As program manager for the deployment environmental surveillance program, Resta is responsible for overseeing environmental and occupational health surveillance for U.S. forces deployed to Bosnia and Kosovo. A team deployed to Bosnia in January 1996 to help augment active duty troops charged with collecting samples needed for environmental monitoring. We do the analysis and the health risk assessments associated with those samples. At main base camp locations they assess whether air, soil, or water is contaminated to the point where it poses a health risk. Resta says these assessments are needed between two and four times each year, depending on local conditions.
Air conditions change due to seasonal changes in weather.
Also the frequency of testing is influenced by whether the industrial facilities adjacent to base camps are operating or have been shut down due to war damage. The headquarters is located in an abandoned shoe factory outside Skopje, which raised concerns of possible health affects because of the chemicals, glues and dyes used when the factory was operational. The scientists performed an indoor air quality assessment, checking for heavy metals and particulates. They also tested building materials for asbestos and analyzed the communication equipment for any radiation hazards. Additionally, samples of the water and soil were tested for potentially harmful toxins.