Defense Health Care

The Defense Department (DOD) took reasonable steps to safeguard the health of U.S. troops exposed to the smoke and soot of the Kuwait oil well fires set by the Iraqis during the Persian Gulf War. In addition to advising troops on how to protect themselves, DOD provided them with protective gear. DOD has begun a major effort to assess the long-term health consequences of exposure to oil well fires. Whether troops will incur long-term health problems as a result of serving in the Gulf is still unknown. Predicting such long-term health consequences is a new undertaking, and how well the studies now underway will perform this task is unclear. DOD's plan to obtain information and develop a list of troops whom it determines to be at risk from exposure to oil fire smoke seems appropriate. This effort should provide necessary information should additional studies be needed or veterans' benefits become authorized in the future.

GAO found that: (1) shortly after Iraqi forces set the oil well fires, DOD provided troops with guidance to help minimize exposure to oil fire pollutants, performed limited air monitoring, and interacted with the other organizations and countries involved in making the early assessments of fire effects; (2) the U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency (USAEHA) is collecting extensive air and soil samples to determine whether harmful pollutants were present in areas where U.S. troops were located, and conducting a biological surveillance study of 3,700 soldiers to identify any biological changes resulting from exposure to toxins; (3) USAEHA will use data from those projects to perform a health risk analysis to project the incidence of illnesses attributable to oil fire smoke exposure; and (4) DOD plans to determine, document, and permanently retain information on troop exposure to fumes include developing a database of all service members who served in the Persian Gulf with the dates they served, preserving all data related to its health risk assessment, and retaining daily weather and troop movement data.