In April of 2003, members of the Indiana National Guard were protecting KBR employees at a power plant in Southern Iraq. After their service, some of these troops exhibited signs of cancer, tumors and rashes, and new reports indicate that these injuries may be the result of exposure to toxins present at the site. 

KBR, Inc. (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root or Kick Back & Relax) is an American engineering and construction company, formerly a subsidiary of Halliburton, based in Houston. KBR is the largest non-union construction company in the United States

CBS News has recently uncovered evidence that KBR may have known about the risks months before it took any action to inform those soldiers. 

The fact is that sixteen Indiana national guardsmen filed a lawsuit yesterday accusing KBR, the Houston-based US defense contractor, of knowingly exposing them to "one of the most potent carcinogens" known to man while they guarded a water treatment plant in Iraq that the company was repairing. 

The complaint alleges that several reservists contracted respiratory system tumors and skin rashes after guarding reconstruction work at the Qarmat Ali treatment plant, which had been looted and was strewn with chromium dichromate, an anti-corrosion substance used on pipes that greatly increases the chances of developing cancer and other health problems.

KBR managers "disregarded and downplayed the extreme danger of wholesale site contamination," alleges the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Indiana. The lawsuit accuses the company of gross negligence, alleging that reservists "were repeatedly told that there was no danger on the site" even after tests on civilian KBR workers showed elevated levels of chromium.

It is alleged that KBR knew in April 2003 that the chemical was harmful but did not clean the site until September, according to internal company memos filed in the case.

It appears that civilian contractors working for KBR were made ill by chromium at the facility. Mark McManaway, a 54-year-old truck driver from Cannelton, Ind., who guarded the plant in 2003, said he contacted a lawyer after he learned of KBR workers who were ill.

"My eyes burned," he said, recalling his symptoms. "They still burn. I have blisters break out on my hands."

Naturally, a KBR spokesperson stated that the company took appropriate measures to clean up the chemical and denied that it had been negligent, asserting, "We deny the assertion that KBR harmed troops and was responsible for an unsafe condition."

Major General R. Martin Umbarger, head of the Indiana National Guard, said in a recent interview that he only found out about the exposure in June, when KBR testified before Congress.

"Why didn’t anybody tell us that this was going on?" he said.

The Pentagon tested about 100 soldiers after it discovered the chemical at the site in 2003, but no obvious health effects were found, according to Dr. Craig Hyams, chief consultant for environmental health at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Symptoms of chromium exposure - such as a bloody nose and respiratory complaints - were common throughout Iraq, he said. But he acknowledged that it may still be too early to understand the impact. "Veterans Affairs is still analyzing the effects of Agent Orange," Hyams said, referring to the defoliant used in the Vietnam war.

It is the Pentagon/U.S. governments modus operandi to move at a snail’s pace when it comes to investigating alleged abuses affecting the welfare of the lowly soldier. 

CBS NEWS VIDEO

AROUND the BLOGOSPHERE:

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The Common Ills: KBR and Halliburton offer up "BLAME THE TROOPS" - Last month, 16 Indiana National Guard soldiers sued Houston-based KBR, claiming the nation’s largest war contractor "disregarded and downplayed the extreme danger of wholesale site contamination." The suit claims KBR hid its civilian …

Ind. guardsmen sue KBR over chemical exposure - Army News … - INDIANAPOLIS — Sixteen Indiana National Guard soldiers sued defense contractor KBR Inc. on Wednesday, saying its employees knowingly allowed them to be exposed to a toxic chemical in Iraq five years ago. …

National Guard Soldiers Sues KBR - Attorneys for 16 Indiana National Guard soldiers filed suit Wednesday against the largest US contractor working in Iraq, alleging the company knowingly exposed the soldiers to a cancer-causing toxic chemical. …