James Gentry came home with rashes, ear troubles and a shortness of breath. Later, things got much worse: He developed lung cancer, which spread to his spine, ribs and one of his thighs
desperate search for answers ended last year when he died of lung disease at age 42.
These soldiers and hundreds of other Guard members
were National Guard soldiers on the same stretch of wind-swept desert in Iraq during the early months of the war in 2003.
workers hired by a subsidiary of the giant contractor, KBR Inc., to rebuild an Iraqi water treatment plant. The area, as it turned out, was contaminated with hexavalent chromium, a potent, sometimes deadly chemical linked to cancer and other devastating diseases.
It's the same chemical linked to poisonings in California in a case made famous in the movie "Erin Brockovich."
minimizing and concealing the chemical's dangers
"This case," says the Indiana Democrat, "has brought to light the need for systemic reform."
clipped from: hosted.ap.org