More than 3.7 million U.S. service members have participated in operations taking place in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations since 1990. These operations include the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, a post-war stabilization period spanning 1992 through September 2001, and the campaigns undertaken in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Deployment to Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Afghanistan exposed service members to a number of airborne hazards, including oil-well fire smoke, emissions from open burn pits, dust and sand suspended in the air, and exhaust from diesel vehicles. The effects of these were compounded by stressors like excessive heat and noise that are inevitable attributes of service in a combat environment. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations reviews the scientific evidence regarding respiratory health outcomes in veterans of the Southwest Asia conflicts and identifies research that could feasibly be conducted to address outstanding questions and generate answers, newly emerging technologies that could aid in these efforts, and organizations that the Veterans Administration might partner with to accomplish this work.
More than 3.7 million U.S. service members have participated in operations taking place in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations since 1990. These operations include the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, a post-war stabilization period spanning 1992 through September 2001, and the campaigns undertaken in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Deployment to Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Afghanistan exposed service members to a number of airborne hazards, including oil-well fire smoke, emissions from open burn pits, dust and sand suspended in the air, and exhaust from diesel vehicles. The effects of these were compounded by stressors like excessive heat and noise that are inevitable attributes of service in a combat environment. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations reviews the scientific evidence regarding respiratory health outcomes in veterans of the Southwest Asia conflicts and identifies research that could feasibly be conducted to address outstanding questions and generate answers, newly emerging technologies that could aid in these efforts, and organizations that the Veterans Administration might partner with to accomplish this work.
Between 1942 and 1975, the U.S. Army conducted tests with human subjects to study the effects of a variety of agents, including chemical warfare and biological agents. The potential long-term health effects on the test subjects from their exposures have been evaluated periodically, most recently in a report titled Assessment of Potential Long-Term Health Effects on Army Human Test Subjects of Relevant Biological and Chemical Agents, Drugs, Medications and Substances: Literature Review and Analysis (the Report), which was prepared by a contractor to assist the Army with making determinations about providing medical care to former test subjects. In response to a request by the Army, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine formed a committee that was tasked with examining whether the Report appropriately identified potential long-term health effects from exposure to the test agents and whether an adequate weight-of-evidence approach was used to characterize the strength of the associations between the agents and their potential health effects. The committee was made aware at its first meeting on November 30, 2017, that the Army had already begun to receive applications for medical care and that some determinations may need to be made before the committee's evaluation of the Report was completed. Because of this urgency, the Army developed a process by which applications for medical care will be reviewed, and as a result, the committee was given the additional task of reviewing the Army's Memorandum that describes the approach that will be used by the Army to evaluate agent- and outcome-specific associations. This interim report was prepared to facilitate the Army's deliberations. A review of the Report is presented first, followed by a review of the Memorandum.
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