Garbage Burn Pits From Iraq Are Causing Lung Disease in Vets

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Garbage Burn Pits From Iraq Are Causing Lung Disease in Vets
By Nicole Wetsman 8/2/2018

a close up of a statue: Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast © Provided by The Daily Beast Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast

At first, doctors thought the constant wheezing meant Veronica Landry had asthma.

Then, she developed bronchitis and started having more and more trouble breathing, before ending up in the hospital with what doctors thought was pneumonia. After months of testing, in January 2016, she had a lung biopsy, and the results came back showing what Landry told the Daily Beast she’d suspected all along: She had inflammation and lung disease linked to the time she’d spent on military bases in Iraq, surrounded by burn pits — open dumps that were set aflame to dispose of garbage.

Landry is a veteran, but worked in Iraq as a contractor in 2004 and 2005 with the company KBR (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root). In January 2018, her diagnosis of deployment-related lung disease helped her successfully sue the company for benefits—the first legal decision recognizing a link between lung disease and exposures during deployment.

Read more at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/garbage-burn-pits-from-iraq-are-causing-lung-disease-in-vets/ar-BBLokKd