Ore. Guard tells of possible chemical exposure

[unhappycamper]

Ore. Guard tells of possible chemical exposure
By Joseph B. Frazier - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 12, 2009 5:15:25 EST

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregon National Guard has written to 433 of its soldiers to say they may have been exposed to a toxic, carcinogenic chemical at an Iraqi water pumping plant shortly after the war began.

Guard spokesman Maj. Mike Braibish said three companies of the 162nd Infantry Battalion were deployed in Kuwait, and the troops were sent, about 50 at a time, into Iraq to escort employees of Houston-based KBR, which was inspecting oil facilities.

He said no symptoms indicating exposure have been reported to the Oregon Guard.

“That doesn’t mean they won’t be,” Braibish said Wednesday. “Some may have been treated by the Veterans Administration, and we don’t know about it. It’s a possibility.”

U.S. Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota say there are unanswered questions about the exposure of U.S. troops to the chemical hexavalent chromium at the Basra water plant in 2003.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_oregon_guard_chemicals_021109/%2e