***GULF WAR RISK FACTOR REPORT REPRINTS***

#### Oil Well Fire Smoke and Petroleum

The following article originally appeared in the August 2001 issue of
the Gulf War Review newsletter. For information about the newsletter,
contact Mr. Donald J. Rosenblum, Deputy Director, Environmental Agents
Service (131), VA Central Office, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
20420, telephone: 202-273-8580.

### Early Worries about Health Problems from Oil Well Fires Not Seen in Gulf War Veterans 

*The following is part of a series of articles about various
environmental hazards or risks encountered by military personnel
deployed to the Gulf War theater of operations. Previous articles have
focused on chemical and biological warfare agents, pesticides, depleted
uranium, pyridostigmine bromide, infectious diseases, and vaccinations,
including anthrax and botulinum. They can be found on-line at
[www.va.gov/health/environ/persgulf.htm](http://www.va.gov/health/environ/persgulf.htm).*

Perhaps one of the most vivid and alarming images of the Gulf War is
that of the hundreds of burning oil wells. Viewing the fires with the
large volume of billowing smoke, many people in the U.S. braced for the
worse -- large numbers of Gulf War participants with serious breathing
and other respiratory problems. In December 1991, Congress responded to
this concern by including in Public Law 102-190 a provision (Section
734) that required the Secretary of Defense to "establish and maintain a
special record relating to members of the Armed Forces who ...were
exposed to the fumes of the burning oil in the Operation Desert Storm
theater of operations during the Persian conflict." (VA was developing
its Gulf War Registry at the same time.)

Less than a year later in November 1992, in Public Law 102-585, Congress
recognized that other potential hazards and environmental factors might
have caused the medical problems of some Gulf War participants. Section
704 of that law directed the Department of Defense (DoD) Persian Gulf
Registry to expand the DoD Registry to include "Any other member who
served in the Operation Desert Storm theater of operations during the
Persian Gulf conflict."

During the past decade, a number of internal government and external
committees/boards have looked at the potential health risks of exposure
to smoke from oil well fires. None of them found that exposure to be the
likely cause of the problems that some Gulf War veterans are
experiencing. Dr. Mark A. Brown, Director, VA's Environmental Agents
Service noted, "Even before the war ended VA was worried that returning
Gulf War veterans would have health problems from the oil well fires
smoke. We now know that this environmental exposure wasn't really a
significant problem, and attention has shifted to other deployment
related health issues."

**Background**

In February 1991, the first oil well fires were ignited by the Iraqi
armed forces during a retreat in the Persian Gulf War. Between February
1991 to November 1991, 605 oil well fires were started. Oil well fires
produced dense clouds of soot, liquid, aerosols, and gases. Unknown
numbers of troops were likely exposed to high concentration of
particulate matter, metals, sulfur, and nitrogen oxides in the air as a
result of oil well fires---many of the same components found in smog.

A concentrated effort was made by the DoD, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to evaluate the health
effects from these fires. Based on data collected from May through
December 1991, the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks from
exposure to oil well fire smoke were determined to be minimal due to the
lofting of the smoke above the ground level and the nearly complete
combustion of most chemical substances.

The plumes of the billowing smoke occasionally remained low to the
ground, in some areas enveloping U.S. military personnel. Exposures to
respiratory irritants, carcinogens and neurotoxic compounds were highest
during wintertime encampments in Saudi Arabia.

In December 1999, the Final Report of the Presidential Advisory
Committee (PAC) on Gulf War Illnesses indicated that known immediate
health effects from inhaling large amounts of smoke and particulates are
primarily respiratory. Toxic gases were not detected at high levels
during the fire. High levels of airborne particulates are associated
with increased rates of asthma and can worsen other chronic respiratory
conditions. With chronic exposure (months or years) to particulates,
there is increased risk of some loss in lung function or chronic
bronchitis, especially in cigarette smokers.

Exposures to organic compounds were found to be similar to the levels
observed in Houston and Philadelphia, cities with major petrochemical
industries. Although substantial increases were noted in particulates,
concentrations were still considered normal for the Middle East. Air
pollutants expected from the oil fires were classified into four
categories:

-   [Reactants]{.underline}: uncombusted crude oil components

-   [Combustion products]{.underline}: carbon dioxide and water

-   [Incomplete Combustion Products]{.underline}: carbon monoxide

-   [Products of Secondary Reactions]{.underline}: photolysis (chemical
    decomposition by the action of sun light)

Sampling was designed by the U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency so
that results could be used to estimate risks of cancer and subchronic
non-cancer diseases. The total cancer risk is determined by adding the
individual cancer risks for each pollutant in each means of exposure
(i.e. breathing, eating, and through the skin), then adding the risk for
all the pathways. Further, on the basis of air and soil pathway
analysis, the excess cancer risk resulting from exposure to oil fire
smoke both in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, did not surpass two excess
cancers per one million. A soon to be published VA mortality study
reports that the risk of death from natural causes, including cancer, is
the same among Gulf War veterans compared to non-Gulf veterans.

**Health Risks Small**

There has also been no indication of unexplained illnesses among U.S.
civilian firefighters worked to put out the oil well fires after the
cease-fire, and who were highly exposed to combusted and non-combusted
products of damaged oil wells. The professional firefighters were
presumably exposed to a much higher level of pollutants from the burning
oil wells than the average U.S. service member.

DoD's Geographic Information System (GIS) was used for data integration
and risk calculation. The GIS allows for data from the environmental
sampling, modeled pollutant concentrations, satellite imagery, exposure
factors, chemical toxicity, and the troop unit location databases to be
combined and assessed in determining the oil fire exposure and health
risks to U.S. service members. This information together with various
independent review committees all indicate that the exposures that troop
units received from oil fires and other industrial sources in the Gulf
are unlikely, by themselves, to have caused long-term health problems.

In considering in how to evaluate health impacts of hazardous wartime
experience in the future, the Final Report of the PAC made the following
research recommendations:

-   Develop more accurate and reliable troop locator systems;

-   Monitor Gulf War veterans for increased rates of cancer through
    long-term mortality studies;

-   The Research Working Group should consult more thoroughly with other
    federal agencies. Members of the Research Working Group include
    scientists and managers from VA, DoD and HHS. The Research Working
    Group serves as a common forum for researchers to present ideas and
    findings and collectively respond to emerging research issues and
    problems.

Readers with internet access may wish to get additional information
about this subject and related topics at http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/

> *Martha Adell Cruz, a full-time communications/journalism student at
> the Austin Community College in Austin, Texas, was the principal
> author of the above article. Adell wrote this article in June 2001
> while she was serving as a Summer Intern, through the Hispanic
> Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), in VA's Environmental
> Agents Service. She plans to graduate in Spring 2002 and looks forward
> to a career in journalism.*