Court Determines Military Burn Pits Caused Lung Disease in Troops

The thousands of U.S. military personnel and private contractors whose health was compromised by the dense black smoke of burn pits — and who have been denied proper treatment — may finally be vindicated by a recent court ruling. A judge under the U.S. Department of Labor's Office for Workers' Compensation Programs decreed last month that open-air burn pits — where thousands of chemicals were released into the air after trash and other waste were incinerated at American military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan — are connected to lung disease. For more details, see this Military.com article.