U.S. Marines burn human waste as they clean their lavatories at the Musa Qala District Center base, Jan. 17, 2011. (Dmitry Kostyukov/AFP/Getty Images)Oct. 31, 2011 - Ret. Spc. Edward Adams may be one of the first soldiers whose medical chart indicates by a military physician that his lung disease was caused by toxins inhaled through open burn pits while deployed in Iraq.
From July 2006 to October 2007, Adams, 35, of Plattsburgh, N.Y., served as an avionics repair technician on Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq. While on base, Adams said he inhaled thick plumes of smoke from open pits that regularly burned material and human waste, ammunition, debris and chemicals.
The pits, operated by government contractors who worked for KBR and Halliburton, were located less than a mile from the combat housing units where Adams stayed. The pits burned day and night, and the smoke billowed downwind, right in the direction of his quarters, he said.
Within six months, Adams began to feel sick.
"I started feeling lethargic. I had a hard time breathing," said Adams. "My run [times] were slowing down."
Adams is one out nearly a thousand service members and government contractors who have filed a series of more than 45 lawsuits against KBR and Halliburton, which reportedly involved in overseeing many burn pits, including the one near Adams' housing unit. read more>>>
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