks in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, somebody like me \u2013 I personally was in Iraq in 2003,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThere\u2019s some information here on the short-term health risks I may have been exposed to \u2013 much less on the potential long-term health risks. Virtually no information is here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the report, the Periodic Occupational and Environmental Monitoring Summary files are sketchy at best. Because over half of the summaries available didn\u2019t have enough data in them to determine risks, either in the short or long term, Williams said, only a small sampling of burn pit sites in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan could be included on the maps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInconsistent collection, assessment, and presentation of available data seriously weakens the potential utility of the POEMS files as the primary source of information on toxic exposures,\u201d according to the study\u2019s executive summary.<\/p>\n\n\n\t