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. 2023 Jun 1;65(6):449-457.
doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002788. Epub 2023 Jan 11.

Burn Pit Exposure Assessment to Support a Cohort Study of US Veterans of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

Susan R Woskie  1 , Anila Bello, Christopher Rennix, Lan Jiang, Amal N Trivedi, David A Savitz
Affiliations

Burn Pit Exposure Assessment to Support a Cohort Study of US Veterans of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

Susan R Woskie et al. J Occup Environ Med. .

Abstract

Objective: For a cohort study of veterans' health conditions, we conducted an exposure assessment for 109 bases in Iraq and Afghanistan and 17 outside transit site bases.

Methods: The Department of Defense records were used to determine burn pit usage and waste disposal methods for each base in each year during the period of 2001 to 2014.

Results: In the final cohort of 475,326 veterans, who had more than 80% of their deployment time characterized by our exposure matrix, only 14.5% were found to have no burn pit exposure. The 2009 Department of Defense regulations on burn pits did produce changes in waste segregation, as well as adding incineration and local disposal of waste.

Conclusion: Most Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were stationed on bases that had burn pits, although the contents disposed of in the burn pits changed over time.

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Conflict of interest statement

Woskie, Bello, Rennix, Jiang, Trivedi, and Savitz have no relationships/conditions/circumstances that present potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Percentage of Afghanistan bases with burn pits from 2001 to 2014. The percentage of bases with burn pits was reduced after the 2009 Department of Defense regulation on burn pits. The percentage is calculated based on the total number of Afghanistan bases in the exposure matrix per year (right axis).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Percentage of the US bases in Afghanistan using various waste disposal methods each year from 2001 to 2014. Waste disposal methods are presented as follows: Y, unsegregated waste in burn pit; Y-HW + YSW, segregated waste in burn pit; YISW, segregated waste in burn pit plus incinerator; NI, solid waste incineration; NOUT, waste shipped out of base. Parenthesis number on time (x) axis is the number of bases in exposure matrix. The percentage is calculated based on the total number of Afghanistan bases in exposure matrix using each waste disposal method per year.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Percentage of Iraq bases with burn pits from 2001 to 2014. The percentage of bases with burn pits was reduced after the 2009 Department of Defense regulations on burn pits. The percentage is calculated based on the total number of Iraq bases in exposure matrix per year (right axis).
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Percentage of the US bases in Iraq using various waste disposal methods each year from 2001 to 2014. Waste disposal methods are presented as follows: Y, unsegregated waste in burn pit; Y-HW + YSW, segregated waste in burn pit; YISW, segregated waste in burn pit plus incinerator; NI, solid waste incineration; NOUT, waste shipped out of base. Parenthesis number on time (x) axis is the number of bases in exposure matrix. The percentage is calculated based on the total number of Iraq bases in the exposure matrix using each waste disposal method per year.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Number of the US veterans in Afghanistan included in the cohort study compared with the boots on the ground (BOG) Department of Defense data*. *Boots on the BOG in Afghanistan (Congressional Research Service, 2009, 2019).
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Number of the US veterans in Iraq included in the cohort study compared with the boots on the ground (BOG) Department of Defense data*. *BOG in Iraq (Congressional Research Service, 2009, 2019).
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Cumulative days of deployment on bases with burn pits for cohort.
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
Cumulative days of deployment to bases with no burn pit for cohort.
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References

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