David Tollerud, MD, MPH, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, will chair the Institute of Medicine's Committee on the Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. This 18-month activity is sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Using the Balad Burn Pit in Iraq as an example, the IOM committee will examine existing literature that details the types of substances burned in the pits and their by-products. The committee will also examine feasibility and design issues for an epidemiologic study of veterans exposed to the Balad burn pit. Areas of interest to the committee might include but are not limited to investigating:  

§   Where burn pits are located, what is typically burned, and what are the by-products of burning;

§   The frequency of use of burn pits and average burn times; and

§   Whether the materials being burned at Balad are unique or similar to burn pits located elsewhere in Iraq and Afghanistan.