
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 9, 1992                   TAG: 9203090020
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

EPA ASSESSMENT OF PERSIAN GULF WAR HEALTH RISKS SOUGHT

The Environmental Protection Agency is dragging its heels in developing a plan to assess the long-term health risks to U.S. troops exposed to Kuwaiti oil well fires, says Rep. John Conyers Jr.

The Michigan Democrat says he fears the smoke from the fires could cause problems such as those faced by Vietnam veterans exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange.

"While I understand that immediate health effects are not severe, I am deeply concerned that the long-term effects on our troops from short-term exposure to oil fire smoke are still unknown, much as the impact of Agent Orange years later was unknown during the Vietnam War," Conyers said.

Calls to the EPA for comment were not immediately returned.

Iraqi troops, defeated by allied forces in February 1991, set 611 oil well fires as they withdrew from Kuwait. The last fire was put out nine months later.

The fires produced a great deal of smoke and pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and carbon monoxide.

Among the long-term effects from such pollutants are respiratory diseases and early death.

"The extent of long-term health risks to U.S. personnel that were exposed to the pollution remains an unanswered question," the General Accounting Office said in a report released by Conyers.

Although the EPA is working on a plan to assess the health and ecological effects in the Persian Gulf from the oil fires and spills, the GAO said it had not been approved by late last year.

Once such a blueprint is adopted, it would take about two years to complete, the GAO said. There also have been no recommendations on how to fund such a project, the agency said.

Conyers, chairman of the House Government Operations Committee and its subcommittee on legislation and national security, also released a GAO report on the Defense Department's work on the issue.

The GAO said the Army's Environmental Hygiene Agency is collecting air and soil samples to assess whether pollutants were in the areas where U.S. troops were located.

The Army also took blood and urine samples from a number of troops to identify changes in the body.

by CNB