Burn pit data worthless, expert says

[unhappycamper]

Burn pit data worthless, expert says
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 18, 2009 17:27:31 EST

The airman who first raised health concerns over burn pits at Joint Base Balad in Iraq says the Defense Department data — which officials used to say the burn pits cause no known long-term health effects — is worthless.

And Air Force Lt. Col Darrin Curtis, a bioenvironmental flight commander who retired in November, is the one who created the plan to collect the air specimens near the plume.

“You could only sample so much,” he said Friday. “I think it’s more than difficult; it’s impossible. It would cost as much to bring in incinerators as it would to do an adequate study.”

When they set up the sampling equipment, he said the smoke flew up in a 90-degree plume away from the air collectors. The equipment instead collected much cleaner air.

“The data’s not there,” he said. “With something like this, there’s no way to do it.”


Rest of fuck you article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/military_burnpit_data_121809w/