CAT TASKING FORM 16118 KUWAIT OIL FIRE HEALTH THREAT 2 MAY 91

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Subject = CAT TASKING FORM 16118  KUWAIT OIL FIRE HEALTH THREAT  2 MAY 91 

Box ID = BX003207

Folder Title = CAT TASKING                                                                                     

Unit = OTSG        

Parent Org = HSC         





                                    UNCLASSIFIED
                                    DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
                                    OFMCE OF THE SURGEON GENERAL
                                        6109 LEMBURG PlKrz
                                     FALLS CHURCH, VA 22041-3268
                    AULY TO
                    xrremon or
              SGPS-PSP                                  12 April 1991

              MEMORANDUM FOR CHIEF OF STAFF, ARMY

              s,uB,7ECT: Kuwait oil Fire Health Threat--INFOMMTION MEMORANDUM


              1. PUrpose: To provide information concerning action to define
              potential health risks from Kuwaiti oil firos.

              2. Discussion:

                a. Smoke from Kuwait's burning oil wells poses an undefined
              potential long term health threat to our soldiers. Although we
              believe virtually all soldiers have a low risk of sustaining any
              significant effect, Congress, the media and the U.S. public have
              already compared this situation to "Agent Orange".
                b. The ARCE:NT Surgeon issued a health advisory in early March
              giving practical protection advice against acute health effects.
              Informal contacts with ARCENT physicians indicates no increase in
              medical facility visits for acute respiratory complaints.
                c. Unfortunately, the uncertainty caused by the limited
              exposure data available does allow claims of much greater
              potential risk than we believe actually exists. Potential risks
              are for the very small number of soldiers who may have continuous
              or long term, high level exposure to specific types and size
              smoke particles. Those risks include a slight increase, over a
              lifetime, in expected cancers, chronic respiratory irritation and
              increased susceptibility to respiratory illness.

                d. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sampled the oil
              fire smoke in mid March. Their "snap shot" sampling confirmed
              little acute risk. They chose not to assess long term risk from
              exposure to the very dynamic and variable smoke plumes based on
              the few samples they collected from a limited geographic area.
              Although they plan additional sampling they are not focused on
              our troop locations and do not have a specific timetable or the
              resouraing to accomplish their sampling plan.
                e. We have a multi-disciplinary team of Army health experts at
              the U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency (USAERA) with the
              capability to assist the CM4TCOM CINC characterize potential
              exposures and perform a health risk assessment. Due to the large
              geographic scale, meteorological variability and complicated
              nature of the dose-response relationships it will take the full
              team several months to characterize exposures.